Hawaii Canoe and Kayak Team (HCKT) is a non-profit organization supporting Hawai’i’s canoe and kayak athletes. HCKT is one of the few organizations in Hawai’i to provide opportunities for youth to fulfill their Olympic dreams.

Beyond athletics, our program teaches members important life and learning skills to become productive citizens. Our training program is rigorous. It emphasizes dedication, goal setting, personal fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

Qualified HCKT paddlers may earn trips to the U.S. Junior Nationals and qualify for the U.S. Junior National Team that travels to Europe, Asia or South America. The opportunity for national and international travel facilitates multi-cultural understanding and life-long relationships.

Your support and assistance will help Hawai’i’s youth succeed competitively and learn the values of dedication, goal setting, personal fitness and a healthy lifestyle.

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HCKT has a strong tradition of athletic excellence since its founding in 1988. Members have attained Olympic berths in each of the Olympic Games since its inception. Of seventeen Hawai’i Olympians in the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, three were from HCKT.

The movement to found the club began after local athletes’ participation in the 1988 Olympic Games precipitated a grant from the U.S. Olympic Committee to launch a long-term effort to recruit junior athletes from Hawai’i for national and international competition.

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HCKT was founded in 1988 when Billy Whitford was hired by volunteer directors to recruit and train young paddlers. A team of eighteen went to the U.S. Canoe and Kayak Nationals that year and won 76 medals and several National Championships. HCKT subsequently won five consecutive overall club National titles.

HCKT has competed in every National Championships and many other regional competitions since its founding. In 2004, HCKT junior members received over 40 medals at the U.S. Junior Nationals in Georgia.

The HCKT program continues to recruit and train nationally and internationally competitive canoe and kayak athletes.  We are closely aligned with Interscholastic League of Honolulu canoe and kayak programs to bring new athletes into our program.  HCKT has retained its national prominence despite fewer available funding resources.

HCKT shares a canoe halau on the Ala Wai Canal near the Hawai’i Convention Center. The program’s fleet of forty kayaks supports various levels of skill, and five different events (K-1, K-2, K-4, C-1 and C-2). The fleet’s maintenance and upgrades are quite expensive, however HCKT provides equipment for all members in an attempt to minimize barriers to entry into the sport.

Our qualified coaches provide direct supervision of athletes during year-around early morning and afternoon practice sessions. The training program follows recommendations from the National Team coaching staff.

HCKT members who qualify for the National Team, spend time at the Olympic Training Center in Lake Placid, NY or San Diego, CA training under the National Team coaching staff with top paddlers from around the country.

Since the inception of HCKT, we have had great success in training and guiding our athletes to spots on the U.S. Olympic Team. However, we have not had any of our members win an Olympic medal. HCKT’s “Project Beijing 2008” is a program with the goal of having an HCKT paddler standing on the podium at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The focus of this Project is to train and facilitate Olympic paddlers from Hawai’i. This includes:

• Providing athletes with competition and training boats that are equal to, or better than, our competition.
• Enhancing the reach and quality of coaching including, hosting National Team coaches to conduct training camps and clinics in Hawai’i
• Expanding our reach to the Outer Islands. This year, we have restarted a program in Kaua’i which had its equipment wiped out in 1992 by Hurricane Iniki. We are also looking at Maui as a potential branch of HCKT.
• Aligning HCKT as the U.S. launching pad for the Beijing Olympics. Because of our geographical proximity to Asia, our goal is to make HCKT the place where athletes from across the world come to train prior to racing in Asia, providing our younger paddlers with invaluable experience.

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Please support HCKT to meet our goals this year and to continue to provide a quality and sustainable program for Hawai’i youth.
All gifts are tax deductible.