HPU dives into more community service with shark splash weekend

HONOLULU – What’s the point of a platform if you can’t give back?

Entering September’s final weekend, the Hawai’i Pacific University men’s basketball team took on one of the program’s biggest community service projects in three seasons under the watchful eye of head coach Jesse Nakanishi.

As much as the third-year head man works for a winning culture on the court, Nakanishi and staff have made equal efforts for it off-court by giving back to those looking for a few extra hands of help. Among the program’s community service projects from previous seasons were the “Shark Bite” Mentorship Program with local elementary schools, lo’i patch work, putting on free basketball skills clinics for children and adults with disabilities and much more.

“A big part of our September is spent team building and giving back to the community,” Nakanishi said. “[We] are so fortunate to live the life we have in front of us. This weekend encapsulated both objectives; our team retreat got us closer while we also were able to provide much needed boosts to kids, ‘aina and animals.”

This year, HPU looked to take another step forward in impacting the local community after putting on another free youth skills clinic in mid-September. The next service swing would be a big one, planning the first annual “Shark Splash Weekend” – a multi-day commitment to community that put the Sharks to work as they took on four different major projects. 

The “Shark Bite” Mentorship Program at Mānoa Elementary School was rekindled for another year of fun on the final Friday of the month. With the entire team on hand, players introduced themselves to a new group of students and joined them for recess as they began building mentorships with another pocket of the younger generation.

Saturday split the Sharks into three different groups as they tried to make as big of an impact as possible in a multitude of places.

With associate head coach Cam Flabel, one group spent the day with Kids Hurt Too Hawaii to help add perspective while giving back. Kids Hurt Too Hawaii is a nonprofit aimed at providing support and community to groups of children and families battling a plethora of difficulties. 

According to their official website, Kids Hurt Too Hawaii has provided grief and trauma support to thousands of children in Hawai’i over the course of more than a decade while also conducting over 50 crisis interventions and training more than 5,000 adults to help combat the impact of trauma and grief on children and teens.

“I’m really proud of our guys for taking on four major projects and crushing them, one-by-one,” Flabel said following the weekend. “I think [my group] got a great perspective reminder of how good of lives we live.”

For the day, the Sharks helped the keiki enjoy some of the childhood glee that every young person deserves to experience. Between cooking breakfast, playing games and countless conversations, HPU spent hours upon hours helping provide the kids an escape from life’s challenges.

“It felt like we helped remind them to just be kids again and smile,” Flabel continued about his group’s time with “Kids Hurt Too” on Saturday. “It just felt good to take their minds off of things and the crazy lives they are dealing with.”

New assistant coach Kyle Ruiz was tabbed with the lo’i patch group, seeing many of the newest Sharks wade knee deep into mud to pull weeds and plant kalo. A formative experience for the players, HPU’s fresh faces were able to connect with the land and learn about the culture in their new home. 

Second-year graduate assistant Garrett Shifflett led his group through a day at Aloha Animal Sanctuary, O’ahu’s first nonprofit sanctuary for farmed animals. Aloha Animal Sanctuary, located in Kahalu’u, Kaneohe, has been open since 2019 and provides two acres of space to farmed animals at the base of the Ko’olau Mountain Range.

HPU’s group of players and coaches met and fed the animals that reside inside the sanctuary before providing over three hours of manual labor, digging a trench for a water drainage pipe in case of future flooding risks. Similar to Ruiz’s group, Shifflett’s conglomerate of Sharks found another level of connection with nature while working in community.

Going above and beyond while giving back is nothing new for Nakanishi’s program. After his first season at the helm, the Sharks were recognized nationally for their charitable efforts as the runner-up for the NCAA Division II Award of Excellence and nominee from the PacWest.

While HPU checked off a big chunk of community service in the fall, giving back goes year-round. The Sharks plan for the third iteration of “Field Trip Day” in conjunction with the “Shark Bite” Mentorship Program and host their annual “Kam’s Helmets Day”  in memory of the tragic loss of former HPU standout Kameron Steinhoff.

Until then, the Sharks are locked into readying for another season in the PacWest. After missing out on the conference tournament last season, Nakanishi and company refreshed the roster with eight new faces and returned all nine possible players from last season’s squad with eligibility remaining.

“I feel like we’re off to a much faster start than before,” Nakanishi said of the team ahead of preseason practices kicking off. “It’s [about] making tweaks to what we’ve done in the past and trying to highlight the strengths of this new bunch, along with the returners.”

HPU tips off the 2025-26 season on November 3, traveling to the continent to face Boise State in an exhibition before returning home for a November 8 home opener against Nobel University.