Saving Miss Daisy

Written by admin on April 15th, 2010

At the southern end of Waikiki, you find Kapiolani Park. The first part of the park is dominated by the Honolulu Zoo. It’s one of the easy walking attractions any visitor can take during their stay in Hawaii.

It’s a beautiful zoo, with famous Diamond Head claiming the eastern skyline. It’s the largest zoo within a 2,300 mile radius, but not large by mainland zoo standards. The zoo is unique in the fact it’s the only zoo in the United States that originated from a King’s grant of royal land to the people. King David Kalakaua, the Monarch of Hawai’i made the land available in 1976.

That’s enough boring history for one blog. However, if you visit the zoo, there is one piece of history that might interest you. It occurred in 1933 and its main character was an African elephant named Daisy.

In 1916, a steamer pulled into a Honolulu port with Daisy. Daisy was a very friendly elephant. Many of the locals recall riding Daisy as a youngster. It was a great attraction for a zoo that had only recently begun importing exotic animals. However, things would not turn out well for Daisy and her many supporters.

Daisy was always confined to a small shelter and tied to a short chain. Over the years, pranksters burned Daisy’s trunk with cigarettes. Some even fed Daisy chewing gum that made her sick. You do remember your mom telling you gum would rot your teeth, right? According to reports, Daisy became “ill tempered and unmanageable.” Who wouldn’t turn mean if you were treated like that, all the giving rides to screaming kids all day.

In 1930, Daisy rebelled and broke a woman’s arm. She began turning on the spectators. In early 1933, the city parks board voted to destroy Daisy. Her handler, George Conradt, fought back, saying, “If you kill Daisy, you’ll kill me.” As it turned out, it was the other way around.

The animal lovers of Honolulu launched a “Save Daisy” campaign and it appeared to be working. However, on March 3, 1933, Daisy suddenly turned on Conradt. Daisy gored and crushed her beloved trainer to death. To stop her rampage, a squad of Honolulu policemen circled Daisy and opened fire. She died at 3:50 pm.

Even Conradt’s wife didn’t blame Daisy. She blamed the people who taunted Daisy for turning her mean. The fallen elephant was hauled to the docks where hundreds of Honolulu’s children viewed Daisy for the last time. The elephant was then buried at sea.

That’s one of the legends of Honolulu and it’s neat to visit the zoo and check out all the animals and history. While you’re at it, climb nearby Diamond Head and I promise, you’ll sleep well that night.

- Coach Stein

ps. If you’d like to have a look at the zoo, just click here.

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Holidays in Hawaii

Written by admin on April 3rd, 2010

This addition to the Malika Sports Blog is being written on the Saturday before Easter. I never have spent Easter in Hawaii. I should ask my business partner who lives in Hawaii, Marissa Maaske, if Easter traditions for the Hawaiian people are different than those of the mainland.

Something I did find out was very interesting. Even though Easter is the most sacred Christian holiday, kids still have a great time with Easter eggs, hunts, and surprises from the Easter bunny. Did you know that many people around the world think the world was formed from a giant egg that hatched in the universe? One Hawaiian creation story says that a giant egg hatched or erupted and the pieces of the yolk formed the Hawaiian Islands. That’s one large Easter egg!

I have spent several pre-Christmas times in Hawaii. I promise you, if your team ever attends a pre or post Christmas basketball event with Malika Sports, one phrase that will stick in your head all the way home is “Mele Kalikimaka.” That’s “Merry Christmas” in Hawaiian. There’s not a hotel lobby, shopping mall, or restaurant that doesn’t play Christmas songs with Mele Kalikimaka in it somewhere. You know how a song can get stuck in your brain. I promise Mele Kalikimaka will be with you well beyond the visit from Santa Christmas Eve.

As the women’s basketball coach at Doane College and Northwest Missouri State University, I traveled to Hawaii several times with my team even before Malika Sports was formed. I have a ten year old son named Sam. When Sam was four, the team competed in the Hoop N Surf Classic. Sam came along with his mother and I to enjoy Hawaii. There wasn’t time to take Sam for his traditional visit to Santa before we left for the islands, so during a break in practices, games, and tourist activities in Honolulu, Sam and I headed to the Kahala Mall for a visit with the jolly, old, fat man.

