good evening. after having a junk sleep last night because of me wondering or not if kelia made her heat, i woke up early to go watch the boys battle it out at kewalo’s. first, kelia made her heat. i was happy, but so dam tired…
i was down at kewalo’s from 7:45 am to 4 pm. gosh, it was a long day. i was hungry, thirsty, hot from sunburned, and cold from the rain. being a coach is a tough job. i respect all the parents, coaches, and supporters that are down at the contests all day a lot of credit. i felt like i really worked today. haha.. but seeing what i seen today was a really good learning experience. i learned that these kids all have dreams and it’s up to people like myself to help them get there. i’ll try harder from now….
imagine coming from another country and pulling up to the biggest grommet contest of the year in hawaii. all hawaiians and your the only japanese? i think shun was nervous. what about you? haha… this is such a cute photo of him. and thank’s to uncle kirby, i enter him in the wrong division. what??? yeah, entered him in the under 14 division and under 16 division when he was really supposed to be in the under 12 division. now i know why he was so nervous…. i thought i screwed up but after the event was over, i think that it was my mistake that will make shun a stronger, better, and more confident surfer in the future. i was sitting next to legend coach/surfer ben aipa all day and wait till you hear what he had to say about shun…. chicken skin….
shun coming off the bottom and surfing like a champion. all the boys told me that shun was ripping today! that made me pretty happy!!! can you believe shun made 2 semi finals? against boys way older and way bigger than him? he did a great job with scores like 8.5’s…
seth moniz is on fire! he can get barreled, he can do off the lips, he can do floaters, he can do lay back snaps, and he can do airs. when seth is on, nobody his age can stop him. and today, nobody did. seth won the under 12 division…
isaiah moniz impressed my by his air’s, seth impressed my by his combinations, shun impressed me by his confidence, and this kid josh moniz impressed me by his raw power. seth was leading the under 14 final until the last few minutes when big brother josh rode a set and surfed it like sunny garcia. they did the same turns on the same size wave but my score was seth- 7.5 and josh 10. i thought he won, so did tony. but the judges in the end gave it to seth moniz. so seth, congratulations on your double win!!! and josh, keep your head up because of all the kids that surfed the contest, you impressed me the most. power surfing never dies….
**more photos and more stories coming tomorrow. for now, i got to take a shower, brush my teeth, and head on down to my kaiser high alumni reunion at oceans club. see all you cougars soon!!!
