It's been 13 years of family time in the pool.

As long as there's been a Kahuku High School water polo team, there's been a Whitford in the pool.

Since 1996, there's been a Whitford sister — Makana, Keala and Minnie — leading the Red Raiders in the pool. Together, they helped build a strong foundation for a fledgling program that eventually became a state sanctioned sport.

Since water polo's inception by the O'ahu Interscholastic Association in 2003, Kahuku won every league title until this year. The Red Raiders won every regular-season game with the exception of a loss two weeks ago to Roosevelt and a forfeit several years ago when their bus arrived late to pick them up.

The long run of Whitfords playing for Kahuku will end this week with Minnie, a senior, who leads the Red Raiders into this week's Local Motion/Hawai'i High School Athletic Association State Championships. Kahuku (12-2) plays Kamehameha-Maui (5-3) in tomorrow's first round at the Veterans' Memorial Aquatic Center.

"We had a lot in common, it gave us something to talk about," said Keala, a 2004 Kahuku graduate. "It helped to spend time together as a family and be interactive with each other. That was the one sport we had in common, we had something to talk about, had something to push each other in and help each other.

"It was a family-oriented activity. We supported each other in all our games, it was a lot of fun."

Makana, a 2001 graduate and the current Kahuku coach, got a scholarship to play water polo at the University of Hawai'i. Keala was a two-time OIA Player of the Year and Minnie is a captain on this year's team. All were good swimmers and shooters, and never shied away from the physical aspect of the sport.

"Water polo is a sport of attrition, you got to have the will to be competitive, not be fatigued and keep going," said Aukai Ferguson, who started the Kahuku program in 1994. "They have that spirit and all three show that. The last two, three minutes, they're still working like at the beginning."

THE BEGINNING

Ferguson met the Whitfords in the mid-'90s when they moved from Maui. Makana was training at the Brigham Young University-Hawai'i pool, and Ferguson found it hard to ignore her vocal father, Joe, from the other side of the pool. It was also hard to miss Makana's talent in the pool, where she was a state champion age-group swimmer.

"I never knew about (water polo) before, but I knew how to throw a ball and swimming, it came naturally," Makana said. "I'm an aggressive, competitive person, that's what drew me to the sport as well, because of how aggressive it is. Anything is done under water, that's what I loved about it."

While she attended Kahuku, water polo wasn't sanctioned by the OIA. There was a public school coed league in the fall and another public school girls league in the spring. The Red Raiders never lost against a public school team.

Keala and Minnie followed Makana in the pool. Keala, who started at Kahuku in 1999, played during a period when water polo got sanctioned by the OIA and the HHSAA, giving it a state championship.

"She had the benefit or curse of having both Makana and (dad) Joe yell at her from the sidelines," Ferguson said. "That was pretty intense, but she handled it pretty well. She was the team captain in her junior and senior year. She filled in the role of Makana with leadership and dedication."Keala, who lives in Florida, said the pressure of following in Makana's footsteps only furthered her. She was a two-time OIA Player of the Year.

"I liked it, it pushed me," Keala said. "I learned a lot from her being in the pool. She gave me a lot of tips."

Minnie picked up on everything from watching both sisters play. All three had strong swimming backgrounds.

"I learned from watching them and that's how I knew the game a lot more," Minnie said. "It can be hard sometimes, I get all the pressure. I don't mind it. I like it. I get extra talks at home about how I can help the team or how I can improve myself."

SISTERHOOD

The Whitfords have been key parts of a Kahuku program that built itself around the camaraderie of players in a tight-knit community and their willingness to play in summer leagues. In a community with the beach practically at their footsteps, water sports only seemed natural."A lot of the girls on the team are surfers, so they all go surfing together," Keala said. "It was a team effort in the pool and outside the pool as well.

"We had a good relationship, happy atmosphere. We worked hard, pushed each other. It was always a positive vibe."

The Whitfords attribute the program's success to Ferguson, who started it all. When he stepped down in 2007 to spend more time with his children, the timing felt right with Makana having been his assistant, Joe as the school's athletic director and Minnie in the program.

"He always supported us and without that support, the program wouldn't have been so successful," Keala said. "Hopefully, that will carry on in the future. If we haven't had the support, we wouldn't be where we are."

While most of their time centered on the pool, the sisters found other pursuits. Makana was a self-taught pianist. Keala was a cheerleader in high school, and Minnie played club volleyball for part of her youth. Along with teammates Sara Ungherit, Alohi Bikle and Tiana Atuaia, they recently represented Hawai'i at the We the People: The Citizen and the Constitution National Finals, a scholastic competition in Washington D.C. that focuses on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

"We worked hard, won the state competition and were able to go to nationals," said Minnie, who will attend BYU-Provo in the fall.

Though her youngest sister is leaving the program, Makana will still have a team of sisters in the pool.

"Some coaches just help their kids on the playing field," Makana said. "I saw the other girls as my sisters. I talked to them outside of the pool, helped them in school or whatever problems they had. It built unity on the team.

"I'm going to miss Minnie next year. We'll see how it goes."