Farm Team: The determination of Molokai tennis

It’s been more than 35 years since Ronald Reagan stated, during his first inaugural address, “Those who say that we’re in a time when there are no heroes, they just don’t know where to look.” We discovered heroes in every state, starting with the determined 69-year-old who won a match at an ITF Pro Circuit event earlier this year in the Alabama town of Pelham, and culminating with the coach who has overcome multiple sclerosis to build a winning program at the University of Wyoming. Their compelling stories of courage, perseverance and achievement demonstrate that the message delivered by our 40th President rings as true today as it did then.

In 2014, I attended the Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) tennis tournament, which includes the nearby islands of Lanai and Molokai.

My son had just started his first year as a ninth grader, playing tennis for Maui Preparatory Academy, and we were excited to have the kids competing against all the other island schools.

While watching the children from Molokai play, I met one of their dedicated young coaches, Pono Asano, who was introduced to me by one of the USTA volunteers. When he learned that I was with TENNIS Magazine and TENNIS.com, he said, "You need to come to Molokai and see our grass courts.”

I wondered how an island as rural and economically challenged as Molokai could have grass courts. Then Asano added, laughing, "The grass that grows up through our cement courts.”

We spent the next three days following the Molokai team and its coaches, and enjoyed watching the pure joy, passion, team building, dedication and togetherness that these kids brought.

In an effort to cut costs, the team has become quite resourceful. No player owns a new racquet. If a string breaks, there is one person on the island who can fix it, if there is string available. Tennis balls present another challenge. If the team runs through its annual budgeted allotment of four cases, it will continue to use older balls for the rest of the year and specifically practice picking up (difficult) drop shots.

During the season, the team gets up at 3:30 a.m.—for a 3:30 p.m. match—to take a ferry across the channel. It then boards a 20-year-old school bus that’s kept on Maui. (The other schools in the MIL only travel to Molokai for away games every other year.) They pack enough food in coolers to last the team all three days and nights they stay in Maui to compete in the tournament. They sleep in the gyms of hosting schools and sometimes in the old school bus—and you will rarely witness a group of happier and more respectful kids.

"Win or lose, their team is watching,” one Maui County coach said, “meeting their other teammates coming off the court by the entrance with hugs.”

Molokai High Schoolers are known as the “Farmers,” a nod to the many locals who cultivate and live off the land. As Asano tells it, seasonal farming is comparable to the three months of the year in which tennis can be played. There are no tennis leagues on Molokai and only two community tennis courts.

Tennis is another crop that needs to be nurtured.

“It’s nearly like starving the crop of water,” Asano says about the lack of facilities and opportunities. “Still, a leaf reaches for the sun to grow. A farmer can only prepare the soil, plant the seed and then pray for rain. Imagine if it did rain, and what we would do. We would plant lots of tennis seeds.

"…What makes our sacrifice beautiful is we still rise no matter the obstacle. Give your best, give your all and leave it on the court. Make memories, because one day you all will have a family and tennis will be part of their lives, and just maybe one day you return and give back as a coach or [as a] supporting parent. Have fun, enjoy yourself and leave it all on the court."