Complete with a new wave cheer, a bilingual sports rap, and some group head shaving, a pep rally kicked off this year’s fall sports season in Ka’ulaheanuiokamoku gymnasium.
The entire high school student body sat and enjoyed the cheers and routines of the Kamehameha Schools Maui cheerleaders, who broke out a new cheer that incorporates the classic crowd wave and a new twist on an old cheer.
Each spring sport was announced, with Chris Kim, ASKSM president, presenting the head coaches –and a few members of each spring sport – to speak about the goals and aspirations for this year’s competitions.
Football started it off with their Head Coach Kevin O’Brien, flanked by team captains, talking about this coming season and asking for the support of the students at upcoming games. “Come out and support your friends,” he said, as he spoke about the team’s efforts on the field.
Then, for the girls volleyball team, Head Coach Bala Spencer introduced junior Bobbi Kalama, who described their goal of winning an eighth consecutive MIL championship.
Next, cross country coach Kumu Kanani Baz led the student body in a KSM style “we will rock you” rap in English and Hawaiian.
Last, the cheerleaders described their hopes of winning the league title and beating the long-time champions, the Baldwin Bears.
Next, Kim called upon all the class presidents and a special guest, Vice-principal Leo Delatori. Mr Delatori had a debt to pay to the student body. Last year, in 2010, Mr. Delatori told the students of KSM that if they improved their Northwest Evaluation Association test scores, he would shave his head. The high school students, as a whole, improved their scores by 16% between the fall and spring testing, 1% over the national norm for improvement.
So it commenced. The presidents from all the classes and Kim stated to chop his hair off with an electric razor and a pair of scissors.
The rally ended because of time constraints, so the KSM cheerleaders quickly led the school through “I Mua Kamehameha,” and the rally drew to an end.
