WAILEA --- Wearing surf shorts and sunglasses Thursday, Joe Montana looked more like a big-wave rider than a football Hall of Famer.
While the four-time Super Bowl winner doesn't seem to need an excuse to visit Maui, he's on the Valley Isle through the weekend in conjunction with the Super Seven Quarterback Retreat at the Grand Wailea Resort Hotel & Spa.
''We're here a lot,'' said Montana, who arrived on the island Wednesday to participate in the three-day event, which offers seven of the nation's top high school quarterbacks a chance to train with some of the sport's best. ''We come (to Maui) at least once or twice a year. It's always a pleasure. You can't ever come here and have it really be business. We have the kids working until noon and then it's all fun on the beach.''
Montana's son Nick is one of the prep players participating. The Oaks Christian (Calif.) High School senior-to-be completed 133 of 241 passes for 2,402 yards and 33 touchdowns in 2008, his first year as the Lions' starting quarterback.
''It's fun to watch,'' Joe Montana said of Nick. ''It's easy for me to understand the love of the game, understand the position. I know the excitement of the game and how they feel.''
The retreat is orchestrated and led by Steve Clarkson.
Also taking part was Hall of Famer Warren Moon and the Arizona Cardinals' Matt Lei-nart, a Heisman Trophy winner while at Southern California.
Clarkson said he plans to hold all future retreats on Maui.
''Back in March, Joe asked me if I wouldn't mind bringing my family down here for a nice one-week vacation and work with his sons a bit throwing the ball,'' said Clarkson, a three-year starter for San Jose State in the early 1980s. ''We were staying at the Grand Wailea and Joe was next door at the Four Seasons. So I had been looking for a suitable place to work the boys and out and as I was walking to his hotel I came across this little patch of grass (Molokini Garden) and I thought, 'Oh my God, this is the perfect spot to throw the ball, we got the beach to the south of us and everything.'
''So later, Joe and I were talking and we thought what a great idea it would be to take a small selective group of kids on an outing here and use this little patch of grass. It kind of reminds me of where you would teach your kids to throw in the backyard.
''It's an intimate setting and that's how this location was born for the Super Seven. Last year we did it in Santa Barbara, California, but we've found a new home for it and we're going to make this our permanent home.''
Andrew Manley, a senior-to-be at Leilehua who led his team to a state championship as a sophomore, was also named one of this year's Super Seven.
''This is so amazing to be here,'' Manley said. ''It's such a great opportunity to work with these quarterbacks and to get to know the other quarterbacks that play around the country. I'm just going to try to take everything in that I can and come next season, play the best that I can.''
Clarkson said that camp organizers screen possible participants by watching them either in person or on video, and talk to numerous coaches before making their selection.
''Physically, Andrew is extremely well-gifted,'' Clarkson said. ''And though he's in a remote area and many on the Mainland might not know of him, we thought that physically he stacked up extremely well to other quarterbacks we evaluated across the country. We thought that he was very deserving of an opportunity of being one of the Super Seven.''
Starr Begley is at sbegley@mauinews.com
