Highlight videos and word-of-mouth praise are fine and dandy and all, but there is no substitute for the real thing when itcomes to recruiting.
When college coaches watch high school players in person, what they see is what they get – flaws are hard to hide.
Be it Kizzah Maltezo’s abilities as a an “incredible passer and scorer in the open court,” or the intangibles –“I love hersavviness and work ethic” – Concordia University women’s basketball coach Sean Kelly obviously liked what he saw the firsttime he watched the then-Honokaa senior playing with the Big Island All-Stars in Oregon in the summer of 2015.
The feeling was mutual.
Maltezo saw other colleges during the trip, but she went back for a visit to Concordia in the fall, consulted with DaphneHonma, her high school and club coach, and her college search was over.
“Coming from a small town, it’s great to come here to a bigger community (Portland),” Maltezo said Friday after completingher first week of classes at Division II Concordia. “It’s amazing here. I like the small (college) community. It’s great, and withall the support it’s crazy and feels just like back home.”
Maltezo, a former BIIF Division II co-Player of the Year who has athletic and academic scholarships that cover approximately80 percent of her college costs, appears to have the best of both worlds.
To hear Honma tell it, Concordia is tucked away in an easy-going suburban environment, just a simple right-hand turnfrom all the advantages of city life.
Honma, a former D-II coach at UH-Hilo, also likes that her former standout guard went to a program with a relatively newcoach, Kelly is entering his third season, who is still trying to bring in his own players to the program.
“(Kelly’s) looking for a point guard that can score,” Honma said. “I think he likes the fact that Kizzah is aggressive andoffensive-minded.
“Kizzah is a point guard with a shooting guard mentality. She has a good attitude. I just like the fit.”
The Cavaliers could use the help. They finished 6-22 last season and were 10th in the Great Northwest Athletic Conference.Maltezo already has met her teammates, and the first team workout isn’t that far away.
“We have 12 players, one is still injured,” Maltezo said, “and I’m pretty sure (coach’s) is going to play all of us.”
Her goal was to play in college practically ever since her friends encouraged her to give basketball a try in the sixth grade.
She persevered through a trying sophomore season. Tearing her ACL was painful, as was watching from the bench as theDragons won their first HHSAA Division II basketball title.
“The process of recovery was hard,” she said, “but I knew I could come back better and stronger.
“When they won the state championship without me, that just made me push harder.”
Maltezo was front and center as Honokaa repeated in 2015, and last season she helped the Dragons make a smoothtransition to Division I, earning first-team all-league honors.
Honma’s patience with her players has been know to wear thin at times, but that figures to only help Maltezo meet thedemands of the college game.
“Totally, coach always got me ready to play,” Maltezo said, “and she’s helped me reach my goals.”
“I always knew I wanted to leave Hawaii for college.”
Is she even a little homesick?
“I do miss the food,” she said.
