Full circle moment for Shane Victorino

A full circle moment occurred for Maui’s Shane Victorino, who was in town recently to help coach his son’s team at Central Oahu Regional Park for a three-day tournament.

Victorino, who currently lives in Las Vegas, coaches the Flyin’ Hawaiian Baseball Club.

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It has been 25 years since Victorino, a graduate of St. Anthony School in Maui, played or coached a game on Hawaiian soil.

“It means a lot to me,” Victorino told KHON2 sports director Rob DeMello. “You know, when I pencil this tournament in the calendar to tell myself that I’m coming back on the coaching side with passion to be able to pass that on to the kids that I have on my team. Hopefully they can take that somewhere else as they grow in life. That’s what makes this opportunity cool for me. And not only that, but to be here with my son, to do it with him. I think I’m sure he feels a little pride trying to come back home and knowing that his Dad is from here and this is where I was born.

“We talk about it all the time, we know the talent. You know, this here, it’s just a matter of how do we put it all in a bottle and continue the journey where a lot of them get to play in the big leagues and continue their journey that I, Kurt (Suzuki), Kolten (Wong), the guys before me like (Benny) Agbayani and (Mike) Fetters and the Mike Lums and Sid Fernendez, I mean we keep going on and on. I sit here as a kid that said I had a dream. I wanted to make my home proud. And, you know, here I am back on the opposite end, being a coach, there’s pride when you come from here.”