In the 1990s, Abisha Uhl was part of the foundation of Kubasaki's great girls soccer teams to come. The midfielder-striker helped the Dragons to a semifinal berth in the Far East tournament in 2000, after Kubasaki had won Pacific invitational tournament titles in 1997 and '99. Those were the forerunners of the Dragons' Far East championship teams in 2002 and '03.

Now, Uhl is better known as founding member, guitarist, lead singer and songwriter of the all-girl band Sick of Sarah, an alternative band which formed in 2005 in Minneapolis and released their self-titled album not long ago on Adamant Records. A long way she's come from when she first picked up a guitar as a 13-year-old on Okinawa.

Click here to visit Sick of Sarah's home page. You can also find a YouTube clip of the group's single Bittersweet here.

Now, what can I do to twist Abisha's arm to do a tour of Okinawa? Marines, airmen, sailors and soldiers on the island would absolutely eat up an outdoor concert at, say, Chatan Stadium or Koza City Stadium, or maybe even at Kadena Air Base's McDonald Stadium. My hand's up. :)

Abisha tells me that her father, Ron, who for decades was a DODDS educator on Okinawa, is finally leaving the island for a new assignment at Misawa Air Base, Japan. In 1985, Ron coached a Kadena High School girls basketball team that signalled Okinawa's rise as a high school basketball power by upsetting 1983 Far East champion John F. Kennedy of Guam 65-43 at Yokota Air Base, Japan.