Hi Keiki Parents,

Welcome to the weekly update.  Since I don’t see very many of you at the beach, please take the time to read my email each week to keep you in the loop.  I promise to be as brief as possible.

Information:

• Remember, there is no practice on Wednesday’s in May.  We will start M/W practices on June 1st.
• Please bring both signed waivers to practice.  I have an extremely crazy, hectic and excitng week in my life this week, so bear with me as I sift through what I have recieved so far.
• I have two paddlers helping me this summer.  Nicole Aquirre paddles on the wahine team with me and Hunter Bozzani (Greg Bozzani’s daughter for the kane) who is graduating from high school and will be ready to go in two weeks. Nicole has been paddling for 3 years and Hunter for at least 5.  Both are wonderful for volunteering, so please say aloha or mahalo to them if you see them on the beach!  They are generously donating their time and I really appreciate their help.
• Here are the dues for the season:  $50 for returning paddlers who don’t need a race jersey and $75 for new paddlers or returning ones who need a new jersey.  I will start collecting dues on May 30th.
• It was brought to my attention that May 23rd is open house for most of LB Unified.  If this is a major conflict for many of you, we can possibly shift practice to Thursday of that week.  Let me know…

Dates:

• Just keep the three races dates on your calender:  July 9, 16 and 23.  Don’t forget to make your reservations for Santa Barbara (23rd).

Fun Stuff (same as last year in case it looks familiar):

• Your kids were taught the basic parts of the hawaiian canoe last week.  I have attached a schematic for those who are interested.  They learned the bow (Manu thu), stern or aft (Manu hope), the hull  (Ka’ Ale), the wood arms (Iaku) and the outrigger (Ama).
• They also learned many of the traditions of outrigger paddling including always entering the canoe on the ama side, no stepping over the canoe, no bananas in the canoe and no talking mean, down or negative in the canoe.  Lastly they learned that the canoe always faces the ocean out of respect for the canoes spirit.  Each canoe is blessed with a name and is believed to have a live spirit just like you and I.  In Hawaii, this is taken to great heart, especially for the koa wood canoes.
• In addition to these Hawaiian words, the keiki’s also learned the word aloha.  Most of us know this word to mean hello or goodbye.  It also means I love you.  Remember to spread a little aloha in your family!  If you would like to hear a great song about this, go to itunes and download Aloha by The Mana’o Company.
• Not a single keiki remembered our chant although our aloha award winner from last year, Kai, was about 95% spot on!  Here it is!  Please have them start practicing.

Ho’okahi ka ‘ilau like ana. “Wield the paddles together.”

Mahalo for entrusting your keiki with me!  It’s going to be a great summer!

Aloha,

Coach Becki

Respect (the canoe & ocean), Trust (your steersman), Be There (for eachother)