The new Kahuku playing field is a blessing and relief for players, says Coach Carvallho
After a lost year due the pandemic, plus another season of full road travel and about $12 million in state funds, the website Spectrum News says the football-crazed North Shore community has officially blessed and opened the new Kahuku High School turf field.
Gudrun Beibee, a Laie community member, said the field was worth the wait for the community. She explained students futures will be decided on the new field because “on this field we have many students who have the opportunity to go to college. So, if you ask me why we’re here? It’s because we belong here.”
The new artificial field looked “every bit what was promised for years,” says Spectrum News because the beloved venue of one of the state’s most iconic programs was “plagued by persistent muddy conditions and drainage issues.”
Sterling Carvallho, the coach of the defending Kahuku High state champions, says in the story on the website that it is a blessing to finally play football at home again. Previously, the team had to make an hour-plus bus rides every week, he said, but now players can finally relax in their familiar confines for pregame meals.
“The field, it’s a blessing,” Carvalho said. “We have lines, we have hashes, numbers. Not just to play on, but to practice on.”
Terry Moeai, senior manager at Student Leadership & Service, said he is an alumni of Kahuku High School and was a part of the class of 1988. One of Kahuku’s traditions is having generations of families play on its field, he said. His father and his brother, he added, played on this field and so will his son, an upcoming high school senior.
“I feel this is a representation of a place or a space where students athletically can fulfill their athletic goals they want to achieve. The field is also used as a classroom for physical education, so this marriage of athletics and academics I think is the beauty of this new field.”
The field was blessed during the summer on July 9, accompanied by a performance by the Halau Hula O Kekela.