Nūhou / News

KEAUHOU, Hawaii — A year after it made its debut, girls flag football will be expanding next school year. 

On the final day of the 64th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association conference at the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa, ADs from across the state voted in favor of a proposal to add a second division to next spring's state tournament. 

The Hawaii Dental Service/HHSAA Girls Flag Football State Championships will go from a single division — which was claimed by Campbell in the inaugural season that concluded last month — to a Division I and Division II format, each with a 12-team field. 

"I think it's going to only grow bigger and bigger and I think this benefits the smaller schools that they can have more opportunities so I'm glad to see the sport growing and increasing," said Kalei Namohala, who serves as the sport coordinator for the HHSAA. 

Namohala, who is the athletic director at Waiakea High, noted the success of the inaugural flag football season across all five of the state's leagues, but especially on the Big Island. 

"We had 72 kids sign up and we were able to keep 32 players, but we made a (junior varsity) and a varsity. In our league we had 14 schools — we actually had 16 but two had to drop out last minute because they didn't have enough (players) to sustain their program, but overall we feel like it went well. It's such a growing sport nationally that it's great to have Hawaii be a part of it," Namohala said. 

A total of 57 schools statewide fielded a flag football team this year. A single 16-team bracket was used for the very first state tournament. The addition of a second division for the 2026 edition will allow for eight more teams to participate in states. 

"The girls will have the opportunity to showcase themselves on a bigger stage and it will just increase their pride in their school by participating in another sport that is fun and up and coming. I believe it'll continue to be successful because this first year was such an awesome year and the players just love it," Namohala said. 

Prior to the vote, the proposal was amended on the general assembly floor to utilize the regional format for the first round of the D1 tournament, which aligns with other D1 team sport tourneys, including volleyball, basketball, soccer and girls water polo. 

The vote on the amendment passed by a count of 81 schools in favor, while 15 schools — all from the Maui Interscholastic League — opposed it. The vote on the proposal itself, as amended, passed by the same ledger. 

Kamehameha-Maui athletic director Jon Viela, who also serves as the MIL's flag football sport coordinator, clarified the league's stance after the vote. 

"We were for it, yeah, definitely for it. The amendment is the one that we were concerned about," Viela explained. 

The amendment came about after HHSAA executive director Chris Chun asked for clarification from the HIADA voting body on whether the D1 tournament would follow the regional format utilized in many other state tournaments. 

Under the regional format the first round is comprised of four play-in games, hosted by the runners-up of the Oahu Interscholastic Association, the Interscholastic League of Honolulu, the Big Island Interscholastic Federation and the MIL. Winners of the play-in game advance to the eight-team modified double-elimination tournament, while the losers' season is done. 

"Our whole thing is that it provided opportunity for our kids to travel and then like Chris said, it was guarantee two games, but with the regional format, I mean, we would host, they play one game, (if) they don't win they would only get one game in the state tournament versus getting two and getting the experience to travel and play, so that was our stance," Viela detailed. 

Namohala said that it will be upon each league to determine which schools will declare for which division. She noted that the BIIF uses enrollment to determine classification. 

"Division II schools that really excel have the choice of going up to D1, but D1 schools do not have the option to go down, so at least for our league we have flexibility in that way," Namohala said. 

In addition to the expansion of flag football, the sport of canoe paddling will also add a second division for the 2025-'26 school year. ADs voted unanimously in favor of the proposal.

According to HHSAA sport coordinator Clinton "Laupule" Schultz, it is the first time that the state championship regatta has been expanded since its inception in 2002. 

"This is actually the first time we've gotten to this point. We've gotten more schools that have entered — if that's called expansion one way or the other — but now we're expanding to different formats and to different divisions and that's something that's never been done before," said Schultz, the AD at Anuenue School. 

The top-tier division will continue with 12 qualifying teams for the boys, girls and mixed races, while the D2 regatta will include a dozen teams for the girls race and eight teams apiece for the boys and mixed races. 

"I think Division II for paddling will open the door for many other schools to have opportunities. In previous years it was just one big tournament and over and over we'd see very little different teams winning, but with D2 it opens the door for other schools to have opportunities to win, but it's not only about winning, it's about the expansion of the sport, it's about the sharing of the culture with everybody, it's about sharing what paddling has to offer the world and that's most important," Schultz expressed. 

As Namohala stated in the case of flag football, Schultz said much the same with regard to declarations for canoe paddling. 

"We are going to leave that up to the leagues right now. We don't want to dictate to anybody to say how one league can do it or whether they can do it another way. As long as they have a plan for themself and they can declare their teams, we'll have a good D1, D2 tournament," Schultz said. 

The proposal was submitted by the MIL. Over the course of the three-day conference it was amended to serve as a two-year pilot program. The state championship regatta is scheduled to take place on Oahu next year before it goes to the Valley Isle for the 2026-'27 school year. 

"It's just very, very exciting because it'll open up opportunities in paddling for kids from smaller school to experience this sport in different ways, to meet different people, to make relationships while competing but also learning about the discipline, the respect, the culture and the history of it," Schultz said. 

The athletic directors began the week by splitting up into four groups with each group handling a number of proposals. They conducted straw polls Tuesday afternoon, followed by another round of voting on the same proposals a day later. 

A total of 22 proposals passed out of committee Wednesday, which were then forwarded to the HIADA voting body. Those proposals, along with four minority reports, reached the floor of Thursday morning's final general assembly. 

In all, ADs passed 23 proposals Thursday, including one that requires a student-athlete be enrolled in an HHSAA member school for 21 days in order to be eligible for state tournament participation. 

