A Hawai'i high school student-athlete surfs in Waikiki. HPU's new Surf Team will give Hawai'i high school students the opportunity to compete at the collegiate level without leaving home. Photo by Ricky-Thomas Serikawa.
Hawaiʻi invented modern surfing. Next spring, HPU will welcome its inaugural surf team to campus, the first university to officially make surfing a sport in Hawaiʻi. The Surf Team will compete under advisement of HPU Athletics and will participate in the 2027 National Scholastic Surfing Association (NSSA) Championship.
“This is a historic moment for HPU Athletics and for surfing in Hawaiʻi,” said HPU Executive Director of Athletics Debbie Snell, Ed.D. “Modern surfing was born here, and until now our own athletes have had to leave home to compete at the college level. We launched women’s flag football this year, and surfing comes with that some conviction. When Hawaiʻi high school students are already excelling at a sport, they should not have to go to another state to keep competing. Starting next spring, a student coming out of a Hawaiʻi high school can surf for HPU and earn a degree, all without leaving the place they are from and call home.”
Surfing is Hawaiʻi's most widely recognized cultural export. Nearly every established college surf program in the country sits in the continental U.S. Surfers who grew up competing in the islands have had to leave home to keep competing in college. That is no longer the case.
The team carries eight slots for competition: four men's shortboard, two women's shortboard, one men's longboard and one women's longboard. Shortboarders may enter either division.
The HPU Surf Team will compete primarily in Hawaiʻi, entering local events on Oahu and across the islands through the season, with the NSSA Championship as the capstone of the year. The Championship runs June 11-13, 2027, at Salt Creek in Dana Point, California, where HPU expects to compete in the college division against programs from California, Florida, the Carolinas, and Utah. HPU surf practices will be held across the island, primarily on the south shore of Honolulu.
The HPU program grew out of a decade of work by surf advocates Davin Kazama, state coordinator for high school surfing in Hawaiʻi, and his daughter Sunny Kazama. Sunny attends and surfs for the University of San Diego where she competed in the 2026 NSSA Championships. She is one of the surfers from Hawaiʻi who had to leave the state to compete in college.
Last year, Davin and Sunny were instrumental to surfing becoming a statewide sanctioned interscholastic sport in Hawaiʻi under Act 141, which had its first championship season in spring 2026.
“HPU’s innovative team is leading the way with the state’s first college surf program, allowing our talented athletes to build brighter futures as they can now pursue their passion locally and earn an outstanding degree,” said Sunny.
Recruiting will begin with Oahu high schools, with campus visits and a prospect form for interested students. Student-athletes interested in joining the inaugural team should contact Snell at: desnell@hpu.edu for more information.
The HPU Surf Team head coach announcement is forthcoming.
