Keith Amemiya, a former attorney who has changed the landscape of local prep sports in the past 11 years, said this morning he plans to step down from his position as Hawai�i High School Athletic Association executive director within the next seven months.

In an e-mail statement to The Advertiser, Amemiya said:

"After contemplating this decision with my family for the last couple of years, I decided to leave my position as HHSAA Executive Director by the end of the current school year. In order to provide for as seamless a transition as possible, the HHSAA executive board was informed of my decision this past summer and the process to find my replacement is already underway, with a Selection Committee already in place. There are several options that I�m currently contemplating once I leave my position, but for now I�m planning on taking a little bit of a break and spending more time with my family."

Amemiya's announcement to the HHSAA executive board was done confidentially during a closed session.

Since taking over the helm of the HHSAA as a surprise hire in 1998, Amemiya has been a force of change in Hawai�i high school athletics, most notably:

� Creating a classification system for state tournaments allowing smaller schools a window to compete for state titles;

� Initiating a football state tournament that includes Neighbor Island representation;

� Adding state tournaments in sports in like judo, air riflery, canoe paddling and cheeerleading, to the point where Hawai'i now leads the nation in number of state tournament events;

� Spearheading the HHSAA "SOS" (Save Our Sports) campaign, which has raised over $1.3 million in the past three months to help offset drastic budget cuts to public school athletic programs;

� Setting in motion the installation of a state-of-the-art artificial surface at Roosevelt, the first project of its kind at a Hawai'i public school.