Piko'u Hawaiian Football Project - Hui Kanaka Powawae (Hawaiian Football Federation)’s project goal is to “Increase the domains for Hawaiian language use among Native Hawaiian youth by integrating language acquisition and application into HKP’s football program, fostering greater fluency and cultural identity.” In Hawai‘i and the diaspora, the Native Hawaiian community faces language revitalization challenges, with only about 3% of Native Hawaiians reporting some Hawaiian language fluency, about 2,000 native speakers remaining, and youth needing more everyday settings to use Hawaiian beyond academic, ceremonial, artistic, and culture-based spaces. The project will serve 200 Native Hawaiian football players ages 13–23 in five cohorts of 40, while also engaging coaches, staff, families, and the broader Native Hawaiian community. By the end of the three-year project, 12 coaches and staff will increase Hawaiian language fluency and their ability to deliver Hawaiian language instruction and lead protocol within youth football, and 200 youth players will demonstrate increased Hawaiian language use and culture-based knowledge. Key outputs include a football-centered Hawaiian language and culture curriculum, 50 athlete language and culture activity plans, 50 coach and staff monthly training activity plans, a Piko‘u Handbook/Workbook, a Piko‘u Training Manual, training for 12 coaches and staff, four new coaches or staff with Hawaiian proficiency, a long-term Hawaiian language strategy for football, a searchable database of football-oriented Hawaiian language teaching materials, 100 Piko‘u sessions, 200 hours of instruction, training camps, virtual sessions, NorCal and Los Angeles tours, and a 2029 All-Hawaiian Language Football Exhibition Tour at UH Hilo. The long-term community goal is to expand everyday Hawaiian language use through football and strengthen sustained language learning among Native Hawaiian youth.
