Maratita chosen to coach Hawaii’s Saint Francis boys and girls junior varsity teams

By SGT FORD EBESUGAWA
FOR THE SAIPAN TRIBUNE

Hawaii’s Saint Francis High School has selected Saipan native son Edward Maratita Jr. to coach its boys and girls junior varsity basketball teams and serve as top assistant coach to head coach Paul Tanaka’s girls varsity team.

Tanaka, who was selected “Coach of Year” in 2003 for leading the Troubadours to their first high school Division II girls championship, made the selection of Maratita based on his phenomenal experienced. He said Maratita had played and coached basketball at different levels.

Maratita, who used to be a police officer back home, is more than qualified to coach basketball at the high school and college level, according to Tanaka.

He had coached youth teams in Hawaii, Guam, and Saipan and played for the government and private sector leagues as well. Aside from basketball, he has other coaching experiences such as Greco-Roman and free-style wrestling, football, and volleyball, to name a few. Ask what is it like to coach, his reply was “It’s fun. When having problems I go back to basics. It doesn’t hurt to regroup”.

Tanaka was introduced to Maratita in the summer of June 2001. The Hawaii Police Athletic League, or PAL, coordinated and sponsored coed youth basketball games at the Mililani Recreational Youth Center.

Honolulu police officer Darryl Picadura (in charge of the Mililani PAL) and Maratita were at hand to monitor the games. Tanaka recalls, in one of those games, it happened that one of the coaches did not show.

To avoid a forfeit, officer Picadura asked officer Maratita if he could step in as a coach for the team. Maratita did not hesitate and took over.

Tanaka recalled, “I was watching and observing the game, to my surprise in the first half, all the kids got a chance to play. The playing time was balanced out. In the second half of the game, the team that I have watched and observed in the past was different. These kids played basic fundamental basketball. Defense and offence were balanced. Unlike before, I never saw one kid showboating or do any fancy basketball footwork.”

After the game, Tanaka said he had a chance to talk to Maratita.

“I got to the point, ‘How did you do it? What did you promised them?’ His reply, if I recall was, ‘if the kid can run, jump, dribble, and shot, you got yourself a basketball player. Offer the kids everything and hope their smart enough to take that talent and use it. At any given day or night a ball player will have his ups and downs both offensively and defensively and since this is a team sport, each player contributes by helping cover for a player that is off on that day or night.’”

In the summer of June 2002, Tanaka had a chance to meet Maratita again. This time it was at Saint Patrick’s Junior High School, while conducting a drug prevention-training program called D.A.R.E.

Tanaka said Maratita was talking to about 50-plus kids about basketball, and how they could use basketball as an alternative to drug use and violence. After his lecture, to Tanaka’s surprise, the kids actually asked him for his autograph and even take pictures like he was a basketball star or celebrity.

“I asked myself, if officer Maratita can get this kids together and come up with innovative or creative ideas for kids, I can imagine what he can do as a coach,” he said.

Tanaka said for the past few years, he has tried to convince Maratita to coach and assist him with the Troubadours basketball program. Maratita has not accepted nor refused the coaching job.

Maratita eventually was chosen for the Saint Francis coaching job after Tanaka heard that Maratita would be based in Honolulu during his military tenure with the Air Force, at Hickam Air Force Base. At the present time, Maratita’s military duty is out of Guam.

According to assistant principal Sergio Robles, it’s still a long way off until the basketball season begins in February of 2006 and the school is behind Tanaka’s selection of Maratita.

“We will be seeing Maratita again, and maybe he will take one of the teaching positions open here at Saint Francis,” said Robles.

In addition, it is rumored that other athletic directors aquatinted with Maratita have expressed interest in hiring him as basketball head coach for the Mililani High School Trojans and Kamehameha High-Hawaii Warriors.

Warrior’s athletic director Kimo Miller had expressed interest in officer Maratita while doing scouting. Leilani Galdones is one of the Lady Warriors standout players produced by Maratita and recruited out of Mililani PAL.