Jumping from a 0-10 record to a 8-1 record within two seasons is not something that happens everyday. The ‘Iolani Girls Intermediate Black Basketball team, coached by English teacher Mr. Michael Among, or “Coach Mike,” reigned the ILH D1 league — stepping up from last year’s season. This year’s team had more experience, so rather than teaching basics the coaches were able to focus on higher skills and getting the girls to play together.
The team, made up of girls from classes of 2030-2031, dominated their games. They won eight games — including the ILH championship, and defeated ‘Iolani’s rival Punahou 64-23 in their second game of the season. Their one loss to Punahou again was tough, just 3 points away from securing the win. When playing ‘Iolani, other teams know what to expect. Coach Among stated, “What I’m hearing from other people is, oh, they’ve heard about our team. They’ve heard, wow, that’s a good team.”
Just looking at them, it was clear that the team had great skill. They dropped threes and set screens; blocked their opponents and fought for the ball. Yuriko R.F. ’31 was a starter on the team and put a lot of points on the scoreboard. Yuriko started playing when she was 4 years old, and now plays club for Proformance 14u. Her years of experience and hard work helped out her team.
The differences in experience of this team versus last year’s team show how their records came to differ.
Coach Among explained: “Last year’s team, they were inexperienced, and so it was a whole lot of fundamentals.
They were a fun group to work with… This year’s team knows the basics, and they have good individual skills, so the focus is more of getting them to play together as a team; reminding them to be humble, reminding them to be grateful and treat each other the right way.”
Yuriko agreed. Something she thought was important to remember when playing a team sport is, “to know that it’s not just you, and to know that you have to work as a team.” She also explained something her teammates do to help her improve: “Just, having a positive attitude, and keeping me up, you know, if I make a mistake, they’re always there.”
Coach Mike showed his great coaching ability by keeping the team on track while still allowing them to have fun. The other coaches helped to keep not just the players, but Coach Mike himself focused and allow an environment for everyone to improve. Something coach Mike explained as one of the best parts of coaching is the “light bulb moments when I explain something and I can see in the player’s eyes some twinkle that says they kind of got it they learned something”.
Coach Mike gained lots of coaching experience over the last 35 years, coaching at several other schools as well as helping to coach the boys varsity volleyball team at ‘Iolani.
Digging deeper into his past, Coach Mike attended Maryknoll high school where he won basketball player of the year in 1984. When he graduated he played volleyball at UH for five years, and was able to play basketball there for 1 season — something that contributed to his basketball experience before becoming a coach.
With all of the skill and work that the intermediate black team put in, it doesn’t come as a surprise that they did so well this season. As they continue with basketball, they will learn to remember to be humble and that there is always room to improve.
