Mana Wahine Wednesday: HPU Women’s Flag Football HC Kanda Korver

HONOLULU – Trailblazing programs need trailblazing people.

Hawaii Pacific University became the first college in the islands to latch on to the runaway train of girls’ flag football popularity, announcing this past May that the school would be adding an officially sponsored program for student-athletes to join.

One problem?

They needed a coach.

Enter Kanda Korver, a former collegiate volleyball athlete and founder of Kore Vibration.

Though she was born in San Francisco, Korver’s roots are from the islands. Her mom was born on O’ahu and met her dad at UH’s medical school. Korver’s grandmother was from Plantation Camp 4 in Waiakea-Uka and her grandfather was from Lāna’i. Every place she turned in life, the islands have always called to her.

Hawaii Pacific flag football HC Kanda Korver poses with her grandma. | Photo Credit: Kanda Korver

HPU tabbed Korver to be the program’s first-ever head coach back on July 6 and the young coach has been in a sprint ever since.

On top of running her own business that services over 1,500 student-athletes already, she spent the 2026 spring campaign as an assistant coach for the KS-Kapālama girls flag football team. When she saw Hawaii Pacific’s posting about adding a women’s flag football program, her first thought wasn’t anything further than celebrating a huge win for the local community.

“Long before I knew that I would somehow play a role in it, I just remember thinking like wow,” Korver recalled. “So incredible, it’s like a huge community win … I give credit to the university’s leadership, our athletic leadership for having the courage to start and be the first.”

With the islands already in love with football and the high school flag football game growing rapidly, Korver’s excitement extends to the chance for the program to continue pioneering a new era in women’s athletics.

“Patsy Mink is so happy right now,” Korver said in reference to another groundbreaking women’s athletics opportunity.

While the 2026 season won’t be one as an “official NCAA Championship” sport, flag football has been recommended by the NCAA Committee on Access, Opportunity and Impact to advance to that status in the near future.

The NCAA projects that Spring 2028 could be the beginning of schools competing for an official national championship in one of the newest emerging sports.

That timeline provides a head start for programs like HPU to build a foundation.

Korver and the school have been hard at work building out the inaugural roster for the Sharks, piecing together players from all around the state of Hawai’i (along with others) ahead of competition.

“We have folks from OIA, we have some from ILH and we have outer island as well,” Korver revealed of her first roster. “We’re very, very happy, blessed and honored to be having a good representation of local Wahine athletes on this first inaugural team.”

She also stated that a few student-athletes with prior collegiate girls’ flag football experience have transferred into the program, adding a little bit of veteran leadership for a group sure to experience plenty of growing pains.

Korver wants the first year to have a major focus on creating a championship culture that emphasizes the right things. For her, transparency and intentions are two of the biggest conversation points she’s focused on in her recruiting of the first team.

“We are going to have to be comfortable with adapting and changing,” she clearly stated.

She knows there will be challenges, especially in finding funding for travel and supporting the program in the way it will deserve. Korver hopes to play at least 15 games in the upcoming season, competing against other PacWest schools, post-high school leagues and O’ahu club teams.

But the search for opponents won’t stop there. Korver revealed exploratory talks of playing international teams and other brand-name institutions to come out to the islands for tournaments, looking to set up as an international hub for the sport eventually.

Regardless of what the future holds for the Sharks, Korver is set on securing a foundation for success for future student-athletes at HPU.

Now, who wants the smoke from the Sharks?

Prospective student-athletes can fill out the HPU Women’s Flag Football Recruiting Questionnaire HERE.