HIH 301 WEB TRANSCRIPT (Instrumental music) Kalaʻi Miller, Host: Aloha, I’m Kalaʻi Miller and in this episode of Home is Here, we’re at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa.

While the Rainbow Warriors have made their mark in sports like football, basketball and volleyball –UH is quickly rising through the ranks in another sport...though you’ve probably never really thought of it as that.

Sky Kauweloa, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Director of Esports: Esports?

What is it?

It is a form of competitive video game play.

(Electronic music) Sky Kauweloa, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Director of Esports: It is a term that is sort of unusual, because for a very long time, people would play games competitively.

But they would not necessarily call it esports.

But now we have a whole industry built out globally, in which companies create games and have leagues and are creating competitions across different countries in which is called esports.

There is like an attempt or a desire to kind of mimic what you see in sports leagues.

And so we have a different games in which we're playing.

And then we also have within those games, eight sort of divisions of operations.

We have a coach, we have a team captain, you know, we have a student lead.

And that we have the game, we have the players themselves.

It's a very big operation, which, you know, typically running across more than 15 or 16 teams total.

Nicholas Takamatsu, Valorant team player: So Valorant is a five versus five tactical shooter.

Each player plays an agent or like a special character.

And um, everyone has like a different role on the team.

So like, yeah, you're just like taking turns attacking and defending.

And it's the first one to win 13 rounds, like wins the whole match.

But it's a very technical kind of game a lot of precision and a lot of like, having to think outside the box and like working the whole the entire game the entire map because it's not really just like all about like a one on one kind of like shooter kind of thing, but there's a really big team aspect to it.

Zach Trebbien, Player, content team member: So as a player, we get together pretty much two times a week.

Maybe more than that.

Mostly because we like each other.

I think it's a good community aspect that we all get together and hang out.

Sometimes it can feel divided from game to game.

But when you're put together, everyone really comes together.

It's all constructive.

A lot of it is you learn from other people.

Since everyone here is a different skill level.

I'm not the greatest.

I'm just a competitor.

I love competing.

So I like learning from other people.

And a lot of that will come from either Kylin, my coach, or you know other players on my team.

Kylin Daniel, UH Esports League of Legends Head Coach: So as the head coach, we assess players skills based on their decisions made in the game, we also look at their communication abilities, how they communicate to their teammates on how they want to solve different problems in the game.

And we also look at their attitude and make sure they're a friendly player.

We just tried to keep it a friendly environment.

And then during the season, we will compete in games.

And in between the games, I'll talk the team discuss strategy in terms of characters that we want to choose.

And also different strategies that we might look at in terms of how we're going to beat the opponents were playing.

Nicholas Takamatsu, Valorant team player: Yeah, they've all been like, very inclusive for the team.

Like we're all working together, like new strategies, like giving each other tips like, you were like saying, like, oh, you could try this thing?

Like, oh, yeah, we'll try that.

And like, we're helping on each other during the practices.

And so yeah, they're always super cool, super friendly.

Like all of them.

Oh, yeah, it's definitely like, you know, being a team player, like, learning how to like work as a team, but also like being able to like put in input because like, it's everyone like, has their own special like thing on the team.

So like, we're all trying to like put in input like, Oh, I could do this, or you could help me do this.

And like, it's just all working together like to make a good strategy, good plan to like, win games, win matches.

Kylin Daniel, UH Esports League of Legends Head Coach: There are actually a lot of similarities, I think that esport athletes have with traditional athletes.

We have the same amount of practices, we have to learn certain skill sets we have to learn how to communicate that's all the exact same as a conventional sport or traditional sport.

Sky Kauweloa, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Director of Esports: The goal for me in this program is not necessarily to produce professional Esports players.

Again, it's wonderful if we have them, right, because that's a lifestyle that many students would like to have.

But the goal of this eSports program is really at the end of the day, to get students to engage with industry, right and to meet the publishers.

So for example, last year that was able to invite the Overwatch League, which is owned by Activision Blizzard, you know, this is a $69 billion company that was bought out by Microsoft.

They came last year, five times to our campus.

And we had a group of students who were interns, and were able to shadow and learn and follow literally one of the biggest eSports leagues on this planet in a way that they would have never been able to know this industry.

Alec Tuason, Content Lead:  The players were playing just over my shoulder here.

And, you know, it was pretty big thing.

I mean, like, it's not like something that be taken lightly like they were playing for a million dollar prize pool, right?

They played here, and I was able to be an event photographer for their marketing and social media teams.

