The Lahainaluna High School tennis teams both finished in third place in the MIL standings.

LAHAINA — The sterling legacy of Shigeto “Shigesh” Wakida, Lahaina’s legendary tennis mentor, lives on in Lahainaluna High School coach Macario Pascual.

A humble and dedicated leader of the sport here on the West Side for some 20 years and counting, Coach Mac, a professional artist when he’s not guiding youth tennis enthusiasts, is indeed a manifestation of the dedication and perseverance that Wakida represented for over a half a century.

Today, Coach Mac continues in the leadership of youth tennis as head coach of both the Lahainaluna High School and Lahaina Youth Tennis Club programs. As the leader of these teams since 2006, he has helped nurture the success of local kids such as Jean Okada and Ryan Ideta and many more to the state and national levels.

Of course, the pandemic restrictions wiped out roughly three years of sports programs such as youth tennis, but the inspiration of Coach Wakida and the perseverance of Coach Mac most certainly kept the integrity of youth tennis alive here on the West Side.

“Despite all the negatives associated with the pandemic, we’ve had an exceptional year with a very young and inexperienced team that always kept a positive attitude and kept learning throughout the season,” Pascual explained last week. “It was an open book of coaching, with only one player returning from the previous team of three years ago. It was a joy to teach these kids.”

Coach Mac gave credit to his staff of assistants and hitting coaches that included Barry Probst, Deborah Dorenzo, Val Neamtu and Jean Okada. He also credited team managers Ayumu Hironaka and Jeremiah Laguyan for their contributions throughout the season.

Both the Luna girls and boys teams finished the Maui Interscholastic League season in third place in the final standings. The boys placement was particularly impressive, as they only had four players eligible to compete and thus started every meet with a two-default disadvantage.

The Luna boys were led by Christopher Mueller and Amannaet Akamai Lapus, along with sophomores John Tumpap and Edralin Ceon. The Lady Lunas were sparked by sophomore Chelsea Ramos, along with seniors Amy Khoang, junior Jaiyah Imamoto and sophomores Kalia Hendrickson, Angelika Simon, Shari Peralta and Carmela Bonifacio.

“As I said before, only two of these student-athletes played before, but they all maintained a great attitude at all times. And they all had fun in a really great year. They were resilient and bounced back after every setback and brought improvement after every match. Most of all, they had great spirit and sang the alma mater impressively every time,” Coach Mac said.

“Our thanks goes out to our friends, families and the community that always comes out to support the team. Also, our appreciation to Athletic Director Jon Conrad and Athletic Trainers Rebecca Cohen and Mike Griffo for their continuing care for the team. This support always feels optimistic for the next season and promotes that more kids will come out for the team.”