The first two informational community meetings of Hawaii 8 will be held next week.
Hawaii 8 is a new club football organization for college students in Hawaii that is slated to start a five-team league in the spring of 2020.
The nonprofit parent organization — Hawaii Football Club — will be running the informational meetings April 15 in Kailua-Kona and April 17 in Hilo.
Those two meetings are for any college athletes or prospective college athletes interested in joining Moku O Keawe Football Club, which is the Hilo team that will be part of the five-team league in 2020.
Informational meetings will be scheduled for athletes interested in joining the four other areas that will put together teams for next spring — Kauai, Maui, Leeward Oahu and Windward Oahu.
The Monday, April 15, meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the West Hawaii Community Center at 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Building G in Kailua-Kona.
The Monday, April 17, meeting will be held at 6 p.m. at the Hawaii Community College Manono Campus, Building 388, Room 101, in Hilo.
Andrew Chun, the head coach for the Moku O Keawe Football Club, will be at both meetings.
All clubs will be loosely based on the geographical area of Hawaii’s community colleges. Work is being done to have Hawaii 8’s clubs become officially part of those campuses. At this point, there is no official affiliation between the clubs and the campuses.
In years to come, Hawaii 8 wants to add three clubs to the league to make eight. At that time, the plan is to set up a club in West Hawaii — separate from Hilo.
Hawaii 8 is in the process of obtaining sponsors to help defray costs, including travel.
Hawaii Football Club executive director Keala Pule said Friday that interest shown by the community has been “great” since the league’s March 18 announcement.
Pule said tryouts will be held in June or July.
The planned eight clubs/geographical area campuses are:
The first five
>> Kauai Football Club (Kauai Community College)
>> Leeward Football Club (Leeward Community College)
>> Maui Football Club (UH Maui College)
>> Moku O Keawe Football Club (Hawaii Community College in Hilo)
>> Windward Football Club (Windward Community College)
The next three
>> Unnamed West Hawaii club (Hawaii Community College-Palamanui in Kailua-Kona)
>> Honolulu Football Club (Honolulu Community College)
>> Kapiolani Football Club (Kapiolani Community College)
TO GAIN A FOLLOWING, THEY NEED TO BE ABLE TO USE HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL FIELDS WITH BLEACHERS, SO THEY CAN PUT BUTTS IN THE SEATS.