Na Keiki Mele O Pauoa (The Singing Children of Pauoa) & The Pauoa Ukulele Club.

Football season is finally coming to an end. It has been a great season, although an unfortunate one for the Kahuku Red Raiders. On the brighter side, we can look forward to many other upcoming events, and recognition of our talented local kids that go unnoticed or unreported.

In fact, I was invited tonight at 6:00pm to watch the Na Keiki Mele O Pauoa & Pauoa Ukulele Club perform at the Aloha Tower Don Ho's Island Grill, directed by Christine Wee. Christine is the director of the school chorus, Na Keiki Mele O Pauoa and The Pauoa Ukulele Club at Pauoa Elementary School. She believes that kids thrive when given the chance to learn and play music. Putting an instrument into their hands improves the quality of their education and their lives and all kids deserve a chance to play music in school. She was also a former elementary classroom teacher for 14 years, and is now in her fourth year as the Fine Arts teacher at Pauoa Elementary School. Christine is certified in the Orff-Schulwerk music approach which is a way to teach and learn music. It is based on things children like to do; sing, chant rhymes, clap, dance, and keep a beat on anything near at hand and is total, active involvement in music making that incorporates speech, singing, movement, and instrument playing in a creative environment.

Many proud parents attended tonight's event to watch their child's performance, followed by an Ohana dinner at Don Ho's Island Grill. The food was really "ono." I spoke to Christine Wee earlier, and she related that tonight's performance consisted of 3rd, 4th and 5th graders from Pauoa Elementary School. Besides their involvement with music, many of these children are also very active in other school activities such as robotics which they did great last year and took home the Teamwork award. This year they will be participating this coming Saturday, November 20, 2010 - 11:55 to 2:30 pm at the Kalakaua Middle School Cafeteria.

I would like to thank Principal Roberta Richards of Pauoa Elementary School, Christine Wee, and parents Mr. and Mrs. Steve Matsuda for informing me of tonight's event. Special recognition to the following students, Rachel Awana, Isabella Eftink, Lava Faagai, Savannah Galu, Sky Jeter, Kayla Leong, Anela Omerod, Krystal Sam, Lain Tucker, Travis Cabais, Christopher Lee, Reece Lee, Shahiza Lehmann, Jodi Lim, Stephanie Matsuda, Kenton Wong, Chyace Chang, Christine Jones, Noah Manabe-Villanueva, Claudja-Renee So, Natalia Akau-Vasquez, Ka'i Estrella-Alicea, Tyler Ebner, Jensen James Saoit and Tia Sofa and Thang Tran, Minh Tran who were unable to attend. "Click here to see more photos".

"Leilehua Mighty Mules " Take On The MIL Champions Baldwin Bears 35-26

The Leilehua Mighty Mules from Honolulu made it to the playoffs after defeating Waianae 28-20 on November 6, 2010 and returned to Maui for their fourth year to play the MIL Champions, Baldwin Bears at the Maui War Memorial Stadium on Friday at 6 p.m. I spoke to coach A.J. Roloos of the Bears about his thoughts on tonight's game and whether we will see any special effects. He said "our defense has played well all year and hopefully we will prevail over the Mules, and with our new young QB #12, Keelan Ewaliko hopefully things will work out for the best." As for tonight's game, the Mules kicked off to start the game and it was a battle between both defense and offense. In the first quarter of the game with 4:21 on the game clock, #3 of the Mules (photo above) scored the first TD of the game and again with 2:22 left in the first quarter, #9 of the Mules made it 14-0. The Maui Bears came back in the second quarter with 9:48 on the clock to put 7 points on the board when #81 of the Bears and #2 of the Mules were in a jump ball situation at the goal line. Again, it was a well balanced defense and offense in the first half and into the second half. The Mules must had a good talk from coach Tokuda about their errors, or received new saddles, because they really turned up the dust and ran pass the Maui Bears 35-26. Unbelievable with all the turnovers and penalties by the Mules, it was a miracle that they came out victorious. Congratulations to Coach Nolan Tokuda of the Leilehua Mules, his asst. coaches and to his team for a great win, and special recognition to their QB #7 Kenan Sadanaga with 474 yards passing and 5 TDs, and to Coach A.J. Rollos of the Maui Bears, his asst. coaches and to his team. Leilehua now moves on to play Saint Louis at Aloha Stadium on November 19, 2010 7:30 pm, and Mililani against Waianae at 4:00 pm. Also special thanks to Ralph Medeiros Concessionaire Captain for helping me when I was thirsty! "Click here to see Photos"

"Kalaheo Mustangs OIA JV White Champions" over Waipahu Marauders 25-12

What a day for football at Kailua High School where the #1 Kalaheo Mustangs played the #3 Waipahu Marauders in the 2010 OIA Junior Varsity Football White Conference Championship. The mood seemed strange, especially with the news of Kahuku and the forfeit of their season due to an ineligible player. I spoke to several parents at the game and they were upset with the OIA ruling, but still agreed that "a rule is a rule." Maybe the OIA should amend the rules to look at these kinds situations on a case by case basis and our UH Warriors who loss to Boise State 42-7. As for today's game, it started off well balanced with both Kalaheo and Waipahu having their share of errors and fumbles. Waipahu was the first to score, taking advantage of a Kalaheo fumble and ran in for the first TD with 3 minutes, 24 seconds left in the 1st quarter. Kalaheo QB #2 answered back with a great pass to #3 on the 38 yardline, scoring 6 points and the extra point to take the lead 7-6 in the 1st quarter with 59 seconds left. In the second quarter, Kalaheo added 3 more points to take the lead 10-6. Kalahelo's passing game could have given them two more TD's in the third quarter (photo above), but fumbles kept the score at 10-6. Going into the 4th quarter, Waipahu wasn't about to give up. With the determination of #3 Matapua Tulufale, the Marauder's scored their 2nd TD making it 12-10. In the final minutes of the 4th quarter, Kalaheo took to the air and ended the game 25-12, to take the OIA JV White Championship game today. Congratulations to Coach Chris Mellor, his asst. coaches and team for a well deserved championship game. Also, congratulations to coach Sean Saturnio, his asst. coaches and his team who finished in second place and to #7 Mark Failuaga (photo above) for those game tackles. Still an awesome job! Click here for game photos.

"KAHUKU Red Raiders 10-0 Forfeit 2010 Championship Game"

It is a storybook that almost came true for the Kahuku Red Raiders, who were scheduled to play the Mililani Trojans in tonight's OIA Red Championship game. Kahuku was forced to forfeit tonight's game at Aloha Stadium because of an ineligible player (top photo is not the player in question). It was a hard decision by the OIA officials, but the OIA eligibility rules are clearly written for all to follow. There are a lot of questions as to why only now, especially going into the OIA Red Championship game. Kahuku appealed their case to the OIA but to no avail. Unfortunately, the decision is final and is heartbreaking for all the students at Kahuku High School. With this upset, Mililani Trojans Football team has been named the 2010 OIA Red Champions! I am sure the Trojans were looking forward to playing the Red Raiders, win or lose, but we will never know the true outcome. Yes, things like this happen, but hopefully it has opened up our eyes and we can look forward to next year's football season.