Probable Ikaika Varsity playoff bracket

We needed a win on Wednesday to finish in the top 3 of our division. There are 3 divisions (24 teams total) and only the top 2 plus in each division plus two 2nd-place teams qualify for Bracket A, the championship group.

The 1st place team, Mid-Pac, has 1 loss. That was against us. Hui and Kapolei Canes are 5-2. We lost to a winless team by forfeit last night, making us 4-3 and probably going into Bracket B of the playoffs.

Deepest Apologies

My apologies to Kali'a Mielke's mom, Joey Mielke, to Joy and Eric Murobayashi (Sierra Sisi's parents), and Jason Apuya, Yolanda Apuya and the Apuya ohana. I'm sorry for wasting your time, your energy and your miles on the road. 

Mrs. Patti Chang and Sanford, it was a rainy night and you made the drive across town to Aiea for our keiki. I am very, very sorry that you spent all that time and effort (brining a case of water and a cooler). I had hope until the end that we would have at least 5 players. Please forgive me.

4/Ewa 2, H1 Thunder 0 (V) (forfeit)

Ikaika league, varsity division, Aiea gym
Mahalo to Kali'a Mielke, Sierra and Jance for showing up to the game. Big mahalo to Mrs. Chang and Sanford for bringing a case of water for the team.

Kali'a left to go do a pile of homework, but Jance and Sierra stayed and scrimmages with the other team. Mahalo is to 4/Ewa and their coach for being gracious about the forfeit.

I emailed, blogged, face booked and texted about our schedule. All our parents were texted as a reminder earlier today. I told a lot of our guys face to face about tonight's game.

What more can I do?

#0 Micah Visoria - Not on our Ikaika League roster (playing for school team)
#1 Keanu Pratt - football
#2 Kapaa Nishimura - Not on our Ikaika League roster (playing for school team)
#3 Kyle Moraga - Playing for Lanakila
#4 Chase Santos - Not on our Ikaika League roster (playing for school team)
#5 Jared Elwin - football
#6 Ryan Higashionna - Reinjured shoulder at school team practice
#9 Mosi Afe - Did not show up
#10 Josh Roberts - football
#12 Jance Apuya - Showed up
#13 Jason Doyle - Did not show up
#14 Skylar Kawakami-bechtel - Grounded
#15 Sierra Sisi Murobayashi - Showed up
#17 Jayden Ramos - Did not show up
#20 Michael Mercado-Smith - Bible college
#21 Chris Afe - football
#22 Kali'a Mielke - Showed up
#23 Felcris Ahadain - Not on our Ikaika League roster (playing for school's assistant coach's team)
#24 Jonah Gormley - football/sick
#25 Radyn Kaleikini - bowling
#30 Colin Micah Ramos - bowling
#44 Tenchi Robinson - sick
#55 Jhevin Mercado - football
#88 Walter Berthold - Did not show up

Thunder Alert: Thur game cancelled

Just got a call from PAA League (Gerald). Sharks-Black don't have enough players to play tonight's game so they are forfeiting. NO GAME TONIGHT. Enjoy the extra time and double check that homework, everybody!

NEXT
Sat Sept 5, 10:15 am vs Hawaii Storm (PAA JV Division), Kilauea gym
Sat Sept 5, 12:10 pm vs LBC (Ikaika JV Division), Salt Lake gym
Sun Sept 6, 10:40 am vs Lanakila (Ikaika JV Division), Aiea gym
Sun Sept 6, 11:10 am vs Team Hustle (CAL 13U Gold Division), Kilauea gym
Sun Sept 6, 1:40 pm vs Lanakila II (CAL Varsity Division), Kilauea gym

Thursday Game Day

Got the word from Ikaika League that 1) Just Play has forfeited tonight's quarterfinal game to us, and 2) Team Dream will fill in for an exhibition game with us.

So we're now in the semifinals (next week), and we'll get to play a game tonight that will help us prepare us. Team Dream played last week just before our game. They've changed some since the last time we played them (last fall), but here's the highlight video in case anyone's forgotten. I know I almost did.

See you guys at Lanakila gym outside courts 6:40 pm.
WE LOVE THIS GAAAAAME!!

15U - schedule change, forfeit

Parents and players, my apologies. I got a call at 1:55 pm while we were en route to Koko Head gym. It was an NJB All-Net League official saying we had a 15U game at Palolo gym, which was shocking. We were coming? It was too late. When we got to Koko Head, I opened my laptop and checked the master schedule.

Originally, we had no game in 15U today, but NJB All-Net sent a revision in early April and I MISSED IT. They changed the date of a game between our Thunder 15U against Kapolei Canes from May 4 to April 27.

That game was supposed to be played today, 2 pm, at Palolo gym. But I missed it and we forfeited the game. I apologize.

Please go over this attachment of the revised schedule. I have made a change to our combined schedule, but it's too late to make up for today's game.

It's a lot more challenging keeping up with NJB since they make changes by e-mail only - no phone calls or text messages. So please help and check the schedule for any differences to what I have posted on the blog. The more eyes, the better.

I will also start double checking with the league's officials on our weekly schedules from this point.

