The winter season will not be coming to the Oahu Interscholastic Association.
Just three hours after the Hawaii High School Athletic Association announced Saturday the cancellation of “Season 1” state championship tournaments set for March, the public-school OIA cancelled its entire winter sports calendar due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Air riflery, basketball, bowling, competitive cheer, cross country, paddling, soccer, swimming and diving, and wrestling were canned by the OIA and HHSAA — to no surprise. The Interscholastic League of Honolulu announced earlier in the week the cancellation of five sports, all deemed higher risk by the National Federation of High Schools (NFHS).
The OIA, one of the largest leagues in the nation, went further to secure health and safety. Still, it is bittersweet for senior student-athletes.
“I talked to my kids, especially my seniors, about three weeks ago,” said Pearl City boys basketball coach Lionel Villarmia, who began coaching at Pearl City on the junior-varsity level in 1984. “We thought we might have a six- or seven-week season. The league had a lot of proposals. Everybody was there and laid it on the line. I called my captain and told him to rally up the boys. We would have only two weeks of conditioning and tryouts. No fans in the stands. We left it at that.”
By 4 p.m. on Saturday, the emails began to circulate.
“Just tonight, (our athletic director) sent us the email that everything was cancelled. We kind of knew when the ILH cancelled (five sports). We were just waiting on the Department of Health,” Villarmia said. “The other states are doing it. We’re one of only three states not doing it. The West Coast and us. We got our protocols down. It’s sad for the kids. It’s sad for the kids when we drive by the soccer field and they’re playing. The club kids play and we can’t.”
Longtime Pearl City girls soccer co-head coach Frank Baumholtz was not surprised.
“Definitely disappointed, but because of the other sports being cancelled, it is probably best to go with the flow until there is a major decision is made on the kids getting back into school,” said Baumholtz, who was entering his 33rd season as a coach at the high school level.
For the HHSAA, travel restrictions were already a factor in the immense puzzle that the pandemic has been.
“Our intent for canceling the first set of state tournaments was to allow our member schools the opportunity to participate in a longer league season, rather than a truncated one with regional and state tournament play for only a limited number of schools,” HHSAA Executive Director Chris Chun said. “Although the state tournaments are canceled, leagues are not restricted in conducting their seasons if it is deemed safe to do so. We will continue to work with the Department of Health and government officials for the possibility to hold state tournaments for the remaining sports in late May.”
Season 2 sports are a combination of postponed fall sports and traditional spring sports: baseball, football, golf, judo, softball, tennis, track and field, water polo and volleyball. Spring sports were the first to be cancelled in 2020.
“We are in a brutal situation. If everything gets canceled all the way through football, baseball, then they really need to have a better game plan through next fall,” Baumholtz said. “But I don’t think (spring sports) will be canceled. I want to be optimistic.”
At this point, coaches and players in the ILH are hoping schools can find common ground on protocols to schedule informal, non-league affiliated competition in “bubble” scenarios. Boys basketball coaches are pursuing the possibilities.