Two minority reports — both brought to the final general assembly by the ILH — gained HIADA recommendation. The first pertained to seeding with regard to the D2 boys basketball state tournament and the other sought to require that all boys and girls soccer scores, including league and non-league contests, be submitted to ScoringLive. Subsequently, the Bradley-Terry Model would then be used to rank the schools as a means to provide the state tournament seeding committees with more information. 

However, both HIADA recommendations were defeated when presented to the HHSAA Executive Board, which met later Thursday. All 21 other HIADA recommendations were passed by the executive board, which is made up of the five league presidents.

Darnell Arceneaux (Waialua), Anthony "Tony" Jones (Nanakuli), Ryan Uchimura (Hana), Clinton "Laupule" Schultz (Anuenue), Iris McGuire (Keaau), Ramona Takahashi (formerly of Kailua) and Patrick "PK" Higa (Kekaulike) were recognized by HIADA for their outstanding contributions. Brien Ing | SL

KEAUHOU, Hawaii — Bigger is better as far as the Big Island Interscholastic Federation is concerned. 

Day two of the 64th annual Hawaii Interscholastic Athletic Directors Association saw two of the BIIF's proposals fail to gather enough support in a committee vote Wednesday. 

However, the league plans to bring one of those measures to the floor to be voted on by all 95 athletic directors gathered at the Outrigger Kona Resort and Spa in Thursday's general assembly, the final day of the three-day conference. 

ADs split into four groups for a second straight day. On Tuesday they conducted straw polls on each of the proposals before they caucused by league in the evening. The groups reconvened Wednesday afternoon and voted again on each measure. 

The two BIIF-backed proposals were part of Group 4's purview. Item 4.3 sought the creation of a Division III state tournaments for the sports of girls and boys basketball and girls and boys volleyball. It detailed that schools with enrollments of 299 or fewer students would be eligible to qualify for the new classification. The BIIF's proposal asked for a one-year pilot of the tournaments. 

However, the proposal failed to pass out of committee by a count of 10 votes in favor, 29 opposed and one abstention. 

The other BIIF proposal — item 4.8 — hoped to allow for teams composed of student-athletes from multiple HHSAA member schools to be eligible for participation in state tournaments at the Division II level, also on a one-year pilot basis. It also did not gain traction to pass out of committee, 9-30-1, but the BIIF filed a minority report for the measures to be brought to Thursday's final general assembly. 

Another proposal of note in Group 4 — item 4.7 — was introduced by the Oahu Interscholastic Association. It sought to modify the criteria for state tournament representation to require all of the state's five leagues to utilize the established representation calculation formula. The exception to the proposal was for tackle football, but the measure did not pass out of committee. ADs voted down the item, 16 to 24. 

Group 3, which began the conference with 20 proposals for consideration, voted unanimously for a measure that seeks to expand the girls flag football state tournament to two divisions. Both the OIA and the Interscholastic League of Honolulu introduced proposals seeking the addition of a second division, but the OIA withdrew their notion after the ILH's version was voted through, 40-0. 

Also in group 3, two BIIF proposals seeking to move several sports to different seasons were both withdrawn. Item 3.5 sought to move girls flag football from the spring to the fall, while item 3.14 sought to move spring sports, girls water polo and softball, from the spring to the fall and winter, respectively. 

Among the items voted through by Group 2 was one introduced by the Maui Interscholastic League that will add a second division for the boys, girls and mixed races at the state canoe paddling championship regatta. That proposal passed unanimously, 37-0. 

A total of 22 proposals passed out of Wednesday's committee vote. Those, along with four minority reports will go before the entire HIADA voting body Thursday morning. All measures that gain HIADA recommendation will then be forwarded to the HHSAA Executive Board, which meets Thursday afternoon and can approve, deny or amend any proposal. The executive board is made up of the presidents of each of the state's five leagues. 

Earlier in the day, ADs took in an hour-long workshop led by Dr. Craig Perry, the Chief Operating Officer for USA Curling. Perry, a senior advisor for the U.S. Council for Athletes Health, spoke about best practices to support the mental health of students-athletes and the promotion of a holistic approach that embraces behavioral, physical and social aspects of health. 

Later in the evening, numerous athletic administrators and coaches were recognized for their contributions to prep sports at an awards banquet. 

Honored for 15 years of service time were Ivan Tamura (Kailua AD), Allyson "Kahea" Schuckert (Honokaa assistant AD), Lon Passos (Radford assistant AD), Kekoa Kaluhiokalani (Waianae AD) and Gary Ellison (Kapolei assistant AD). Daniel Lyons (Hilo AD), Iris McGuire (Keaau AD), Roderick Sumagit (Lanai AD) and Bill Villa (HIADA executive director) were honored for 20 years, Scott Wagner (Punahou AD), Kalei Namohala (Waiakea AD), Darren Camello (Kapolei AD) and Deren Oshiro (Hawaii Baptist AD and HIADA president) were recognized for 25 years and Joe Balangitao (MIL executive director) and Ed Paola (Kamehameha AD) were honored for 30 years of service. 

Nanakuli track and field coach Anthony "Tony" Jones and Hana wrestling coach Ryan Uchimura and ADs Clinton "Laupule" Schultz (Anuenue), McGuire (Keaau), Darnell Arceneaux (Waialua) and Ramona Takahashi (formerly of Kailua) were also recognized for their outstanding contributions. 

Finally, former King Kekaulike athletic director Patrick "PK" Higa received the NIAAA State Award of Merit.