Chris Honda, a fixture in the community as a youth coach and paramedic, has been hired as the Waiakea baseball coach, taking over from Eric Kurosawa.
Last season, the Warriors finished as the BIIF Division I runner-up and upset Saint Louis 9-4 in the first round, behind Ty Honda’s complete-game gem.
Unfortunately, Honda, who played at UH-Hilo and coaches PONY baseball, won’t have his son on the team. Ty Honda is now a freshman at UHH.
“I was interested in coaching high school baseball and the opportunity came up this year,” Honda said. “I got a little experience last year (as an assistant), and the timing was right. I threw my hat in and was fortunate to be selected.”
According to recent history, it’s Waiakea’s turn to win the BIIF title in 2020, considering the Warriors have won in even-numbered years since 2012.
However, 10 players graduated and everyone with pitching experience is gone. Honda is a youth coach, so developing talent is a challenge he’s looking forward to.
“Pitching is one area we need to work on,” he said. “We’re excited about a couple of players and have confidence in them. We’ll coach them up and let them go out there and compete. Hopefully, we can catch and throw the ball and play defense, put the ball in play and score some runs.”
There should be more of a spotlight on the Warriors for the upcoming spring season in 2020 because of sluggers Kala’i Rosario and Safea Mauai, two major league draft prospects.
“We’re fortunate to have Kala’i and Safea on the team,” Honda said. “I coached Kala’i in T-ball and Safea when he was 10 years old. They’re big names, but we need everybody on the team to be successful. They’re talented young men and have a bright future.”
Like Kurosawa, also a longtime PONY coach, Honda wants to teach things beyond the game.
“The goal for the program is to get the kids to love the game,” he said. “We want to teach fundamentals like catching and throwing and give them life skills to use when they graduate. We call it the game of life. We want to make them better on and off the field and have fun.”
Honda was a catcher at UHH back in 1992 when the Vulcans upset No. 1 USC on the road. He remembers that experience vividly because Shon Malani, another longtime youth coach, was on the Trojans, and the third baseman was Aaron Boone, now the New York Yankees manager.
“We beat USC at Dedeaux Field. That was the highlight of my career,” Honda said. “Shon Malani was on that team, so I joke around with him on that.”
Since he was 4 years old, Honda has soaked up baseball lessons, both about life and fundamentals, from all the coaches in his life.
“I’ve taken a little from each and use what works for me,” said Honda, who noted retired UHH coach Joey Estrella was a strong influence. “Coach Estrella gave me a lot of that. What I liked about him was he was not a yelling coach. He was mellow and very positive.
“That really helped me to be confident and allowed me to play the best that I could. He also taught me about life skills, and public service, something I instill in whatever team I coach. You want them to get involved in the community and into public speaking. You want to give them those skills because that’s what they’ll do.”