KEALAKEKUA — Dan Curran jokes that a lot of the time he feels like a used car salesman around the Konawaena campus.
Curran, the head coach of Konawaena’s lacrosse program and a physical education teacher at the school, is always on the prowl to bring new Wildcat talent to his sport.
“Whether it’s kids who play other sports with skill sets that look like they would transfer to lacrosse or kids from my P.E. class, I’m always pitching the sport, encouraging them to come out,” Curran said.
Konawaena is one of two lacrosse clubs on the island, the other being Hawaii Preparatory Academy. For a while, head coach Will Zucker’s Ka Makani squad was the big brother of the Wildcats, having a two-year head start to build a program.
However, as the rivalry has grown between the Big Island’s only two high school squads, the talent disparity has shrunk, making each game must-see.
Konawaena and Hawaii Prep will add another page to their rivalry on Friday at 6:30 p.m., bringing the game touted as “the fastest on two feet” to Julian Yates Field.
It will be the second matchup between the teams this season. Hawaii Prep took the opener 4-3.
“It should be a good one,” Curran said. “I think it’s important people know that lacrosse is an Indigenous sport that was played by Native Americans. The culture of the sport is very important. And not only is it one of the oldest sports in North America, but it’s now one of the fastest growing.”
The sport has seen steady growth at both Big Island schools and in the state. On Oahu, Saint Louis added a team this year, bringing the total to five squads in Hawaii. Punahou and the Sharks — made up of players from multiple schools — are the others.
The teams play each other through the year in the Aloha Youth Lacrosse Association. The Sharks made a visit last weekend to Kealakekua, coming away with two convincing victories over Konawaena (8-2) and Hawaii Prep (13-0). Punahou is slated to visit later this month.
The season wraps up with the Founders Cup, a tournament which functions as the state championship for the sport. This year it will be held at Saint Louis High School and Kapiolani Park from May 5-6.
As for the ideal future locally, Curran would like to see lacrosse become recognized as an official high school sport — which will take at least two more teams — and to get a youth program up and running. However, the problem has been finding people with enough knowledge of the game to teach it.
“We have been getting consistent numbers, which has been key for us,” Curran said. “We have made some attempts to add more schools on the island, but the biggest obstacle is finding people who know how to coach the sport.”
Curran is entering his fourth year at the helm at Konawaena. This year, he will graduate his first senior class, with more than a handful that have played all four years. Some have even developed aspirations to play at the next level.
“Many of them have made huge strides. It’s been fun to see,” Curran said. “We just want to keep it growing.”
Anyone interested in learning more or supporting the clubs can email Curran at danielcurran31@yahoo.com or find Big Island Lacrosse on Facebook.