More than 200 attend free Ho‘omau Football Camp at Kealakehe

More than 200 elementary, middle and high school students filled Waverider Stadium at Kealakehe High School for a free Ho‘omau Football Camp that was built around access as much as athletics. Boys and girls worked with Big Island football alumni, while the camp also pushed a food drive for island families, tying the day to both player development and community need.

Wilde Germano, a 2020 Kamehameha Schools Hawaii graduate and former CSU-Pueblo linebacker, created the camp as a senior leadership project and said it was meant to give back to the community that raised him. That origin has helped turn the event into something larger than a summer clinic. It now serves as a local pipeline where young players can see high-level football success reflected in people with Hawaii Island roots.

Among the alumni mentors working with campers were Sean Randall, a Keaau High School alum; Max Unger, an HPA alum and Super Bowl XLVIII champion; and Kilohana Haasenritter, a Hilo High alum and coach. Their presence gave the camp a direct link from island high school football to college and professional experience, the kind of exposure many Big Island athletes rarely get without leaving home.

The camp’s reach went beyond drills and instruction. Participants were encouraged to donate canned food, and the donations were sent to The Food Basket in Hilo, the federally designated food bank for Hawaii County. Founded in 1989, The Food Basket says it serves more than 35,000 people each month through emergency food distribution and nearly 100 partner agencies, making the camp’s food drive part of a much wider hunger-relief network.

The turnout also suggests the event is gaining momentum. A 2025 Tribune-Herald story said the camp’s third annual edition drew 300 elementary, middle and high school students. This year’s gathering at Kealakehe showed that the Ho‘omau name is becoming part of the island’s youth sports calendar, especially for families looking for free training, local role models and a chance to connect with football pathways that reach beyond Hawaii Island.

For Big Island players, the question is not whether the camp offers a good afternoon of football. It is whether a free gathering at Kealakehe can keep widening the door to recruitment, scholarships and off-island exposure. With alumni back on the field and food heading to Hilo, Ho‘omau is making that bridge look real.