By Mika Tufuga-Valai ~ Special to Kaleo
New head coach Sekeli Wily is helping fulfill the vision of the Lä’ie Big Boys Football program:

Laie Park is usually packed with park brats either playing basketball, riding around on their bikes, skateboarding, or just hanging out with friends. Often you will see parents and their kids rolling around on the grass. Occasionally you will spot a group of men running around and laughing, playing a game of touch rugby. At any given moment you may see some kind of sports being played by children of all ages here at Laie Park. Recently, Little League baseball occupied the park with vans, SUVs, lawn chairs, and an array of parents nibbling on sunflower seeds as they cheered their kids on.

For the next four months Laie Park will experience the same sort of occupancy. Except this time they gather for a much “Bigger” reason. Parents from as far as Kahaluu and over the Koolau Mountains to Mililani come to Laie park for the same reasons thousands of parents nationwide go to the parks these days: Football! And here in Laie it’s Big Boys Football — an idea that is slowly but surely becoming a recognized vision.

Big Boys football started with a concerned parent who wanted to simply teach his son the basic agility skills of football. According to Vai “Doc” Taula, “I didn’t want my boy to miss out on football because he was too young or too heavy.” After several days of running drills another father Taula had spoken with showed up with his son. “It was me and Kalani [Soren] and three boys for a while,” he said.

It grew from there. The small drills started attracting bigger kids from around the community who could not make the weight at the Pop Warner level. Before long Taula developed an idea, a direction, a dream for these boys. He spoke with an acquaintance from Waianae, Father John, who has worked with kids for many years, about possibly creating similar teams in the Waianae area. Father John liked the idea so much that he immediately began putting a team together. Today, Laie plays in the Hawaii Athletic League of Scholars against Hawaii Kai, Waikele and Kapolei.

There is a similar, but different Big Boys Football League with intermediate teams from Kalihi and Honolulu; and additional interested teams from Windward, Honolulu and Mililani. There are also elementary level teams, ages 9–11.

This year Taula decided to help coach for Kahuku JV football. “I just want to see that my kids who spent three years with me get a fair chance to play in the next level, plus I want be with my boy on the field, too,” he explained.
His departure as head coach from Kahuku’s Big Boys football team left a void that would take someone just as determined and focused to fill. Taula says it took him several months to try to find the right person; someone with experience not only as a player but as a coach, a person who had passion for the game. “Junior [Fatu Fiso] and I spoke to a lot of people with potential to run this program, but we just didn’t have the right feeling about anyone in particular.”

During the search for a replacement Taula had always had the perfect candidate for the job, but this particular person had been going through some personal challenges. “I went with my heart though,” explained Taula with a serious look on his face. “I offered Sekeli Wily the job. This boy has passion for the game and you can’t teach that,” he continued.

Wily accepted the position wholeheartedly. “It’s time for me to give back to this community what they gave me,” he said. The next day he spoke with parents, began to organize his coaching staff, and solicited the help of community members.

With education as a priority, he approached BYU-Hawai‘i associate dean of international students Charles W.H. Goo [since retired and now serving as Latter-day Saint Hong Kong Temple president] who got Pat Macy involved, who solicited the help of other professors who all rallied to set up a tutorial and mentoring program in the school’s auditorium. “The kids need to know that education is more important than football and this is a good way to show them,” said Wily.

Wily has also rallied the community by organizing a booster club with a finance committee to handle donations. He said his goal is to have the “right people run these organizations so that I can just focus on the kids. It’s all about the kids.”

According to Taula, “This boy is doing more things than I ever did in my three years as head coach.” He added when he told some of the parents that Wily had been asked to be the head coach, they initially became concerned. But those concerns were hopefully put to rest.

“Parents care about their kids, so they have to be concerned,” Wily responded. “I have kids and I would do the same thing too. But I can’t worry about that right now. I have no time for that. There’s a lot of things that need to be done.”

Perhaps the driving force behind Wily’s enthusiasm is the idea that he has been given a second chance, and his commitment thus far to organizing and establishing integrity among his coaching staff, parents and especially the kids is his way of saying thank you. “I would do anything for these kids,” he said.

When you come and watch the Kahuku Big Boys football team practice at Lä‘ie Park, you will see for yourself why coach Wily has no time for skepticism or doubters. You will see he and his coaching staff put their hearts into these kids every day. You will also witness for yourself the continued realization of a vision that was initiated out of a father’s love for his son.

Most important of all, you will be overcome with pride to see these kids play the game as suggested by the welcoming sign near the park entrance, the way football should be played: “Play hard. Have Fun.”

— folifotos

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