Kahuku’s Jackson Kala over the last two seasons has proven to be among the best all-round high school athletes in the state. In back-to-back years, Kala has played a major role for Kahuku in the Hawaii High School Athletic Association state tournaments in the sports of football and basketball.

During the 2008 football campaign, Kala helped Kahuku reached the state semifinal game then followed that appearance with a standout performance in the state championship game this season.

As a center on the basketball team, Kala, in early March guided his hoops squad to a final four placement in the state tourney and a runner-up spot in the Oahu Interscholastic Association tourney.

Last season, Kahuku’s basketball team was the runner-up in the state tournament and captured the OIA tourney title with a 16-1 league record thanks to the stellar accomplishments of Kala.

“It was a great experience to play in the state and OIA tournaments," Kala said. “I feel blessed to have had that opportunity. Playing under the pressure of knowing you will compete against the best made me to want to work harder in practice.”
 
The senior added, “We have excellent teams at Kahuku who likes to compete. I liked the fact that we consistently won and was able to compete against other top teams.”

Kala, a tight end on the football field, recently was rewarded for his brilliant career at Kahuku when he signed a scholarship award with New Mexico State University to play football.  Kala grew up in New Zealand before moving to Hawaii four years ago with his family. He says moving to the mainland will be another adventure for him. “The school seems like a place I would enjoy playing at. The coaching staff made me feel comfortable and I liked the fact that the team has other Hawaii players on the team,” Kala pointed out. Kala said he enjoyed the experience of playing against mainland tams while competing in the Iolani Classic this past December.

“It was fun,” Kala said. “Most of the players on our basketball team also play football. We had just finished playing in the state title game so I was out of sync. But playing in this tournament gave our team a good idea of what we needed to work on.”

The Kahuku cagers started out slow but once they got rolling they were able to rack up victory after victory en route to a 9-3 regular season record in the OIA Red East Division. Kala emphasized, “It hard to adjust to playing a different sport. The good thing about playing two sports is that by the time basketball season gets in full swing I was in great shape.”

Kala says he will continue to work at strengthening his body in preparation for the fall college football season. “I know already I’m going to have to work extremely hard just to get a chance to play. I know I will have to play smart and be conscious that I can have a great impact in helping this team if I’m willing to work for it.”