Friday, April 21, 2017

The "Warriors (Makua Ali'i)" at the 2017 LVSSA/SSUSA Southwest Championship Las Vegas, Naveda


Donald Meinel

We started this Warriors team and kind of inherited players from other teams. We were actually part of the Makua Ali'i League which had 60 and 65 team, so we started playing senior softball on the 60's team. As we progressed through the years we decided to make our own team. Most of us are Kamehameha alumni and we have been together for about 3 years. We merged from the 60 to 65 team and then when we hit the 65 division, we decided to go to the Warriors and started the Warriors Club. We inherited a team called "Da Hui" and then put our guys together and went on to play Winter World in 2014 and took our first Championship. From there, in 2015 we stayed with Da Hui for this South West Tournament and took our second championship here in Las Vegas.

Lyle Mattson (Bucky)

I stepped up to the plate to coach the 60's because nobody wanted to coach the Makua Ali'i and we had a lot of great teams that played. William Andrade (Bully) and Donald Meinel both played on the 60's team, and when Donald played on the Warriors team, he brought the 60's on to join the Warriors. Then we finally won our first tournament in Reno as the 60's Warriors in 2016. This all started with Donald Meinel's 65 Warriors, 60's, 70's and 75's.

William Andrade (Bully)

We were 64 at the time and could play 65 and 64 and that's how we went to the Phoenix Winter World Champiomship. Donald's whole idea was to get all those who were born in 1950, the class of 1968 to make a team so we could keep moving on from 65 and 70 and that's how we created the Warriors team after team Da Hui. Bucky wanted to be a part of our Warrior team, but he was younger than us so he couldn't play with us at the time. He eventually turned 65 so we brought him up to the 65's and he brought his Makua Ali'i 60's team and now they are the Makua Ali'i Warriors and we are the Warriors. Without people like Donald, Bucky and even myself, we wouldn't be able to continue this tradition of playing softball into our 70's or even 80's. We want to continue to progress up the ladder and keep playing softball because it's  passion of ours. As you can see, we enjoy the fellowship and enjoy the game.  

The Warriors vs LVSSA Video  Photo's  The Warriors vs Classics Video Photo's