nd, the Maryknoll School girls teams started winning. In fact, they were the dominant team in the formative years of Hawai‘i girls basketball. Not only did they win the 1977 state championship, but they would go on to win the 1978 state championship too – going undefeated and winning the Interscholastic League of Honolulu (ILH) championship for three consecutive years from 1976 to 1978. “It was a good run for us,” says Coach Dung. “It brought a lot of attention to our sport, particularly because we were a small school, and we had no gym. It was a pretty big thing. I was fortunate to be there.” Nearly forty years later and now with a beautiful gym, Maryknoll School’s varsity girls basketball head coach and Vice Principal Thomas “Chico” Furtado echoes Coach Dung’s appreciation: “I have enjoyed coaching at Maryknoll over the past five years,” says Coach Chico. “I love to compete. I love preparing our players to compete.” And, with Coach Chico’s leadership, the Maryknoll School girls basketball players continue to compete at the highest level – winning the past three ILH championship titles and achieving state runner-up accolades in 2016 and 2017. Coach Chico has been named ILH Coach of the Year for the past three years along with ILH First Team All-Stars Alexis Delovio ’16 in 2015 and 2016 and Isabella Cravens ’18, Rhianne Omori ’18, and Kamalu Kamakawiwo‘ole ’19 in 2017. Like Coach Dung’s teams of the 1970s, the success comes with an unwavering commitment to hard work. “Our practices prepare us for competition,” states Coach Chico. “We are constantly game planning for our opponents. Going over offensive and defensive sets, we do a lot of shooting, and we have a lot of position skill-building drills.” Kehau Gilliland ’18, who has been playing basketball for Maryknoll School since seventh grade, describes the organization and hard work necessary. “On regular practice days when the bell rings at 2:45 p.m. the team needs to book it to the gym so we
can change and get ready for practice that usually starts at 3:00 p.m. We can’t be late,” she says. “During season, we are constantly getting home late from games and practice. When we finally finish our homework and go to sleep, we wake up the next morning to go to school. Then, while we sit through classes, all we think about is the game coming up or the game that just happened.” “I believe that being a Maryknoll student-athlete is a special privilege,” says Coach Chico. “It is important to me that the girls strive for greatness; as a player, as a student, and especially as a person.” Coach Chico’s student-athlete philosophy has been instilled in Kehau. She says, “Being a student-athlete has taught me to value my education first and that athletics is a privilege. It has influenced me to be more organized, responsible, and hard working in everything I do. I have learned communication and leadership skills from being on the team.” Even with the recent success, the girls’ ultimate goal of a state championship remains unfulfilled. “The 2017 game was completely heart breaking,” recollects Kehau, “but when we came out of the locker room with our heads hanging, our entire support system was outside – still cheering for us. Even though we didn’t win, they were proud of us because of the amount of effort and heart we put into that game.” Despite heartbreaking losses, Coach Chico remains unwaveringly devoted to exceling. “In both state championship games, we were competitive and in a position to win late in the game. But, we were not able to make enough plays down the stretch to win. It wasn’t for lack of effort. Our girls played their hearts out. Our time will come.” Maryknoll School embraces its athletic tradition of competing at the highest level – even despite the historical challenges of facilities and student population. Athletic Director Ben Valle ’84 describes the instilled values of Maryknoll School athletics: “It’s the idea of hard work, competing at the highest level, being accountable. The same things we ask of kids in the classroom, we ask of them in athletics. We are never going to make excuses. As you look at us over 90 years, we never had fields, we never had gyms, we never had a lot of students, but the expectation was still to compete at the highest level.” And, the girls basketball team has and will continue to do just that.
The Knoller
51