For the first time in Hawaiʻi’s history, high school surfers had the opportunity to compete with the best of the best and vie for a state championship title across two days of competition.
Nearly 180 students participated in Hawaiʻi’s first surfing state championship at Hoʻokipa Beach Park on Maui’s North Shore, with longboard, shortboard and bodyboarding competitions taking place on Friday and Saturday.
Waialua High and Intermediate School earned the girls’ state championship title, while Kahuku High and Intermediate won the competition on the boys’ side. Teams earned points based on how well students placed in their individual heats.
Despite surfing’s storied history in Hawaiʻi, this spring marked the first year surfing received statewide recognition as an official high school sport.
For years, students and coaches advocated for state funding and widespread recognition of surfing as an official high school sport. After three years of failed proposals, lawmakers set aside nearly $1.4 million to fund surfing teams in public schools last session.
The education department previously pushed back on bills to expand surfing teams in schools, raising concerns about student safety and risk. But coaches said they had rigorous regulations and training in place to ensure their students can safely practice and compete.
Before this year, only the Maui Interscholastic League recognized surfing as an official high school sport. Other schools hosted surf clubs that participated in local competitions, but students needed to raise thousands of dollars to cover entry fees and supplies.
Establishing surfing as an interscholastic sport this season has allowed students from different islands to compete against each other for the first time and pursue state championship titles, said Micah Ah You, an 18-year-old at Kahuku High and Intermediate School. Ah You, who has been surfing since he was 12, came in second place in the boys’ longboard competition on Saturday and helped his team win the state championship title.
Ah You said he had never surfed on Maui prior to Saturday’s competition. Leading up to the competition, Ah You said, he surfed at least five times a week for two hours a day – while also balancing practices and games for the high school’s volleyball team. While he’s pursued surfing competitively since high school, Ah You said, the sport is also a valuable way for him to have fun and connect with friends.
“I’m just so, so grateful,” he said a few days before Saturday’s competition. “I hope that this first year can pave the way for all of the little groms that are excited to compete in high school.”
Civil Beat’s education reporting is supported by a grant from Chamberlin Family Philanthropy.
