Kinnick carries boys volleyball torch into YUJO tourney

TOKYO – Nile C. Kinnick had hoped to debut at last October’s American School In Japan YUJO boys volleyball tournament, only for the government shutdown to get in the way.

Landon Paulino and the Red Devils began play Thursday in the 12th YUJO tournament, which features 15 girls teams and nine boys squads playing over three days at ASIJ’s Mustang Valley sports complex.

It’s not a Far East tournament; DODEA-Pacific doesn’t have boys volleyball on its sports events calendar. But Paulino, a junior outside hitter who moved to Japan from Bahrain via Guam, said the YUJO will do … for now.

“I think there should be a Far East,” Paulino said just before the Red Devils’ first match in the YUJO tournament Thursday morning.

“It’s hard to recruit players” for boys volleyball when there is no Far East, Red Devils boys coach Travis Stevens said. “We’ve been working for three years to try to get into this tournament and it finally happened.”

Stevens and the Red Devils got the OK to play at YUJO last October, but the day before the tournament began, the government shutdown cut off funding for interscholastic athletics.

And for there to be a boys Far East volleyball tournament, more schools need to field teams. There simply aren’t that many right now.

The sport is entrenched in Korea, where Daegu, Osan and Humphreys field boys volleyball teams playing against international schools in the Korean-American Interscholastic Activities Conference.

In years past, E.J. King of Japan fielded boys volleyball teams from time to time. Kadena and Kubasaki of Okinawa, with their large enrollments, could theoretically support boys volleyball; DODEA students play for the private Shogun and Shisa volleyball clubs on island.

But the smaller schools in Japan might have issues fielding boys volleyball teams in the fall with all the other sports they support.

Paulino and Stevens said they’re not giving up. “I think more people would play” boys volleyball if there was a Far East, Paulino said. “They’re not giving us the same opportunities that other sports get.”

This weekend’s YUJO tournament includes girls teams from Kadena and Kubasaki, plus Yokota, Zama and Kinnick. Non-DODEA schools from Korea and Hong Kong have also sent teams.

Elsewhere

This is a key weekend in a variety of sports for DODEA-Pacific schools.

On the gridiron, Kinnick hosts Humphreys at 6 p.m. Friday, a game that could be pivotal in the race for Far East Division I title game space. A Red Devils victory would seal host rights for the Oct. 24 game, but if the Blackhawks win, that could throw the title race wide open.

Zama, which beat Yokota 43-7 four weeks ago, visits the Panthers at 6 p.m. Friday, again with host rights to the Division II title game on the line.

The Trojans would clinch the top seed with a win, but if the Panthers win by an unlikely 37 or more, they would get the tiebreaker.

“The past is the past,” Zama senior linebacker Garrett Allen said. “We have to learn to forget about what happened the last time, because they haven’t. We have to move onto the next game and stay concentrated.”

And the Panthers have certainly not forgotten, Yokota defensive back Jayden Hooker said. “We have to learn from what happened in the last game to make us better going into this game,” he said.

ASIJ, currently second in the D-I standings, travels to Kadena for a 6 p.m. Friday contest. The Mustangs control their destiny regarding the second seed; if they win, that should seal the deal.

Trying for their first wins of the season are Matthew C. Perry and Robert D. Edgren. The Eagles host the Samurai at 6 p.m. Friday.

On the links, nine golfers from Korea – seven from Humphreys and two from Osan – will join their counterparts from Kubasaki and Kadena in inter-district play Saturday and Kadena Air Base’s Banyan Tree golf course.