HILO — The Hilo miniBig Futsal Tournament celebrated its 20th anniversary this past weekend, attracting nearly 500 youth futsal players from across the state to the iconic Edith Kanaka‘ole Multi-purpose Stadium.
The three-day tournament, hosted by the Hawaii Rush Big Island Soccer Club, coincided with the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend and featured a futsal-style soccer event using a 5v5 “mini” player format open to all in the following age groups: U10, U12, U14, Boys and Girls.
Since its inception in 2003, the miniBig tournament has grown into one of the state’s premier futsal competitions, and reaching the 20-year milestone is only a testament of a dedicated group of volunteers, parents and coaches from the Hawaii Rush Big Island Soccer Club who work together to make it happen year after year.
“I’ve been involved for the last ten years as both a parent and organizer,” said Kula Oda, assistant director of coaching for Hawaii Rush and schedule organizer for miniBig. “I think we’ve really grown the tournament in terms of size and in the number of teams coming in. This year we have 50 teams, with 8-10 players per team, so we are looking at 450-500 players in total. I’m happy how consistent it’s been over the last few years and it’s about the capacity of what we can handle here.”
Futsal is a variation of soccer played on a hard court and has grown in popularity amongst players of all ages for its ability to sharpen technical skills while being competitive in a confined space. The Hilo miniBig tournament provides youth players with the perfect opportunity to elevate their game and passion for the sport.
Oda said much of the success comes from growing the club’s volunteer base — “everyone has their part and knows what to do” — and expanding partnerships with local businesses who support the event with donations and prizes. Keeping up with technology via live streaming and the TeamSnap Tournament App featuring up-to-date team standings, has also helped to expand exposure of the event off-island. But of course, you can’t beat the popular concession stands, run by Hawaii Rush parent volunteers along with Oda’s wife, that continues to be a delicious highlight amongst all attendees.
However, keeping the tournament game schedule running smoothly and on time is where Oda shines.
“My goal as a scheduler is to try to get every team at least four games for the whole tournament, and other teams have 5 or 6 games depending on their bracket. With that number of games among 50 teams, with two courts over three days, is about as much as we can handle here.
“We are able to run our games from 8 AM till 9 PM and we keep it running on time with each game being 25 minutes. And we roll no matter what. Whether someone falls or if someone is not ready when the clock starts, well, the clock will still start because if we stop for everything during the course of the day, then we will be here till 3:00 in the morning! For these reasons, we need to keep the games rolling on time.”
For Oda, who is employed as the associate athletics director for UH Hilo Vulcans Athletics, being part of the Hilo miniBig event has come full circle for his family.
“I started when my older son was 7-years old as we had U8s at that time, and then my younger son went through it, but now he’s too old because he’s aged out,” Oda said. “It’s hilarious because now my two boys are coaching our U10 teams. We just had a game with two Hawaii Rush teams playing each other, and one of my boys coached one team, and my other son coached the other. It was fun to watch it evolve into a huge rivalry because they were having fun.
“I remember the years the older boys did that for my sons when they were younger, and now my sons are old enough to give back. So, you’ll see a lot of the older players coming back to help coach the younger ones. We will always encourage that.”