WAIKAPU
Organizers are calling it Waikapu's "Field of Dreams." Soon, a newly organized girls softball team will be practicing and scrimmaging on a new field behind the Maui Tropical Plantation, thanks to businessman and coffee farmer Mike Atherton, who owns the plantation along with nearly 2,000 acres of land in the surrounding Waikapu area.
Currently, there are no playing fields available for the girls 12 and under team in the Waikapu area, said one of the team's coaches, Waikapu resident Reid Kawabata.
And without the new field, Kawabata said, "we'd be stuck."
County, school and community officials have pointed out that Maui softball and baseball teams are struggling to find fields to play and practice on. Sometimes, several leagues are trying to use the fields at the same time.
"With Mike, it's a blessing, honestly," Kawabata said last week as he watched several volunteers grade a 200-by- 200-foot parcel behind the plantation. "I'm excited."
The Waikapu field is a gem to Kawabata and to coach Joey Vierra, a former professional baseball player who was also a standout at the University of Hawaii.
In 2008, Spencer Homes, which was developing affordable housing in the area, bulldozed the Waikapu Brewers youth baseball field. The company said the fields were not being maintained and became overgrown and dilapidated during the off-season. That left five youth baseball teams without a field.
Jesse Spencer of Spencer Homes said this week that his Ohana Kai Village affordable housing project that he is proposing a few miles down the road in Maalaea "will include first class, well-maintained baseball fields, soccer fields and parks."
Kawabata and the Maui Tropical Plantation volunteers said they expect the field to be completed in about three months.
The field is bordered by the plantation along with Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. fields, which currently have towering cane just a few feet away from the outfield.
Kawabata said the sugar cane in the outfield inspires memories of the ball field amid the Iowa cornfields in the movie "Field of Dreams," where ghosts of baseball's past emerged from the cornfields to play baseball, hence, the nickname, "Waikapu's Field of Dreams."
Kawabata said Atherton is picking up the tab for the field, which will include a backstop, some low fencing and a grass outfield.
"I do want to pay him back" somehow, Kawabata said.
Atherton is no stranger to helping the community. He was involved with other youth field projects back in Manteca, Calif., including the Big League Dreams recreational facility in Cathedral City, Calif., which was developed through a public-private partnership. The facility offers baseball, softball, soccer, indoor soccer, in-line hockey, basketball, flag football and sand volleyball for all ages, its Web site said.
Atherton, who is nicknamed "coach," said he used to coach his son in Little League in Manteca.
He said he doesn't know how much the Waikapu softball field will cost him.
"We add up the costs as we go along," he said, as if it wasn't a concern.
Atherton said he could step up to help because he already has the land and the equipment and is also able to get donations to help the team. He also appreciated the help from the community, especially Kawabata, a salesman who found himself unemployed several months ago.
"It creates a lot of symmetry in the community," Atherton said.
"Three weeks ago, this was solid weeds," said Atherton, while spreading his arms out and looking at the new field. "This is exciting."
Atherton also owns and operates Jesus Mountain Coffee Plantation in Nicaragua and is a part owner of Coffees of Hawaii on Molokai.
Kawabata said it took him a while to warm up to Atherton. Many developers in the past have come to Waikapu and have made promises but never delivered, he said.
There also is some friction between some longtime Waikapu residents and developers, because some residents don't want to see their small town become overdeveloped and lumped in with Wailuku.
But Kawabata said Atherton has been listening to residents' concerns and religiously attends Waikapu Community Association meetings.
As the field is taking shape, Kawabata said Atherton has allowed the team, which is made up of girls from all over the island, to practice on the plantation's luau grounds along with using his office for watching softball videos. The team still has openings, he added.
"It makes me feel good I can give back to the community. They need a little bit of help," Atherton said.
* Melissa Tanji can be reached at mtanji@mauinews. com.
