
Difficulties are Still Part of the Dream
Ricky Gusman
So you’re a coach, and you look at the faces of the girls on you’re softball team. They are looking to you for leadership. You start off with 16 players and due to injuries and other factors your roster drops to 10 (you need 9 on the field). But wait, you were diagnosed with prostate cancer the summer before, but, put off chemotherapy so you can make it through the season. But wait, you have to go under the knife for an appendectomy during the the league championships. And, inspite of all that, as Cassius Clay (later Muhammad Ali) said when he defeated the supposedly unbeatable Sunny Liston, each player on the team can say, “We shocked the world (of OIA baseball)!” This is the inspiring story of champions from Nanakuli and their coach, Ricky Gusman.
Ricky Gusman is the Head Coach for the 2012 OIA White Conference Softball Championship team, the Nanakuli Golden Hawks (or Lady Hawks). He works for the Board of Water Supply. Ricky is married to Barbette. They have three children: Marina, Britanny, Justice. They attend Grace Bible Church Pearlside.
“For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful.” Psalm 139:13-14