Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 1, 1 January 2008 — FEVER PITCH [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

FEVER

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y all accounts Major League Soccer pro Brian I Ching is an intense competitor both on and off ^3 the pitch, but at a Pearl City soccer store, where he arrives to sign autographs for fans, he's all I low-key. There's no fanfare or introductions as ^^0 the 6-foot, 190-pound Hale'iwa native slips quietly into a chair and starts talking to kids, signing "BChing #25" on balls, T-shirts and replicas of his #25 orange-and-white Houston Dynamo jersey. Signing a ball for 7-year-old soccer and baseball player Kai Yasuda, Ching said, "I played baseball, too, for a year. I was scared of the ball, so it didn't last long." Ryan Williams arrived for an autograph six hours early to make sure he wouldn't miss the ehanee to meet Ching. "He's a Ronaldinho," Williams said, referring to the Brazilian stand-

► IhMH out - and he went to Kamehameha Schools, "whieh I want to try out for." Ching, the son of a WaikM beach boy,

is the first player from Hawai'i to be drafted to the MLS and roster on the U.S. World Cup team. In 2006, he was named MLS Cup MVP after scoring the game-tying goal and the game-winning penalty kiek. Dynamo repeated with another MLS title in 2007, but Ching sat out of the game due to injury. Home for. the Jiolidavs with his wife, Charisse, who is from Maui, Ching participated in the annual Dec. 26-29 ProXtreme Soccer Camp with his fonner Honolulu Bulls ~

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Next month Ching will play for the first time as a pro in front of a Hawai'i crowd at the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship Feb. 20 and 23 at Aloha Stadium. The

tournament will feature four teams in single-elimination play: Houston

Dynamo, Los Angeles Galaxy, Japan's Gamba Osaka and a team from Australia's Hyundai A-League. It will be Ching's first competitive game here in 17^Sars.x ■ - - ■

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Ho no lulu ' s 1 e a d i n g scorer

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BYTHENUMBERS Height: G Feet Weight: 1 90 Age: 29 Years in the pros: G ML5 championships: 2 ML5 Eup MVP: 1 (he missed the 2ŪŪ7 Lup due to injury| Team Bests: Goals: 18, Game-winning goals: 7 Highlights: scored Four goals in Houston Dynamo's First game ever, making him the seventh player in ML5 history to score Four goals in a single game: won the 5ierra Mist Goal oFtheYear in 200G For his bicycle kiek against D.[. United; made his international debut in 2009, becoming the First Hawai'i-born playerto representthe United 5tates; as partoFthe Men's Nahonal Team, scored two goals in Four games, including three World [up gualiFiers. 5ource: Brian Ching, http://houston.mlsnet.com

— Hiii—i manapua for Ching and Charisse and handing out kukui nut lei to Dynamo fans at games. Asked if she's surprised at the level of success her son has achieved, Whalen said: "I don't really give it a lot of ■*. thought. This is Brian. This is his life. And when he sets his mind to something he's going to give his best, and his best is as good as it gets." I

AAAIN: Brian Ching scored a goal in the United States' 2-0 win over Trinidad and Tobago during the 2007 C0NCACAF Gold Cup in June at the Home Depot Center in Carson, California. - Photo: Ben tiebenberg/MLS " -- \