Hawaii took a large step toward making statewide high school surfing a reality with Gov. Josh Green’s signing of a funding bill for the sport on Friday.
Surfing has existed as a sanctioned sport on only one island, Maui, for the last decade, but House Bill 133 provides over $1 million for surfing to public school leagues over the next two years, helping to clear a major obstacle.
Three high school leagues must vote to adopt surfing at the league level for it to become a Hawaii High School Athletic Association event, meaning at least two among the Oahu Interscholastic Association, Kauai Interscholastic Federation, Big Island Interscholastic Federation and Interscholastic League of Honolulu would have to step up.
HHSAA executive director Chris Chun told Spectrum News that the leagues must adopt the sports in the same season and adhere to the same rules. The Maui Interscholastic League has sponorsored surfing since 2014 and holds its league championship in the spring; it just held its boys and girls competitions in Lahaina Harbor, marking an emotional return after the August 2023 wildfires destroyed much of the historic town.
There is optimism that it could happen at the state level by the 2025-26 athletic calendar year, which would make it Hawaii’s second new sport adopted in two years. Girls flag football was introduced in 2024-25.
“The ILH is planning to have surfing as an official sport this coming school year,” Keith Amemiya, head of Green’s sports task force, told Spectrum News, “and the MIL has already had it for 10 years, so now the focus will be on trying to get the OIA, BIIF and KIF to add it as an official sport beginning as early as this coming school year.”
Amemiya credited State Rep. Sean Quinlan, who represents Oahu’s North Shore, for introducing HB133 and seeing it through to passage. It appropriates $685,870 for both fiscal year 2026 and fiscal year 2027 to support the establishment of interscholastic surfing programs.
“Hawaii is the birthplace of surfing, and that’s something we should take great pride in,” Quinlan said in a release. “By recognizing surfing as an interscholastic sport, we are expanding access in Hawaii schools — allowing students to build ocean safety skills, connect with our cultural heritage and participate in a sport that has produced champions from our own shores.”
Surfing has existed as a club activity in the state’s other high school leagues, but costs have been prohibitive, which had contributed to a chicken-and-egg situation for state support.
The amount appropriated for surfing is comparable to the state’s funding for flag football, Amemiya said.
There would be trained water safety officials at surf meets. Like the high school sport of paddling, events would be overseen by people familiar with running competitions at the club level.
“It’s been a long journey, and hopefully we can finally see surfing as a high school sport come to fruition,” Amemiya said.
Brian McInnis covers the state’s sports scene for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at [email protected].
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