KAILUA-KONA — The world turned its focus to Hawaii on Saturday after a false missile alert caused confusion, worry and chaos all over the state.
However — for the most part — the show went on nearly as expected, with only a few cancellations and delays.
Sports have always had there place after disasters, usually as a healing tool to help people take their mind off what has happened, and to put their focus on something more positive and fun.
The same could be said after the scare BIIF student-athletes received on Saturday. With an array of sports going on from paddling, swimming and wrestling, to baseball soccer and basketball, there were many distractions available for a world where a possible missile strike on US soil, specifically Hawaii, is a reality.
“This is the world we live in now, a world where this could actually happen,” said Parker School head paddling coach Derek Park after his team competed in a regatta at Kailua Pier on Saturday. “Two years ago, with the government we had, something like this may not have been looked at with much seriousness. But now, we live in a scary world.”
Parker’s paddling team was affected more than most schools on Saturday. They were en route to Kailua Pier when the alert went off a little after 8 a.m.
“We decided to whip around and go back to school where the theater serves as the bomb shelter,” Park said. “It was safer there and the parents would know where their kids are.”
While Parker was hunkered down, most of the other schools expected to compete in Saturday’s regatta were already at the pier. As the original alert went out, the kids were ushered into the lobby of King Kamehameha’s Kona Beach Hotel.
It took 38 minutes for the second alert to come out announcing the false alarm. Once that happened, the Parker School crew still had to make the journey down the Kailua-Kona, where the other teams were waiting.
“Once the all clear was given we had to get a hold of Parker and get them down here,” said Kealakehe athletic director Alan Vogt, who is also the league’s coordinator for BIIF paddling. “We started about 30 to 45 minutes late, so it was not too bad.
For Parker, the drive down was just what the team needed after the stressful situation that had played out.
“We have such a long drive down, it gave the kids time to decompress and relax,” Park said. “Mostly, the kids were feeding off my attitude during everything that happened. Kids are very adaptable and they feed off the adults around them. If I’m freaking out, then they are freaking out so it is important to stay calm.”
For other sports around the island, there were only a few cancellations on the day, with the most notable being a pair of soccer matches between Keaau and Makua Lani. For Vogt, dealing with the delay in paddling was only a small part of his busy day.
“I (had) six or seven events going on, so it became all about who is playing and who is not,” Vogt said. “For paddling, we knew we had to have it because it would have been impossible to make up.”
Vogt did have one JV baseball game canceled when the Waiakea team, which was traveling on Saddle Road at the time of the alert, had to turn back.
“I heard that everyone was hunkered down at Konawaena for the wrestling meet, but they were able to continue on as scheduled as well,” Vogt said. “With all the travel on the island, I was pretty pleased we were still able to hold a number of events.”