When it was built, the Kahala Mall was the largest in the world. Since it was only a mile from our Waikiki Hotel, we jumped on a free shuttle for our annual visit with Santa. Sam and I had a tough time finding Santa. You see, Jolly old Santa Claus was not exactly the same as the one you find in a mall in Kansas City. Yes, was still fat, jolly, and had a white beard, but here he sported all kinds of tropical flowers and Hawaiian designs on his red suit. The picture we have of Sam on Santa’s lap goes up every Christmas in our house.

That Christmas was very special after we arrived home. My family met the rest of my wife’s family at a hotel near the Kansa City Airport that features a water park. We checked in on Christmas Eve, the day we arrived home from Hawaii. The day before we left, I visited Hilo Hati’s, a giant store that features all types of Hawaiian goods. I bought five Christmas stockings and bought things to stuff. All the small kid’s items were Hawaiian-type toys and candy. About 2 AM Christmas morning, I bolted through the snow and out to the car, filled the stockings, and snuck back to the room.

When the Sam and his four cousins woke up Christmas morning, the flower-clad Santa had left a treasure trove of Hawaiian Christmas presents. I’m not going to tell you these stocking stuffers went over bigger than a BB gun (I watch a “Christmas Story” about ten times every Christmas), but they were amazed the island Santa could find us in a hotel in Kansas City. Maybe Santa even went for a dip in the water park.

Coach Stein

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Taking a Walk with Malika Sports

Written by admin on March 28th, 2010

It’s Saturday morning in northwest Missouri. They say spring has arrived, but the 43 degree weather with clouds rolling in makes me wonder. As I walk the loop around Northwest Missouri State University, I think about the loop I walk every time I visit Honolulu.

A tradition started one August when I traveled to Hawaii to help host several women’s soccer teams in preseason training and exhibition games. The soccer coaches had a lot of options to get their team in playing shape for the upcoming season. I decided to investigate ways to get myself into coaching shape.

On the advice of Kaala Shea, an owner of a local travel agency, I took off from the Ohana East Hotel just before sunrise. I walked down Kalakaua Ave. for about a mile until I was at Monsarrat Ave. Then, I took the loop around Diamond Head.

Figuring out east from west is a little difficult for me on Ohaua, but I walked up the hill on Monsarrat Ave. Kaala had given me some great advice. Probably about a half mile up the hill, I found Diamond Head Grocery. Kaala said to get one of their blueberry scones, still warm from the oven and a coffee. That was GREAT ADVICE from Kaala.

I carefully carried my breakfast about another half mile up the hill until I got to a small parking place for cars at the entrance to Diamond Head Park. I’m not sure what was more impressive, the fresh scones or watching the sun peak up over the horizon out on the Pacific Ocean. You don’t see many sun rises like that in Missouri.

I can’t lie, I had two scones. When that was all gone, including all the crumbs and I had washed it down with the fresh Hawaiian coffee, I had lots of motivation to continue the walk. The main highlights of the walk were now pretty much gone. Monsarrat Ave. turned into Diamond Head Road. Three more miles of walking got me back to the starting point. It wasn’t that hard, all the time watching the Pacific Ocean brighten up as the sun rose in the east.

I told the teams about the loop around Diamond Head and a couple of them used it in their early morning training routine. I think the coaches only made it to the Diamond Head Grocery. Others took their team into Diamond Head State Park. There’s a great walk to the top of Diamond Head, just over a mile long and all up a steep rise. Not only do you see a great sun rise, but it builds the cardiovascular.

Other soccer coaches found creative ways to train. Some ran the beaches of Waikiki other came straight to the practice fields at Kapiolani Park for a workout. After my walk, I spent the rest of the day setting up soccer nets, filling coolers, and transporting soccer balls to the practice and playing fields. The next morning, I was back on Monsarrat Ave. for another walk at sunrise. Maybe I only got as far as those blueberry scones, but I’ll never admit it.

