Junior varsity sports programs at Hawai'i public schools could be eliminated to meet a proposed $1 million Department of Education athletics budget cut, according to the O'ahu league's top executive.

The proposed move would affect 6,000 students and 730 coaching positions from sports such as football, volleyball and basketball. Also to be cut would be the varsity programs for judo and soft tennis.

The cut aimed at reducing coaches' salaries is part of a $9.2 million total that was announced at Monday's Board of Education budget and fiscal committee meeting, and part of budget restrictions placed on state agencies by Gov. Linda Lingle.

"The reason we went with JV, at least we're keeping one level," said O'ahu Interscholastic Association executive director Dwight Toyama, who has discussed the proposed cuts and possible outcomes with league executive directors from Kaua'i, Maui and the Big Island. He reiterated these were just preliminary estimates and no plans have been finalized.

"Our (athletics) budget is $4.2 million, and (the cut is) about 25 percent. We're trying to keep sports offerings."

The athletics cut is part of proposed budget reductions that will also affect programs such as A-Plus after-school programs. All budget decisions will be finalized at the BOE's Aug. 7 meeting. If passed, athletics changes will begin with the 2009-10 school year.

"Again, a lot of things can happen between this year and next year," said Toyama, whose league offers more than 10 JV sports. "It's too early to tell."

Such a severe cut could be detrimental, according to Kahuku varsity football coach Reggie Torres, who has spent 15 years coaching the school's JV football team and also coached judo.

"They take away positive activities, whether football or any other sports, you're giving them opportunities for things we're trying to get them away from," Torres said.

"We see a lot of the kids at the intermediate level and JV level. They're the ones that's at a crucial age to discourage them from other things like drugs and gangs."

The only JV sports that won't be cut are girls' soccer, softball, paddling and bowling. Those sports were implemented several years ago to meet Title IX gender-equity requirements and fall under a different program than other JV sports.

FAIR PLAY

At Kahuku High School, cutting the JV football program could affect 80 to 90 players every year. Though some players enter high school with experience from the community's youth leagues, Torres said some sophomores are not ready for varsity play. JV programs allow freshmen and sophomores to learn, develop and later transition into varsity play.

"It would discourage them, and they would not want to play," Torres said if there weren't JV programs.

McKinley High School football player Ochi Tafai said JV football prepared him for varsity competition.

"It prepares you strategically and mentally for the next level," said Tafai, a senior. "(Varsity is) a lot faster."

McKinley cross-country runners David Kim and Tiffany Tang said JV competition is more balanced because they are competing with athletes of similar abilities and age. In some preseason cross-country events, varsity and JV athletes compete together.

"I like running with my age group," said Kim, a sophomore. "It's more fair. The varsity have more training and experience."

Tang, a sophomore who also competes in track, said it would be difficult for freshmen to compete with varsity athletes.

"It's ... harder to run varsity standards and times," Tang said. "They have much more experience than you."

'IT'S A BIG SPORT'

Also proposed to be cut are varsity soft tennis and judo. Soft tennis, a Japanese variation of tennis, is only played by the OIA.

Judo became a state-sponsored event in 2003, but it does not receive full participation from the five Hawai'i athletic leagues. While two leagues on O'ahu, one on Maui and one on the Big Island participate in judo, the Kaua'i Interscholastic Federation does not.

"We try to see where it affected the least," Toyama said. "Of course, every sport will be fighting for themselves, and it won't be fun."

Pearl City judo coach Robin Puahala, whose boys and girls teams have 80 students, compared the move to cutting off an arm.

"It is pretty amazing, cutting back on an entire sport, considering all the Olympians and national and world titlists that came through high school judo in Hawai'i," Puahala said. "I never even think they'd consider it. It's a big blow. It's a big sport, bigger than it is around the nation."

KIF executive director Diane Nitta said the situation will hurt everyone. It was suggested at Monday's board meeting that schools look into community support and donations.

"If it does happen, we'll see what we can do," Nitta said. "We always try to make do with what we have, and we'll continue doing that."