Coaches in wait-and-see mode as vaccinations get underway | News, Sports, Jobs

Maui High School sophomore linebacker Kamaha‘o Au receives his first dose of the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from Mauliola Pharmacy vaccine team lead Shane Naeole last Tuesday during a vaccination clinic conducted at the school gym’s parking lot. The state Department of Education has mandated vaccination against COVID-19 for all student-athletes, coaches and related staff.
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photos

With their eyes all set on Sept. 27 when practice is scheduled to restart, Maui Interscholastic League football coaches are mostly in the dark as to what to expect when that day arrives.

The state Department of Education put a stop to high school sports in Hawaii when they ruled on Aug. 4 that all public high school student-athletes, coaches and volunteers attached to teams must be vaccinated for COVID-19 and paused all sports activities to Sept. 24 to give everyone time to get the shots.

There are exceptions for valid medical and religious reasons, but those exempt would be required to test for COVID-19 twice a week.

Dean Rickard, co-head coach of the Lahainaluna High School football team, said Monday he is anxious to see how many of the 45 varsity and 35-40 junior varsity players will be back when the season resumes.

“I can’t say either way because when the order came out I just met with the team and let them know that it is going to be a personal choice that you folks are definitely going to have to sit down with your parents and make this personal decision,” Rickard said. “The thing is, it’s an option and these are your options. Basically it was explained to them.”

Maui High freshman slot receiver/safety Robert Young watches as a bandage is placed over the injection site of his first dose Tuesday.
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

Rickard said his coaching staff is 100 percent vaccinated to the best of his knowledge, but when the edict was delivered he said he was aware of only 10-15 varsity players who had received the vaccine, although he knew of others who were planning to get vaccinated.

“It does raise a concern as to how many kids are actually going through with the decision to get vaccinated in order to play,” Rickard said. “That is the big question that is on the minds of not only our staff, but I’m sure for the rest of the coaches in the league and throughout the state, I think.”

Rickard said he has his fingers crossed on numbers when things resume.

“Just listening to comments or reading comments — I try to stay in touch with some of the kids — it’s going to be tough,” Rickard said. “That’s the big question, you’ve got to ask for a legitimate reason, medical or religious. But at the same time, if you don’t get that then you have got to get vaccinated. That’s not really much of an option.”

Rickard, who is currently the interim chief of the Maui Police Department, pointed out a major difference between the DOE’s mandate and that being enforced with state and county workers.

Baldwin High School sophomore Deion Ozoa talks with Mauliola Pharmacy vaccine team lead Shane Naeole after being vaccinated Friday morning in the school gym.’
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photo

“Why don’t you just say, ‘If I’m not going to get vaccinated then, like the mandates that they did for the county workers and some other state workers, then I will just decide to get tested,’ “ he said. “Not having to claim an exemption, but ‘OK, hey, I’m willing to be tested.’ … The (student-athletes) don’t have that option and to me that would be a better option for the kids.”

Rickard said the option for the four-time defending Division II state champion Lunas — who have moved put to Division I this season — may be to eliminate the junior varsity level this season if the number of players do not support it.

“We don’t really have any clear direction on where we’re heading until a couple weeks from now when we find out for sure,” he said.

King Kekaulike head coach Tyson Valle had a similar thought process to Rickard.

“I think we’re all crossing our fingers and hopefully it does go through on the 27th of September; we’ve got dates for our state tournaments, so that’s a good sign, we’re seeing something in that area,” Valle said last week. “But, yeah, anything could happen from now until (then). Hopefully it goes through and they make the best decision for the kids.”

Valle said he has a mixed bag of reactions to the mandate on his roster.

“We have some kids who are vaccinated, we have a lot of kids who are pushing back on that end, for various reasons,” he said. “All we can do at this point is support our kids and whatever decision they make. Maybe we should have more options for our players, whether you’re vaccinated or not vaccinated, just have more options to allow these kids to play.”

Valle estimated that he had “50 to 60” total players on the field combined varsity and JV when the pause button was hit. He said the goal was to have 45-50 on each roster, but guesses that about half of that number will be the final count when things resume.

“I think that’s the most important thing, making the right decision for everybody and allowing them the opportunity to play football. For some of our guys, that’s their ticket into college,” Valle said. “Right now, I would guess it’s a 50-50 split. Like I said, I just hope that there is a decision made that benefits all these kids, not just vaccinated kids or not-vaccinated kids. I think there needs to be other options for them.”

Maui High head football coach Robert Dougherty said he was encouraged by the recent state tournament dates being released after a unanimous vote to approve by the Hawaii High School Athletic Association executive board.

Dougherty is also up in the air about how many players he will welcome back when practice resumes.

“I just made it a policy not to ask because it’s really not my business,” he said. “So come September 27th I’m sure we’ll have a squad out there. I’m going to let (athletic director) Mike (Ban) and (principal) Jamie (Yap) deal with the vaccination part of it. We want to just focus on coaching.”

Baldwin head football coach Pohai Lee said he had 45 players on the varsity roster and 25 on the JV squad when the shutdown occurred.

“I couldn’t tell you exact numbers because I’m not one who is going to ask who has and who hasn’t,” Lee said of how many players were vaccinated. “All we can do is encourage, but that’s another, again, one of those things that when the time comes we’re going to see how many players we do have.

“That’s why I go into this with careful optimism.”

Duane Kaupe, the head coach of the Hana eight-player football team, said last week that his team is nearly all vaccinated or plan to be.

“For me, it’s OK, my guys are going to do it,” Kaupe said, noting that another fall-sport coach for the Dragons was vehemently against the vaccine mandate. “I only had a few guys coming out during the summer, and most of the kids were working. … It is what it is, man, we have got to do what we’ve got to do if we want to play.”

Kaupe added, “These local kids, I’m sure they’re going to get ’em, most of them want to play. Some of the parents, I’m not sure. Most of my kids are itching to play.”

During a pop-up clinic at Baldwin’s Jon Garcia Gym on Friday, three student-athletes came in to receive their first shot in a 70-minute span.

Baldwin sophomore Chase Morton said he was getting the vaccine because he hopes to play three sports for the Bears this school year — football, wrestling, and track and field.

“I will really try any sport, I don’t really care,” Morton said. “As long as I have a sport to do I’m going to be motivated to do it and get better. I just want to play.”

Morton added that he was receiving the first shot because of the sports mandate.

“I’m actually for it because in order to play high-contact sports like football and wrestling you need to be vaccinated to make sure that you’re safe to play,” Morton said.

Baldwin freshman Shelby Melendez plans to turn out for cheerleading. She said her reason for getting vaccinated on Friday was because of the sports mandate, but she probably would have gotten vaccinated either way.

“My mom wanted me to, but my dad didn’t really want me to,” Melendez said.

Melendez added that the shot didn’t hurt.

“I didn’t feel it at all,” she said.

She didn’t mind the order to be vaccinated to play sports.

“Yeah, because we’re trying to keep everybody safe,” she said.

Baldwin sophomore Deion Ozoa plans to play baseball for the Bears in the spring.

“A lot of people stopped playing sports because they don’t want the vaccination,” Ozoa said.

Ozoa said he would not have taken the vaccine without the mandate to play sports. He said he estimates the split to be “50-50” to get or not get the vaccine in order to play sports.

To Ozoa it is important because “I’m looking forward to get out and finally do something.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com