Coach Paul

Check e-mail, double check schedule

(NOTE: Just added the PAA 18U tourney schedule and Aiea 12U league schedule.)

My apologies to the 17U. Today's game was at Palama Gym, not Koko Head. In the schedule on the blog, I wrote Palama, but somewhere along the line, I wrote Koko Head. John Chow and Malu Kuia went from Koko Head to Palama and got there in time, but we only had four players and had to forfeit.

Again, I'm sorry, boys. I'm gonna need a lot more help with checking the NJB schedule, especially from guys like John who are good at picking up those details. The schedule is no fun to read and it doesn't help that I have a headache from this flu, plus some stomach issues.

Please check your e-mail. I'm resending the NJB master schedule, so please cross-check it so we can be sure where the sites are and avoid any more forfeits.

12-Under
Saturday, Apr. 20
2:00 pm, Thunder 12U vs. Waipahu, Aiea gym

Saturday, Apr. 27
2:00 pm Thunder 12U vs. Aiea Blazers, Aiea gym

Saturday, May 4
1:10 pm Thunder 12U vs. Sharks 1, Aiea gym

13-Under 
Sunday, Apr. 14
12:10 pm Thunder 13U vs. Owls, Koko Head gym (NJB All-Net)

Apr. 19-21
Bye

Saturday, Apr. 27
1:40 pm Thunder 13U vs. Homegrown I, Kilauea gym (NJB All-Net)

Friday, May 3
5:30 pm Thunder 13U vs. Crush, Koko Head gym (NJB All-Net)

Saturday, May 4
1:00 pm Thunder 13U vs. Sharks, Kilauea gym (NJB All-Net)

15-Under
Sunday, Apr. 14
1:00 pm Thunder 15U vs. Kaiser, Palolo gym

Sunday, Apr. 21
11:20 am Thunder 15U vs. Homegrown, Koko Head gym

17-Under
Sunday, Apr. 14
3:00 pm Thunder 17U vs. Lanakila Black, Palolo gym

Monday, Apr. 15
6:00 pm Thunder 17U/18U vs. OTB, Kaimuki Park gym (PAA 18U tourney)

Tuesday, Apr. 16
7:45 pm Thunder 17U/18U vs. Lanakila, Halawa gym (PAA 18U tourney)

Saturday, Apr. 20
4:00 pm Thunder 17U vs. FSU, Palama gym (NJB All-Net)

Monday, Apr. 22
7:30 pm Thunder 17U/18U vs. Lakeside, Kaimuki Park gym (PAA 18U tourney)

Wednesday, Apr. 24
TBA Thunder 17U/18U game, Kaneohe gym (PAA 18U tourney)

Apr. 26-28
Bye

Saturday, May 4
4:00 pm Thunder 17U vs. Boom, Palama gym (NJB All-Net)

Thunder Alert: No 13U game tonight (Fri)

THUNDER ALERT: PAA 13U playoff game vs. Huskies has been cancelled. Huskies are forfeiting the game due to a time conflict (Aiea tournament). Thunder 13U get the win and advance to the next round, Sunday, 9:15 am at Koko Head gym. NO GAME TONIGHT.

I know everybody wants to play, but there's nothing we can do about this. We can rest up for Saturday's Aiea Tournament playoff games. If anybody wants to meet up tonight for pizza, let me know. Maaaybe Pizza Hut, Beretania, 7 pm? It's a rare night off for me, so I'll be editing game videos in the meantime.

Forfeit win for Thunder 13U

Forfeit win for Thunder 13U over 808 West. They didn't have enough players, so they had a 14-year-old guy (#32) suit up. We didn't know this was going on, though, and we played through the game like normal. (Close loss.) We played so sloppy today, but a game is a game and we'll learn from it. Even if it's technically an exhibition and doesn't "count".

It's really interesting how much better we are with Jerry and/or Kalai or Tanielu or Chris there. Having that strong rebounder/defender under the basket makes a huge difference for us. When Jerry arrived late in the game (from his other game), he grabbed a bunch of offensive rebounds immediately. Winning today against a team using an older kid would've been nice. I liked our hustle and grit. No quit in us.

But boy, do we need to clean up some mess. Working on left-handed drills (everything) at every practice! Room to get better as we enter the Aiea 13U Tournament (Wed-Sat).

Silver lining

Well, that wasn't expected. OK, we didn't get to play tonight. But instead, we got to use a gym for our own purposes for a good 30 minutes or so. With 12 guys — 13 it turned out, except Isaiah stayed off the court and hidden away when he arrived — we had a good number to get a scrimmage going. We got some basics of the zone and man offenses going for our newer guys like Max, Pono and Jordan.

Playing indoors is a huge advantage for practice. No wind. Fewer bumps and bruises. More than all that, it's simply a major boost to confidence. Playing under the lights is a different world. So that's why I consider tonight's forfeit a blessing in disguise. We got to work on things that needed working on. We get a win, the Sharks get a loss and we move on to another pool-play game tomorrow night against the host Aiea Blazers.

I'm content for now, but when morning comes, I'll be pumped again. Wish I could play.

We'll meet at 6 p.m. tomorrow. Game time is 7.

Coach Paul