She's a real shifty one.
As most students of surf history know, our Sport of Kings was birthed there on the Hawaiian island chain, flourishing under that tropical-adjacent sun. Sliding waves an indelible part of the aloha lifestyle. It may come as a surprise, then, that surfing is not a recognized school sport on the most important island, Oahu, having been stiff armed by the executive director of the Oahu Interscholastic Association, Bryce Kaneshiro.
Waianae surf team founder and coach Beth Matsuda is trying to change this by introducing House Bill 500 which would recognize surfing as appropriate. “It’s a high school sport in the east and west coast, Australia, but it’s not a high school sport here,” she told Hawaii News Now, adding, “A lot of kids in the school surf, but they have no access to represent the school. So this is a way of representing their school.”
What might be considered a no-brainer, though is not getting support from the aforementioned OIA with Kaneshiro very suspicious of dastardly surfing, citing that curmudgeonly old Mother Nature as a major part of the problem.
“The safety for the kids in both practice as well as the event itself because something about surfing that is always dangerous is that it’s mother nature, you never know what might happen,” he sneered.
Matsuda, undaunted, is putting her hopes on House Bill 500, which is requesting $50,000 for surf competitions and $25,000 for jet skis.
Kaneshiro, equally dug in, is countering, “Just because you get the funding for it doesn’t mean that you’re pushing that sport in, we have to say we have other factors that we have to consider.”
Do you have a dog in this fight?
Pro surfing as team sport or anti?
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Oh oh… New Jersey high school surf teams are going to go the way of the dodo bird, or core surf companies if there is even one board of education attorney from Monmouth or Ocean County on Beach Grit with the rest of us. Meanwhile brain-damaging, every-Friday Night concussion H.S. football will never die…
Do they play NFL in high school?
wasted too much of my life as a print journalism sports writer back in early 2000s… trapped on H.S. football fields far too many weekends… the amount of concussions and kids completely out of it after a hit being sent back on the field was insane to me… a bunch of clueless kids being “led” by clueless men who wish they were still kids… meanwhile, H.S. surf team coaches are pillars of society.
Kaneshiro is too cautious on this. It’s not like the kids are going to compete in 30 foot sets. More likely they would set limits like 7 feet or something. Big wave or big lineman cleaning your clock…same difference…
Wrong. The most dangerous school sport is British bulldogs.
“No one goes beyond the reef!”
So dumb.
Duke would not approve.
Let the kids surf!!!….
Quite bizarre surfing is not recognised as a sport at the high school level in Hawaii – but state and corporate interests in Hawaii have rarely supported surfing in any context. Corporate CEO’s and Hawaii state officials prefer golf tournaments and American football.
Has a lot to do with the fact that nearly every good surfer in Hawaii was at one time or another on drugs, in jail or both – people like Buttons Kaluhiokalani, Jeff Hakman, Irinio “Reno” Abellira, Larry Bertlemann, Marvin Foster, Sunny Garcia, etc.
The terminology used in Hawaii is so antiquated, competitive surfing events in Hawaii are still to this day referred to as “surf meets” – like it is still the 1950’s when surfing was a strictly recreational, amateur activity.
High school kids are more likely to get injured from surfing because of “Mother Nature” than they are playing sanctioned and financially-supported American football, baseball or basketball? I don’t think so.
NSSA High School surfing was a major highlight for both of my boys and is a major tradition for our local high school. Hard to believe Hawaii won’t sanction it. https://uploads.disquscdn.c…
I remember one term, all the popular babes at my high school thought it would be funny to pick Surfing as their sport so they could lay out and tan.. well our teacher thought it was not funny and MADE them learn to surf!
I did have some major boner suppression worries as I was pushing bikinied asses into waves and this forced association did result in me scoring with one of the way out of my league mean girls. Goodam she was hot. She perplexed my 17-year-old mind. Wouldn’t talk to me at school but was over at my house most weekends thereafter all while dating a soon to be NRL mainstay of the late 90’s early 00’s. Surf Rat grom me for the win.
Twas the best thing about high school tbh….
Yeah and faking a permission slip to be allowed to stay at the beach once it finished
Our teacher was a frother. Not too much convincing needed. At all.
An Olympic sport being banned from schools in its place of origin ?
Kinda like banning marathon running or discus throwing etc in Greek school athletic events.
Rather odd.
Perhaps Bryce Kaneshiro wasn’t allowed to surf, got sprayed by the big kids, or was taunted for having a stinky ass style as a youngster…
Poop Stance Kaneshiro is how he was known at his local.
The godless heathens of the Sandwich Isles should be learning to read and write, not frolicking in the devilish sea.