Coach Stein

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Don’t Forget…

Written by admin on August 26th, 2009

We’re often asked, “What’s the thing most people forget when they come to Hawaii”. Among other things we could mention are things like sunscreen, your suit (bathing suit that is), and some sandals and a little spending money. Very useful info – but they miss the point of the whole Hawaii experience. It’s probably cliche, but we’ll say it anyway: “Don’t forget to relax, make friends, and forget everything that is diminishing your enjoyment of life.”

We at Malika Sports are here to make your stay enjoyable and memorable for all the right reasons. Sure, like your coach, we want you to play hard and leave everything you have on the court. But when you’re finished, leave it on the court and get into the Aloha Spirit that pervades this beautiful place.

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Book now for 2010

Written by admin on August 26th, 2009

We are accepting applications for 2010 which promises to be a great year! It’s been a difficult time for business, homeowners, and for just about anyone who want’s to get from point A to point B. Athletic departments have also felt the pinch and everyone has been forced to watch their spending like a hawk.

Hawaii has really felt the pinch with the tourism industry taking the biggest hit. But things are beginning to look up and the sand and surf is just as great here as its always been. In fact, prices have dropped and it’s a perfect time to be booking travel and resorts. We are anticipating a full slate of quality teams, so we encourage to book early while costs are low and catch the aloha spirit!

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Waikiki Beach

Written by admin on August 26th, 2009

If you’re looking for places to visit you’ve come to the right place. One of the first places you’ll want to go is to the beach..waikiki beach [640x480] It’s a beautiful place with plenty of things to see and do. You can even learn to surf!!

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Hawaii from a coach’s point of view

Written by admin on August 22nd, 2009

Hawaii from a Coach’s Point of View

It’s time Malika Sport entered the world of “blogging.”  I started to blog for the Northwest Missouri State women’s basketball website about a month ago.  I have been amazed at the number of people that actually read the blog.  I will try to write a blog every week that hopefully give you some insight into our love for the Hawaii trips.

I promise this blog is no commercial.  I started going to Hawaii with basketball teams when I coached at Doane College in the mid 1990’s.  Before Hawaii, we had been to Mexico City, Acapulco, Europe, and the Bahamas.  However, after Hawaii that first time, we had to put it on the regular circuit of trips.

The very first time the team and I went to Hawaii, we went straight to Oahu and landed at Honolulu International Airport.  I don’t know what I expected, but it sure wasn’t what I first saw.

Landing in Honolulu

Landing in Honolulu

After taking care of lost luggage and finding our bus, we headed to our hotel.  The traffic was the first downer.  It was near sunset and everyone had thought about that romantic sunset over the Pacific.  Instead, we got sunset under the viaduct.

I was sure once we broke away from the airport traffic; we’d see beaches and people running around with drinks that had little umbrellas.  Once again I was wrong.  For the first 15 minutes, all we saw was a series of dock signs and commercial property.  Not a single umbrella in a fruity looking drink.

In about another 15 minutes, the bus driver announced we were entering Waikiki.  I had always assumed Waikiki was a beach.  I guess the best way to describe Waikiki as a suburb of Honolulu.   It’s a section of the city.  If you thought traffic was bad at the airport, you should have seen it when we hit Waikiki.

The hotel was an Outrigger-chain hotel.  It’s called an Ohana Hotel today.  Now, the name Outrigger means it’s on the beach and the name Ohana means it is a little off the beach.  But back then, it was an Outrigger.  It had an escalator up to the first floor where we checked in.  It was a really good looking hotel with a great staff, but we had been Hawaii for 90 minutes and had not yet spotted the Pacific Ocean.

Ohana Hotel

Ohana Hotel

As it turned out, you had to go down the escalator, walk west for a block and a half, through the Outrigger Reef Hotel and there it was!  It was our first look at Waikiki Beach and the Pacific Ocean.

That trip was handled by a different company, but they did a great job for us.  We played three games while on Oahu.  Every one of us had a chance to see the sunset and rise on the Pacific Ocean.  We were hooked.
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