So I was here shooting the events and the players.

So it was really fun.

I really enjoyed that.

Honestly, the actual players are only, I would say probably about 25% of what eSports actually is.

And the stuff that doesn't get talked about is all the people who do broadcasts and content and the management and the logistics behind the scenes and all that type of stuff.

The majority of the job is actually in like backend stuff.

So I am a content lead here at UH Esports and also the director of photography.

So I handle a lot of the camera work and like storyboarding and stuff.

I help lead that for a lot of our projects here.

We shoot like stills of players, which can be used on graphics on websites.

And you know, when we have like news articles, or that kind of stuff, we have media that we can send over for them to use.

And also when we do like, video projects, so we all like to highlight videos for our teams.

So we can handle like, you know, interviews and shooting b-roll and all that type of stuff that all kind of falls under like our department.

Marissa Fukeda / Content team member I've been looking for like a creative outlet to like, get, like develop my skills and stuff.

And the content team has been a really good place for me to be like exploring, like what I can actually do.

And like being able to contribute to like a bigger picture, like the whole community is really nice.

It's definitely gotten more diverse over the years.

I'm actually super happy with UH’s program because we have so many like women in leadership and like, genuinely the community is a lot more diverse than I think you might find elsewhere.

Alie Wolpol/Arena Operations Coordinator I'm arena operations coordinator, so I operate our ilab here.

I run events, I monitor any events that are happening here that don't have to do with UHE.

I schedule like practices, tournaments, games community nights, and then I run our day to day operations.

I have a staff that helps with technological issues or just like community issues as well.

So I kind of oversee everything here in our building.

My job heavily relies on knowing everybody and talking with everybody and making sure that they feel safe and welcome in our space.

Sky Kauweloa, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Director of Esports: Esports is really reflective of the larger workforce population.

And the skill sets that 21st century, tech enabled companies need as we move forward, especially in Hawaii, And that's something that I think a lot of folks don't realize is that as they do sort of smash buttons, and play these games, is that they are trying to understand their relationships with others through these games.

They are trying to solve problems, interpersonal or intrapersonal, problems through these video games.

Kylin Daniel, UH Esports League of Legends Head Coach: Being able to work with others in solving problems is a huge aspect, I think, learning how to communicate with others.

I would like to work in the sports industry at some point in my future and I believe the leadership opportunity I've been presented has taught me a lot on how to lead a team and how to interact with them in order to achieve a common goal together.

Alie Wolpol, Arena Operations Coordinator:  I think it's a great opportunity to meet other people, right?

Like, I think when you first come to college, it's a very scary experience, or a very isolating experience, especially if you don't have any friends that come with you.

And living here in Hawaiʻi, like that can be a tremendous transition if you're not from here.

So having an esports community with people who play games or have similar interests than you like, it makes you feel welcome and it makes you feel like you do have a home here and that you can feel welcome and accepted here.

Kalaʻi Miller, Host:  Sitting on the mountainside of Palehua, Mālama Learning Center is dedicated to teaching their community about the cultural and natural history of West Oʻahu.

Through place-based learning and conservation work they are encouraging students to love and care for the spaces they call home.

(Instrumental music) Mariah Gaoiran, Stewardship and Science Coordinator: When you do this work, you're planning for seven generations ahead.

And it's not just native plants that we're taking care of.

You're taking care of the people that will depend on it.

You're taking care of the watershed, the fish in the ocean that will be protected from the soil being washed away into it.

You're protecting the birds that live in these trees.

And when you plant food, which we're also doing, you're feeding people.

Pauline Sato, Executive Director – Mālama Learning Center: Malama Learning Center has a long history that starts with just a concept.

I was actually working for The Nature Conservancy at the time.

And I met up with the principal of Kapolei High School at the time, his name is Al Nagasako.

And he was starting a brand new high school, the newest high school on Oʻahu, in Kapolei, you know, the new city.

So we were just talking story, I was trying to get like a high school class to come to the forest in Honouliuli and he's like, “I love the concept, but I want every child to go in the school.” They have like 2,000 students, you know, so I was thinking like 25 students.

So that started a conversation about place based learning project based learning how he wanted every child in the school, to have access to real places and real people.

And he had the concept of people coming to the high school actually, you know, a place a gathering place, bringing the forest to the city, in a sense, because not everyone can go hiking and go into the mountains.

So that was kind of the start of the concept for Mālama Learning Center.

And, you know, we started talking about it, and eventually we turned it into a nonprofit.

