KAHULUI — Jamie Yap and Mike Ban share a vision for Maui High School athletics. Their latest venture has to be labeled a field house of dreams.

The principal and athletic director for the Sabers were notified last week that $2.5 million has been allotted by the state to design a two-story facility that would include a track, synthetic field for practice for football and soccer, classroom/meeting area, locker rooms, coaches and administrators offices, and other amenities that would be used for the school’s teams and physical education classes.

Both Ban and Yap see the facility as something that can be shared by all of the Valley Isle. Both said it would be the first field house in the state.

“Where this originated was when Mike and I sat down one day and we were just kind of brainstorming about how Maui High athletics doesn’t have an opportunity to practice on synthetic turf, or even compete, where our neighboring schools have that opportunity,” Yap, the principal, said from his office on Wednesday. “For state tournaments we feel that we’re not as well prepared as we could be because a lot of the time state tournaments are held on artificial turf.”

Yap noted on-campus football stadiums at fellow Maui Interscholastic League schools Lahainaluna, Kamehameha Maui and King Kekaulike — all with synthetic turfs — and said that due to the Maui High location in Kahului, getting an on-campus football stadium was very unlikely to ever get approval.

“I said, ‘You know, Mike, we’ll never get a stadium here because of our neighbors, we won’t have any lights, it would have to be a day game,’ ” Yap said. “So, synthetic turf at Maui High is not going to happen at a football stadium like King K or Kamehameha, but we could get one if it was a field house.

“So, Mike and I started discussing the idea — what does a field house look like and when would we be able to get one? So, let’s say we just ask and we went to the Legislature — Justin Woodson and (Gil Keith-) Agaran and asked for their support and they seemed to be on board. Then we went to the (state Department of Education) and asked them if this was something we could do and the planning board for the DOE said: ‘Let’s sit down and talk, what does this look like for you?’

“We shared some ideas and we thought we’ll ask for more and see what happens if it gets whittled down.”

Yap said the idea is to put the facility on the school’s land that is currently used for junior varsity football practice near Kahului School or the county land near the Maui High baseball field.

“We’re looking to see if we can get a 100-yard field and possibly a track around the field, two stories so you can have an upstairs classroom and locker room underneath, office for the athletic director and the trainer and other sports, if can, to be included in this, like a sand volleyball pit. Sand volleyball is big in Hawaii, wouldn’t have to worry about animals coming in and all that kind of stuff. Or maybe even a batting cage.

“So, the opportunities abound, but we’ve got to do more research on what this is going to look like.”

Ban will attend a national athletic director conference in Tennessee this month and high on his agenda will be checking out designs and features of field houses in place.

“I’m totally excited about this opportunity for our student-athletes, our community, our school community,” Ban said Thursday morning. “I think it will be a great facility for all our students.”

Ban said the facility will have multipurpose usage.

“There will be opportunities for physical education, band, of course our student-athletes,” Ban said. “There’s the possibility of other schools using the facility as well.”

Yap said he is going to meet with state officials next week to discuss the possibilities. He was grateful to the work of Woodson and Keith-Agaran for getting the initial funding to the desk of Gov. David Ige before he left office.

“This funding came for that planning piece, so I plan to sit down next week with the state, toss some ideas around and do some more research on what this will look like for Maui High,” Yap said. “No other school in the state of Hawaii has a field house — this will be the first — and I think it will help support athletics at Maui High.

“We have a brand-new weight room, we have a girls locker room coming up for gender equity, Title IX. … Our lower football field is minimally used right now. Band practices down there more than anybody else.”

Ban said being the first field house in the state is a huge opportunity, something that could be used year-round in all weather conditions.

“It’s awesome, it’s a dream that Jamie and I shared and we’re just very fortunate for the opportunity and our legislators to give us the confidence to have this building on our campus, to share with the whole island,” Ban said.

Yap added that use of the field house could range far and wide across the Valley Isle. Currently War Memorial Stadium — a county facility — is home for both Maui High and Baldwin football teams.

“We’re hoping this field house would be something that we can be proud of, hang our hat on and create something for the entire community,” Yap said. “In this conversation we talked about our proximity to Baldwin High School and they have short facilities as well and something like this could be shared, possibly.

“State schools take care of each other, so we’ll see where this goes.”

This has been a work in progress since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yap said the possibilities run from a practice facility all the way to an indoor game field.

He estimated the final cost to be in the $10 million range and that the project could be five years or so away from completion.

“Two and a half years ago we had this conversation — it was a pipe dream,” Yap said. “Why don’t we just ask and see what happens. And it built up momentum and some steam and now we have money appropriated for what this could look like for us.”

* Robert Collias can be reached at rcollias@mauinews.com.