FEDERATION

FOUNDATION

About

Hui Kanaka Pōwāwae or Hawaiian Football is a Maui-based nonprofit organization dedicated to representing Hawaiians on the global football stage.

Hawaiian Football kicked off its first league on Maui in 1975, when the President of Haleakala Dairy, Peter D. Baldwin, organized and sponsored 40 teams with the purchase of uniforms and equipment for 600 Maui youth.

Since 2010, Hawaiian Football grew to serve nearly 7,000 youth club soccer players across the 4 primary Hawaiian Islands — Kaua‘i, O‘ahu, Maui, and Hawai‘i Island — through indoor and outdoor leagues, state tournaments, and player identification events.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hawaiian Football shifted to serve the most vulnerable and highly marginalized population in Hawaiʻi — the aboriginal population, often referred to as Native Hawaiians.

Vision

Our Vision is to create a strong Sporting Nation, rich in National Character and Identity, with our National Teams serving as 21st-century symbols of aloha ‘āina (love of country, love for Hawai‘i) and aloha kānaka (love of humanity, love for Hawaiians).

Mission

Our mission is to improve the resiliency and overall well-being of Native Hawaiians for generations through international football.

Values

ALOHA means love, kindness, affection, compassion, mercy, and grace. The meaning, however, goes infinitely further. True aloha honors one’s present and future, with an eye toward the past. That is the secret of aloha.

In the Hawaiian language, aloha ‘āina means “love of land,” but the secret of aloha unifies one’s history, ancestry, and chief purpose for the future. Armed with aloha ‘āina (“love of country”) and aloha kānaka (“love of humankind”) we embody the national pride and identity of Hawai‘i and Hawaiians which is that true aloha that never ends.

PONO means goodness and righteousness. It stands for truth, what is right, just, and fair. Nā pono lāhui kānaka means “human rights.” Me ka pono is a term used to convey “respect.”

Pono thoughts, words, and actions breed the moral qualities that define an upright character. It is a fundamental part of sport and is demanded in global society. There is, therefore, a need to be pono to produce the right kind of prosperity, well-being, and success as individuals, as a team, and as a lāhui (country).