When we started, we worked with Kapolei High School, which was the brand new school and this the west side of the island.

And the principal was really adamant about us working with not just the high school students there, the whole Waiʻanae Coast, the Leeward Coast, because there's just, you know, a lot of need a lot of opportunity, and, you know, just beautiful people to work with.

So that's we've kept in our mission, kept in our programs that this is where we serve.

And we work with a lot of schools.

If we can give them more information about the places where we live, and the places where the students live, and help them learn about the history, the culture, the plants and animals, just really learn to love the place, then these places will be taken care of, and the community will be taken care of as well.

So we try to think holistically.

Not just we're learning about this plant, because it's a cool plant, but how does this relate to your culture?

How does this relate to the history of Hawaiʻi?

How does it relate to the environment to climate change?

I mean, there's so many things that we can talk about, but more importantly, what can we do in the future?

Evy Braum, ʻĀina Education Specialist: I was actually born and raised in Makakilo, so this is kind of my backyard.

So not knowing about what is up mauka, not knowing that oh, actually, what's behind me is mostly eucalyptus and non-native trees.

And then to actually be able to have an experience or a chance to work here up mauka, in my backyard, to learn like, a lot of these things don't belong here.

So let's work to put what belongs here back in the ground.

So starting to do that, and then starting to see how these native plants are coming up and flourishing into this native forest, reforesting this place the way it should be, and seeing the animals and insects come back.

That is a joy to see.

The place that you grew up, like becoming beautiful again, and serving its purpose.

Mariah Gaoiran, Stewardship and Science Coordinator: We get all of our native plants starting from seed or from cutting from the areas we work in, from mostly the Waiʻanae mountain range, and we try to keep it that way because we want to keep the genetic diversity in this area.

But we'll go on our own hikes to go pick the seeds or take some cuttings.

All of the plants we grow in this nursery are typically accustomed to this area.

We grow everything from trees to ground covers, and even shrubs in between, because it's important to have all those layers of the forest.

So we have some native trees like ʻōhia, lama, and lonomea.

We have some shrubs like aʻaliʻi and ʻāweoweo and we have some ground covers like ʻilima, ʻilieʻe and carex.

Pauline Sato, Executive Director – Mālama Learning Center: Every plant you see there, every plant we put in the ground has been touched by volunteering in some way, shape or form.

You know, it's like whether it's collecting the seeds, germinating them, propagating them, putting them in bigger pots, getting them in the ground, taking care of them.

And that's what we're about.

It's not all just come on a field trip and here are the plants and let's go plant them.

It's that whole cycle, because that's what it's going to take to take care of Hawaiʻi.

It's not just a one day thing.

It's, it's the whole lifecycle.

Mariah Gaoiran, Stewardship and Science Coordinator: These plants are important because they're nowhere else in the world.

And they're beautiful.

But if we let them be forgotten, for what they were used for, then that's just sad for everyone because we lose this meaning.

And it's also important for a lot of people who use these plants culturally, before I started this job, one, I didn't know any native plants, and two, I didn't know what they could be used for.

And now that I do I, I actually drink some of these plants as teas.

I use them in my lei.

And yeah, it just, it just brings much more meaning to living every day when you can see something that you recognize and see something that you value.

And, and you can take care of that.

Pauline Sato, Executive Director – Mālama Learning Center: The reason why we feel it's so important to teach people about the plants and about the places that we live in, is because that builds that sense of belonging, and sense of pride and sense of aloha.

You know, I grew up here and born and raised in Hawaiʻi.

But when I was going to school, you know, I didn't learn anything about Hawaiʻi's environment.

We didn't learn about Hawaiian plants or really anything much about the ecosystem and that was just standard.

I wanted to do environmental science or environmental studies, I wanted to save the animals, but I really didn't think I would do it in Hawaiʻi, because I didn't think there was a problem here.

And only until you go away, and I went away to school and learn that Hawaiʻi has all these endangered species, you know, has these wonderful birds that are disappearing, and like, oh, my gosh, I have to do something.

And so with that philosophy, like, if I didn't know, I wouldn't do it.

So we have to teach people, right, we have to say that, hey, Hawaiʻi has so many, I mean, we're not making this up, we have so many unique species that are found nowhere else in the world, and many of them are going extinct.

For, for a lot of different reasons.

But there are things that we can do to save them.

But if you don't have that basic knowledge, then you don't, you know, have the sense to care.

But it's, you know, it's more than just caring to us, it's really learning to love it, to love these plants and animals who love the place enough that you will actually do something about it.

