Hawai'i's Brian Ching and the Houston Dynamo challenged Sydney FC at Aloha Stadium. - Photos: Blaine Fergerstrom

Hawaiian Brian Ching plays for hometown crowd
David Beckham adds star-power to international soccer event

By Lisa Asato / Ka Wai Ola

Back home for his first game as a pro in front of a hometown crowd, Major League Soccer player Brian Ching said the reception he received at Aloha Stadium was “awesome … I couldn't ask for anything better.”

“I think our team came out, played a great game, and I'm happy,” said Ching, a Haleiwa native who rostered on the 2006 World Cup team and plays on the Men's National Team.

Although Ching didn't score in Houston Dynamo's 3-0 win over Sydney FC in the semifinals of the Pan-Pacific Championship, he assisted two goals by teammates who celebrated on the field Hawaiian style, dancing hula and waving shaka signs. “We did a little dance for him, maybe now he can help show us how to do that a little better,” said Houston midfielder Dwayne De Rosario, who scored the game's first goal in the 27th minute.

World-famous David Beckham, No. 23 of the L.A. Galaxy, centered the ball ahead of Gamba Osaka player Myojin Tomokazu, No. 17, in the semifinals at Aloha Stadium. - Photos: Blaine Fergerstrom

How did Ching rate their hula? “I have to apologize for that, they were terrible, pretty embarrassing,” he teased, adding that it gave him a “pretty good laugh.”

Ching and his mom, Stephanie Whalen, who was cheering in the stands, reciprocated the team's aloha, inviting them for a homegrown Hawaiian experience. “We're going to go out to my mom's house … enjoy a nice team barbecue out there and show them the North Shore,” Ching said after the game. “Show the guys where I grew up and give them a little bit of Hawaiian food as well.”

Some 15,143 fans attended the Feb. 20 semifinal of the inaugural Pan-Pacific Championship, which also starred L.A. Galaxy's David Beckham for two days of play. The internationally recognized Beckham received a roar from the crowd when he answered a young fan's screams – taking off his sweaty No. 23 jersey and handing it to her in the stands after Galaxy's 1-0 loss to Japan's Gamba Osaka.

Mom Stephanie Whalen and a few hundred of her friends gathered in one section of Aloha Stadium in custom-made orange Hawai'i Soccer and Houston Dynamo T-shirts. - Photos: Blaine Fergerstrom

As of press time, the finals between Houston and Gamba weren't yet decided. But in the stands on a Wednesday night, Ching's support was evident in the sea of orange jerseys, especially in orange section J, where his mom led a group of 130 friends, family and extended aunties, uncles and keiki. “Brian Ching!” they chanted, waving ti leaves and donning orange-and-white ribbon lei over their orange T-shirts splayed with Ching's image and the words “Hawai'i Soccer Star 2008” in the front and “Hawaiian Brian” in the back.

Among the group was Ching's former math teacher at Kamehameha Schools, Meg Melahn, who described him as a good role model for Native Hawaiians and “all young people.” “Kids need that nowadays, they don't see hard-working people,” she said. “He has talent, but mostly he has a work ethic that's second to none.”

Brian Chingʻs Kamehameha math teacher, Meg Melahn, continues to support her star pupil. - Photos: Blaine Fergerstrom