Of all the editors who work at The Advertiser, those who oversee our sports section may have the toughest jobs when it comes to story selection.

If they choose too much local sports coverage, they'll hear complaints from those who want more national sports, such as expanded baseball box scores and game summaries.

If they run too many stories about professional sports, they'll hear from readers who say there is not enough local coverage. Even with all the local sports coverage we provide, it usually is not enough to satisfy someone whose sport has been left out or not covered in depth.

A letter from a Hawai'i Kai parent complaining about what he considered our lack of youth soccer coverage is typical of the complaints the sports department has to field.

"When you have thousands of players engaged in league play throughout the year at Waipi'o Soccer Complex and other fields islandwide, it has become the most widely played sport at all levels and must be acknowledged as such," he wrote. "Thousands of parents, siblings and other immediate family members have children playing the sport at various levels and make up your subscriptions and sales at sports stores for soccer-related equipment (which) far exceed the other sports combined."

A few days later, a parent of a member of the Onipa'a Volleyball Club took Sports Editor Curtis Murayama to task because the volleyball team was not given prominent mention in the same story as the winning team, Ku'ikahi Volleyball Club.

As much as we would like to devote more resources to soccer or to volleyball at the club level, we have a lot of ground to cover. University of Hawai'i sports means covering football, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's volleyball, men's baseball, women's softball, women's track and, of course, soccer. That takes about six of our 11 writers. The rest have responsibility for golf, tennis, mixed martial arts, recreation, surfing, other water sports and high school sports.

Interscholastic sports is a huge priority, resulting recently in our launching of a new online site called www.hawaiipreps.com. It was accompanied by a six-day-a-week page in the print edition. Four reporters contribute to high school coverage, including one who's devoted full time to the beat and another full time to online content, updates and breaking news postings.

During youth baseball season, the complaints come from those who want us to cover every league, including PONY, Little League, American Legion, Babe Ruth and so on, and then to cover every age group and every part of O'ahu. Suffice it to say that if your child is playing on one of those teams and you don't see anything in the paper or online, you're going to complain.

Our Hawai'i Kai soccer dad, father to an 18-year-old and 13-year-old who play basketball, baseball and soccer, was looking specifically for more coverage of the U.S. Youth Soccer Far West Regionals and a feature article on the Real 89 Under 18 boys team.

Reviewing our coverage, we had a full listing on June 21 of the entire tournament of the regionals in Las Vegas, including information about the nine Hawai'i teams that made the quarterfinals. Overall, 17 teams competed in the regional. Two days later, we ran an entire listing of results in every game, noting that three of the nine Hawai'i teams in quarterfinal matches advanced to the semifinals.

On June 24, we wrote that the three remaining Hawai'i teams lost in the semifinals. On June 27, we wrapped up the tournament with observations by the Hawaii Youth Soccer Association president that the regionals next year will be held June 16 to 21 at Waipi'o Peninsula Soccer Park. It was written by Leila Wai, a former University of Hawai'i women's soccer player, who also handles video reports for our sports department.

Our volleyball parent with a son on the Onipa'a club also was upset with what was a perceived lack of coverage.

Then Murayama explained all we were covering at the time: the Far West Regional; Hawai'i boxers at the U.S. Championships; a separate group of Hawai'i soccer teams at a Club Championship, two of which went to the nationals; Hawai'i gymnasts competing overseas; local beach volleyball players in action; swimmers competing in a North Shore series; Hawai'i players, including Clay Stanley in the U.S. volleyball competition; youth golfers, including Kimberly Kim, Ayaka Kaneko and Chan Kim, in junior tournaments; Andy Irons and other Hawai'i surfers on the pro tour; Hawai'i pro golfers, including Dean Wilson and Parker McLachlin, on the PGA Tour; and a football camp that drew more than 300 kids.

"In all instances, none of these stories were written for us," Murayama wrote. "All had to be researched in some way, with the exception of gymnastics because the person who submits the info gives us results of every Hawai'i competitor. That's why we often rely on parents or statisticians for results. Most times, that's the best we can do with what we have and the time we have to do it."

As Murayama pointed out, the way we heard about our teams in the U.S. Youth Soccer Far West Regional was from a reader. The Ku'ikahi Volleyball Club sent us the information about their championship victory in Atlanta.

So, yes, we rely on parents and coaches and tournament organizers and other officials to call attention to the dozens of competitions that occur here and the Mainland. If you are a parent who is looking for coverage, please help us with whatever information you have and we'll take it from there.