Chelsey Jay, Program Director – Mālama Learning Center: The main reason I love working for Mālama Learning Center for so long now, is because it allows me to work alongside my community.

And not give back - I don't necessarily like to use that term - it's to contribute to my community, to the health and well being of my community and be an active member of my community, and to the place that has raised me and made me into the person that I am today.

I attribute it all to being from this place.

Tyler Kondo, Ola Nā Ini Intern: One thing I like about interning here is that every day is something different that you're doing, you know, at the different sites, whether you're weed whacking, you know, you're, you know, taking down broken tree branches, you're planting plants, you're picking up things at different stores to take to the site to build or for people to use at their volunteering times.

But just meeting the people and you know, working with your hands and seeing this land become something better than it was a year ago.

Evy Braum, ʻĀina Education Specialist: Aloha ʻāina is just so important because it brings you a sense of belonging.

And also just ʻāina it's so forgiving.

It's so forgiving and giving.

Mariah Gaoiran, Stewardship and Science Coordinator: I love doing this work because everything we do is done for the sake of the future generation, everything from picking a seed, to putting the plant in the ground, you see that generation of the plant growing up.

And then when you put the plants in the ground, you won't ever see that tree be fully grown, but your next generation will be able to see it, your children will see it, your grandchildren will see it.

Evy Braum, ʻĀina Education Specialist: I have a daughter, she's two years old now.

And she's actually grown up pretty much with the Malama Learning Center, Ohana.

So it's just great to be able to take her out.

And so she has been able to learn how to you know, touch the soil and put plants in the ground.

But as a mother, just to see her not be afraid of ʻāina and just love ʻāina.

I hope to just foster that.

And then like these plants that we're putting in together, she will be able to come back over and over and see them grow throughout her lifetime.

And that's just so beautiful to see that full circle.

(Instrumental music) Kalaʻi Miller, Host: When you think about fencing in Hawaiʻi, the first thing that may come to mind is the fencing around your home.

But Salle Honolulu Fencing Club wants to change that -making this type of fencing more mainstream in the islands.

En garde!

(Foils clanging) Colin Chock,   Salle Honolulu Fencing Club   founder: Ready, fence!

(Foils clang) Halt.

Ok. Ready, fence!

(Foils clash) Ok.

Attack, parry, riposte, touch.

Yeah?

Ready, fence!

(Foils clash) (Laughing) Hawaiʻi, I would say, is the national capital of martial arts.

Fencing is a martial art.

It's a Western martial art.

It has weapons, but it's a martial art.

It's more similar to a striking martial art, right, like kendo or karate or taekwondo or kung ku.

What I can tell you fencing has, above every other martial art, is it's the fastest martial art.

In fact, it's the fastest sport.

En garde.

Ready, fence!

Halt!

The attack is from the right.

It’s parried, no riposted.

The continution is from the right, off target.

And my left takes a yellow card for turning your back.

Don’t turn your back.

Don’t even start to turn your back.

How I started this club, Salle Honolulu, is that, you know, I didn't intend to start teaching fencing, but of course, some, you know, some people said, wow, you know, you competed in nationals, can you teach me a little fencing?

Or can you teach my, my kids or something like that, or, you know, and so it started very, very slowly and grassroots.

I did initially learn fencing here in Honolulu.

You know, I was a kid and these adults who had some fencing from different backgrounds, they got together and they, and they taught, you know, taught me what they could, you know.

But when I moved to the mainland, that's when my fencing world opened up.

That's when I got to take lessons from French fencing masters and, and it's just a matter of driving, we would go to big tournaments.

And then also, I could go to the national championships if I qualified.

So I remember, several years ago, one of my adult students, John, he said, “Coach, was it harder to compete, you know, in the big tournaments and nationals and things like that?

Or is it harder to coach?” And I said, at that time, I said it’s much harder to coach.

We’re cutting the sides or the body.

There is more of a cut.

You know, I'm not a super athlete, but fencing did come pretty easy to me.

So the hard thing I have is when a student doesn't take to it as easily as I did.

And then I have to remind myself to be patient or, or to approach it from a different angle.

Rexon Cabradilla, Jr., Student: What I like about Coach Colin is he's just really friendly.

The first day, the first day I trained with him, he wasn't like, you know, strict or anything.

He was like, very helpful.

Actually, instead of starting the class, he pulled me aside to teach me everything before starting the class.

So I wouldn't feel left out when I actually, when they actually started drilling.

