KAILUA-KONA — The biannual For Kona From Kona soccer tournament has college players and lifelong lovers of the game gathered together this weekend to compete at the hockey rink at Old Kona Airport Park.
It may be a casual tournament, but the talent level is certainly high.
“It’s the best soccer you’ll see on the Big Island,” Paul Chinen said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s some of the best soccer in the state, because we get kids who have just graduated high school and are playing in college right now, kids who have just finished college, and adults who have been playing for a while.”
Ten teams are competing against each other as a way to raise money for scholarships for Big Island students. Chinen, the Konawaena JV football head coach, is one of the organizers of the tournament, founded in 2013 by his daughter, Summer Butindaro.
“My daughter Summer is a soccer player, and she was the one who envisioned doing this,” Chinen said. “Normally, you just get these young adults playing by themselves. But for this tournament, you get families coming out and they’ll bring their kids out for it.”
Chinen said they aim to keep the tournament “family-friendly.”
“The players understand the rules,” Chinen said. “They know to play high competition, to play to win, but also to play with sportsmanship.”
Each player pays $20 to compete in the tournament, and that money is then given to local students from West Hawaii schools who have applied to receive the scholarship. A For Kona From Kona tournament is also played in the summer, over the Fourth of July weekend.
The teams Gunners, Big Island Boiz, Rice Packers, Kipuupuu, Souljahs, Centro America, Grass Fed, Chance Um, Palala &Friends, and Hapa play games of 20-minute halves from Friday through Sunday.
Nanea Wall, a former Konawaena soccer player who now plays for UH-Hilo, is competing with the team Grass Fed with her sisters, including Kaua Wall, the girls soccer coach at Konawaena.
“There’s my sisters playing and there’s another pair of sisters, so the tournament is pretty family oriented,” Nanea Wall said.
Today is the last day for the tournament, and the games begin at 11 a.m. Two championship games, one for the co-ed division and one for the men’s division, will be played tonight at 6:30 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
“I like how the tournament is all local people and I get to play with my sisters and good friends from high school,” Wall said. “It’s about being home. It’s super competitive, but it’s fun.”
Scholarship applications can be downloaded at http://www.holoholoministries.com/for-kona-from-kona-indoor-soccer-tournament.html. Applications can be submitted from Jan. 1, 2020 to April 18.