![]() “Luckily, I was never caught up in any of it, but seeing it happen to other people that I knew, it was definitely an eye-opener that scared you straight.” It happened a lot,” Aumua said of the shootings. As the unprovoked shooting unfolded, one of Aumua’s friends was shot on the court, and another was shot as he tried to flee. One day while playing basketball with friends who were also of Polynesian descent, some men unknown to him began to fire bullets toward them. During that time, racial violence plagued the city and Aumua was not immune as it crept into his life. “Whatever community you are a part of, you should try to make it better.”Īfter he graduated from high school in 1997, Aumua left the beach countryside to play football and baseball for Los Angeles Harbor College. “It’s not necessarily about sports it’s about the community,” Aumua, 43, said of why he volunteers. The successes and failures found in competition and how a person handles them is good for youth to experience, he said. He eventually brought that spirit to Camp Zama, where he often volunteers to coach youth sports.Ĭhildren can learn many lessons from playing a sport, said Aumua, a supervisory air traffic control specialist at Kastner Airfield here. He played various sports and attended Kahuku High School, where he was a running back for its powerhouse football team known for producing several NFL players.Īumua recalled how sports helped bond the small Hawaiian community together. (Photo Credit: Courtesy photo) VIEW ORIGINALĬAMP ZAMA, Japan - Athletic activities dominated much of Kekua Aumua’s childhood growing up on the North Shore of Oahu. Aumua often volunteers to coach youth sports as part of his efforts to bring the community closer. Aumua helped organize the team, which his two children were on, so American dependents could play the sport with Japanese youth.
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