Colin Chock, Salle Honolulu Fencing Club founder: Boom.

Front toe from me, facing straight.

Recover.

Rexon Cabradilla, Jr., Student: I got into fencing because I have asthma.

And when I was seeing my pulmonologist, him, and my mom agreed, I should get into a sport to kind of like, build over my asthma and I found fencing.

So I just searched it was available here.

And then yeah, that's where I found Salle Honolulu.

When I when I first started, my friends were like, fencing, what?

Are you doing fencing, there's so much other sports you can do at the high school.

It's like, I don't know, it's different, you know, something not really found a small sport like I could enjoy.

I was about 15, 16, around my, my beginning of my sophomore year in high school.

And at first, it was kind of nerve wracking because the people who were there when I went to practice were like, they're kind of, they're younger than me, but they're, they're really good.

So I kind of got scared at first, because it is like a kind of like a metal sword I had to practice with.

But overall, I really liked it.

It was really enjoyable.

Colin Chock, Salle Honolulu Fencing Club founder: For parents.

I emphasize fencing is very low injury.

But, you know, I don't say that to the kid.

To the kid, I say this is simulated sword fighting.

So you can imagine you're well, in my day, you know, I imagined that was Zorro and D'artagnan.

But today it probably someone from I don't know what you know, from Star Wars, from something like that.

Yeah, I have to say, right, that, that real sword fighting is the most dangerous thing you can do.

Right?

But fencing, which is a simulation of this, sportification of it, is the safest thing you can do.

You know?

So it's you go from A to Z. Rexon Cabradilla, Jr., Student: A lot of the time, it's really hard to see a moving thin piece of metal when you have the mask on.

So you kind of have to like focus up, you look away for one second, you’re already hit or you know, you can't even see the blade anymore.

So yeah, it also help with like hand eye coordination.

You know you don't want to keep looking at your hand while you're fencing.

Just know what you're doing.

Colin Chock, Salle Honolulu Fencing Club founder: A hallmark of fencing footwork is that you should be able to stop on a dime and change direction on a time.

That’s right.

Fatima, that’s a, that’s a penalty.

Fencing is a typical sport, in that footwork is the most important thing.

And footwork is maybe not the most interesting thing.

You know, it just takes energy.

It's pretty simple.

But it takes work, right?

The glamorous part.

The interesting part is the blade work, right?

If I have a, an amazing parry and my, you know, I'm swishing my sword through the air.

That's interesting.

But really, what wins tournaments is the footwork.

My hope for the Salle Honolulu Fencing Club is that grow bigger.

I've been teaching for many years now.

And, and I haven't been able to create a large fencing community, right?

It hasn't taken hold.

Believe it or not, I've gotten calls from people and they say do you do rock wall?

I'm all what?

Anyway… Fencing, it has some stereotypes, some clichés, which are based in reality.

The people who look for fencing, who google it, who asked their parents about it, are those who tend to be you know, more affluent, right.

Their parents are professionals, you know, you know, very highly educated, which is fine.

So, as a coach, as a promoter of fencing, I want people of every demographic for sure - every age, men and women, boys and girls.

But I'd like to give them an alternative to, to the main sports, right.

Football, right.

The baseball the surfing, right.

Yeah, this is a little different.

And, and, you know, I'm biased, but I think fencing is the best sport.

Kalaʻi Miller, Host: Mahalo for joining us.

Head to PBS Hawaiʻi dot org for bonus features from this episode.

For Home is Here, I’m Kalaʻi Miller, a hui hou.

Sky Kauweloa, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Director of Esports: These teams that in by no small effort work really hard and what they're doing and one of our hopes is that we can able to provide scholarships for them as they move forward.

And so the winning has just been sort of the cherry on the top and really appreciate a lot of the effort that these students have been, been putting forth to, to really create a name for our program.

Kylin Daniel, UH Esports League of Legends Head Coach: Winning is always fun.

I've always been competitive.

I've always enjoyed just winning and having that moment together, especially as a team just knowing that we can achieve something together if we work hard, and it pays off.

Pauline Sato, Executive Director – Mālama Learning Center: Our first nursery that we've ever had,   and we still have is on Kapolei High School Campus.

It's actually their nursery, but we take care of it and we grow thousands of native plants there with the students.

Colin Chock, Salle Honolulu Fencing Club founder: The oldest student I ever had, was 90 years old.

And she never had fencing before.

It wasn't like she was trying to recapture the glory of her youth.

She had, she was taking up fencing from scratch.

I'd like to have more people like that.