How Maui Built the Groundwork for Hawaii's High School Surfing Boom

Long before the state made surfing an official HHSAA sport, Maui was already building the culture and infrastructure that made it possible. Informal school-surfing traditions on the island go back more than 19 years, evolving into organized events sanctioned through the Maui Interscholastic League (MIL) roughly a decade ago.

That grassroots groundwork is part of why Hawaii's first-ever HHSAA State Championship came together so quickly once surfing became an official sport, giving Maui's young surfers a statewide stage for a tradition they had already been building for years.