Athletics

Athletics have been a part of daily life at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy (HPA) since the school’s founding in 1949. The importance of athletics extends beyond fundamentally necessary physical conditioning—athletics are an integral part of the school’s mission.

Check out athletic news and galleries

After classes have ended for the day, all students, boarding and day, participate in the school’s athletic program or in one of several other conditioning and extracurricular after-school activities.

Our facilities and fields are known for their beauty and their demanding nature.

Juan Miche Rosales '16 running HPA's legendary cross country course.
Video envisioned, directed, and produced by HPA students.

View a map of cross country

Interscholastic sports teams compete at the island and state level, and include the full range of Big Island Interscholastic Federation (BIIF) league play in football, cross-country, basketball, baseball, swimming, soccer, track and field, volleyball, outrigger canoe paddling, tennis, golf, and more.

The school’s cross-country, swimming and football teams—as well as individual student athletes in other team sports—have earned repeat league and, in some noteworthy years, state championships. Several of HPA’s football players have realized success in the NFL, with alumni Max Unger ‘04, a 2013 Pro Bowl player, currently the center for the New Orleans Saints, and Daniel Te’o-Nesheim ’05, a former defensive end for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

The school’s student athletes strive to achieve their own measure of success both individually and as members of a team under the guidance of the school’s accomplished and highly motivated coaching staffs.

Athletic Director Stephen Perry states,

“Everyone on campus is involved in sports in one way or another. If a student is not on a team, he or she is in the stands, cheering on friends and classmates. By participating in athletics at HPA, students learn the values of sportsmanship and teamwork. They learn how to handle losses, and how to handle winning.”

While not all students will become league or state champions, student athletes at Hawai‘i Preparatory Academy benefit from an athletic program that considers and evaluates all aspects of a growing student’s needs and well-being at all times. That’s the daily challenge.