The Kahiau Cup
The 2014 Kahiau Cup raised thousands of dollars for Kahiau: A Tennis Foundation. The charity tournament, held at the Oahu Club, featured eight teams who competed World Team Tennis style with hopes
to take home the first ever, Kahiau Cup. Each team was assigned a local professional who acted as team
captain. Dennis Lajola, Ikaika Jobe, Mikael Maatta, and Betsy Purpura were some of the pros that volunteered their time for the event. What made the tournament fun was the World Team Tennis format,
which allowed pros to sub in at any given time. Each of the matches were timed and teams competed
in a round robin format.
“The chatter, banter and continuous laughter [at first] confused me. Especially after watching a pro
and his partner work like the ‘dickens’ to earn the point, only to have their opponents pull out a ‘do over
ticket’ to replay the point,” said Donna Ede, USTA board member and sponsor of the Vision Care Centers
Hawaii team. Each player was able to purchase mulligans in case they wanted to do over any important
missed points. “ The laughter was contagious as was the continuous fist bumps, high fives and hugs I
guess I should also mention there was a lot of great tennis,” she concluded.
“It was awesome to see people who love the game come together and play for such a great cause,” said
Andrea Zannoni, pro for the Market City Shopping Center team. “I can see this tournament growing
every year! It is a truly unique experience that benefits youth tennis in Hawaii!” concluded Zannoni.
The tournament led up to the victory of the American Savings Bank team, led by pro Mikael Maatta and
sponsored by Pom Luxton. Food and drinks were provided to all players as well as door prizes and raffles.
HEAD/PENN was onsite with the sponsor of tennis balls for tournament play as well as demo rackets.
Special mahalo to all of our sponsors; American Savings Bank, Carlsmith, Vision Care Centers Hawaii,
Market City Shopping Center, Outrigger Hotels and Resorts, Richard Ing, and Kevin Inn and friends,
HEAD/PENN, and the Oahu Club. We would also like to thank our pros, Jan Tribler, Mikael Maatta, Besty
Purpura, Dennis Lajola, Ikaika Jobe, Andrea Zannoni, Rong Ma, and Zora Vlckova. Kahiau looks forward to
the 2nd Annual Kahiau Cup in 2015.
American Saving’s Bank, Champions
14
Hawaii Pacific Yearbook 2015