Skills, Drills and Giving Back 

Youth aged 8 to 17 took part in the annual Football Skills Camp at Kaunakakai Field. Photos by Molokai Sports Report

By Dayanti Karunaratne | Editor

We can’t all be Uso Seumalo, the Molokai native who showed up to a football camp having never played football before and is now playing for the NFL. But according to Ry Akana, that’s not the point of his annual development camps.
“If we change one kid’s life for the better, we consider it a success,” Akana told The Dispatch. His group, Foundation of Island Impact Athletics, aims to support athletes in Hawaii through camps and other mentorship opportunities.

Now based in Seattle, Akana was born and raised on Molokai. He’s had a successful career as a football coach, working with USA Football and coaching at Nike football camps — despite the fact that football wasn’t played much on Molokai when he was growing up. 

He said he wants to give Molokai youth the chances he didn’t have. That offer was on full display on June 26 and 27, when he hosted his sixth free football camp at the Kaunakakai field.

Along with his brothers, Brandyn and Stanton and Jarinn, Akana has been hosting free football camps on Molokai since 2019. All four brothers pursued professional athletics after graduating from high school. While Ry pursued football, his brothers excelled at basketball, playing and coaching at the highest levels. 

At one point in their careers, the brothers started talking about giving back to their home island. They connected with the basketball teams, hosting camps and playing games with Molokai High School teams. Around the same time, tackle football came back to Molokai. Akana said he knows Molokai families can’t afford to send their kids to the mainland for development camps, so he decided to bring the camp to Molokai. 

His vision? “A quality camp, with small groups, where we can really coach ʻem up,” he explained. 

He got in touch with Molokai High School, whose coaches were supportive, according to Akana, and except for a two-year pause during the pandemic, the camps have been going strong ever since. 

Braedon Cabael-Kaahanui has been coming to these camps since the first one in 2019. He’s heading into his senior year and said he hopes to play football in college.

“It’s good for working on yourself,” Cabael-Kaahanui said. “It was good to hear from other coaches.”

While numbers were lower this year — about 60 compared to their usual 100 — the female presence on the field continues to grow. 

After one parent asked if their daughter could attend, Akana said they decided to open the camp up to females. Since then, they’ve had a solid showing of 20 girls ranging in ages between 9 and 16.

Photos by Molokai Sports Report

In the camps, youth are put through drills and competitions to hone their skills. The competitions, Akana says, help youth build their determination to win.

“In football, you get knocked down, you get disoriented, and you have to get up. There’s a drill for that,” Akana said. 

He said some development camps have hundreds of kids and aren’t worth the expense.

“You’re lucky if you get the coach to talk to you,” he said about other camps. “They’re trying to get as many drills as possible; they don’t have time.”

And while he’s not taking credit for Seumalo’s career, he said he does believe there is potential on Molokai. 

“There is talent on the island, and it just needs to be developed,” Akana said. 

To help with that development, he said he aims to bring coaches of defending high-school state champions to Molokai. 

“It’s fun for those coaches, but we also want kids on Molokai to see what champion teams are made of,” he said. “And make them think they can be champions.”

Coaches at this year’s camp included Russ Ehrenfeld. Spencer Hafoka, Brandyn Akana, Kimo Orlando, Stanton Akana and Ry Akana. They were excited to share the names of the youth that earned recognition at the camp. In the keiki category, Kahi Valdez earned offensive MVP, Kilia Rapanot got defensive MVP, and Kaizen Borden was Most Improved. The Opio camp saw Shania Greenleaf win offensive MVP and Qarah Torres-Umi-Napoleon earn defensive MVP; Kamehana Arakawa and Zaion Muller tied for Most Improved. 

Next up for this organization is further leadership and career development, according to Akana. His organization is now certified as a non-profit, and he has plans to bring NFL players to Molokai and offer something unique that will attract athletes from other islands.

“Our goal is not only to do camps, we want to do leadership classes,” he said. “We want to get to the point where we can help the kids … play at the next level in college, because there’s really a way you have to do it. You need to go through the NCAA [National Collegiate Athletic Association] … and a lot of people miss those steps and then find out too late.” 

Visit https://akanaathletics.yolasite.com/ to find out more about football camps on Molokai.