Christian Shimabuku Headshot

Christian Shimabuku

Sports

When Dane Fujinaka saw Bronson Rivera's name pop up in the NCAA transfer portal, he was ecstatic. He had found his guy. 

[{"text":"Rivera just didn't know it yet. ","type":"text"}]

Fujinaka, the fourth-year baseball head coach at Hawai‘i Pacific, had been a longtime admirer of Rivera and his sweet left-handed swing. Rivera, a Konawaena High School alumnus, played sparingly at the University of Hawai‘i for three straight years, seeing his role and reps decrease each season. Fujinaka knew Rivera still had the goods to be his best self with the Sharks. 

"When he got in the portal, it was a no-brainer for us," Fujinaka told Aloha State Daily of Rivera. "I reached out, and actually, he never got back to me at first. We were just kind of giving up on the fact that we're gonna get Bronson, and then towards the end of the summer Bronson reached out, saying that he's interested in our program. Just super glad it worked out."

Fujinaka's vision has proven to be accurate in 2025. Rivera has started all 33 games for the 19-14 Sharks, hitting .357 with 13 home runs. The 13 long balls are tied with a program single-season record Aaron Asher set in 2009, back when college baseball players were still using BESR bats. 

The Sharks have 17 regular season games remaining, including a midweek game at the University of Hawai‘i on Tuesday at 6:35 p.m. It'll be the only game the NCAA Division II Sharks play against a Division I opponent in 2025. 

For Rivera, the game will serve as an opportunity to play against his former team.

"We're gonna come out playing our best and gonna go our hardest, of course," Rivera said during the team's practice at Les Murakami Stadium on Monday evening. "And I know they are too, so I'm excited for it. Being back out here, it's beautiful. The 

 is really nice. It's good for the boys here, UH. It's just absolutely beautiful. Really excited to be back out here and to play on here again one last time."

Rivera has proven to be durable and consistent as a senior. In 2024, he played in just six games for the Rainbow Warriors, going 0-for-7 at the plate. 

"I was just itching to get back on the field and playing again," he said of his decision to transfer. "Definitely happy I'm out back out there. I'm just really trying to live in the present and just stay in the moment and just enjoy it. It's my last year, so I just want to give it my all, so when I look back at it I know that I left it all out there. I've been really grateful for Coach Dane accepting me here with open arms and making me feel at home and like I'm part of the family."

As a team, Hawai‘i Pacific is one of the top hitting teams in the country in 2025. The Sharks are 33rd among Division II teams with a batting average of .318, 16th in the country with 2.27 doubles per game, and their 41 home runs as a team has well surpassed the previous program record of 31. 

"We definitely have a lot more thump than we've had in the past," said Fujinaka, who credits hitting coach Richard Higa for the team's approach at the plate. "I think our approach has been pretty good throughout the year. Our emphasis has just been trying to win every pitch. I think we kind of were living and dying by the long ball early in the year, and then as we played better teams, we knew he had to grind out at-bats. 

"We had to get back to kind what we're really good at, which is putting the ball in play, putting hard contact in play and then running. We've been able to get the power and that part of the game, the good two strike hitting, being able to move runners, being able to bunt, hit, and run and all that type of stuff together. I think we're able to score more runs that way."

Leading the team in hitting is senior Noah Blythe, who is hitting a preposterous .458 in 32 games. On March 25, Blythe's 60 hits led the country, but the Sharks have not played a game since then, allowing two players to leapfrog him on the national leaderboard. 

Blythe actually began his career at Hawai‘i Pacific in 2021, where the PacWest COVID bubble forced the Sharks to close out their season with 22 consecutive games against Hawai‘i-Hilo, going 9-13. Blythe transferred to the University of Antelope Valley, which shut its doors as a school in 2024. HPU was the only school where his credits would transfer and he'd be on track to graduate on time.

"My body has definitely changed. I've definitely gotten a little stronger. I think my approach has gotten a little bit more simple," Blythe said. "I'm older now, so I think I understand the game a little bit better, putting together better at-bats, not really giving away at-bats. 

"The first time I was here was during COVID, so everything was kind of like shut down. We didn't really practice too much. We played Hilo (22) times.  I've actually had a season this time, going to restaurants and just stuff like that, just going around the island. So, it's been a lot better."

Adding to the team's numbers offensively is senior third baseman Skyler Agnew, who has played in each game and is hitting .336. In last week's road sweep at Menlo, he went 9-for-12 with three home runs, four doubles, 11 runs batted in and 11 runs scored while drawing six walks. 

On Tuesday, HPU's bats will be put to the ultimate test against the only Division I team in town on their home field. 

"Especially for the local boys in our program, to get a chance to play here is special and we don't really get to play in these type of environments with this big, nice stadium and nice field, and obviously a really good team too," Fujinaka said. "We absolutely know what we're up against, and I know our guys are really excited for the challenge."

Noah Blythe 040125

<title>Bolstered by newcomers and veterans, Hawai‘i Pacific among country's… | Aloha State Daily</title>

The Sharks have been one of the most prolific hitting teams at the Division II level in 2025.

Bolstered by newcomers and veterans, Hawai‘i Pacific among country's top hitting teams

Kam Napier Headshot

A. Kam Napier

Opinion

Nevada officials were caught off guard on Tuesday when Hawai‘i Gov. Josh Green seized control of Sin City. 

"I'm proud to declare April 1st Hawai‘i Liberation Day," he proclaimed from a hastily erected podium in front of the Bellagio Resort & Casino. 

Millions of expatriate kama‘āina converged on the scene as the governor rolled out a series of dramatic reforms. 

Clark County was disbanded and in its place, Green established the Extremely Mauka County of Hawai‘i. The California Hotel & Casino, however, was not renamed for fear that Hawai‘i residents would no longer find their way to nickel slots and endless buffets. 

"I think itʻs well past time that we started imagining a new future for Las Vegas, a Hawai‘i future" the governor declared. "Solar-powered fans will bring tradewinds. A canal to California will create beaches. The IKEAs will no longer sell those awful Swedish meatballs and instead will offer poke bowls, lau lau, dim sum and rice."

While Hawai‘i émigrés cheered their sudden rise to power, not everyone was comfortable with the new arrangement.

"Wait just a minute! Wait a minute!" shouted Nevada Gaming Commissioner Tex S. Holdem through a bullhorn. "Isnʻt gambling illegal in Hawai‘i?"

A hush fell over the crowd as Gov. Green produced a whiteboard and drew an elaborate diagram of infectious gambling addiction. That segued into a discussion of tax policy, with Hawai‘i proceeding to levy a personal income tax on all earnings where none had been collected in Nevada before.

 what I retired to Vegas for," murmured former state worker Brenton Nishigami, who had turned a $700,000 Mililani Mauka townhome into a five-bedroom single-family home for half the price in 2012. 

At last report, former Hawai‘i-Nevada residents were seen loading U-Haul trucks to decamp to South Dakota, which has no income taxes.

Editorʻs note: Happy April Foolʻs Day — the only day youʻll see fake news at Aloha State Daily.

Firefly Illustration of Las Vegas strip with buildings covered with Hawaiian leis 75007

<title>Hawai‘i Gov. Josh Green annexes Las Vegas | Aloha State Daily</title>

April 1 declared "Ninth Island Liberation Day"

Hawai‘i Gov. Josh Green annexes Las Vegas

ASD Staff

Hawaiʻi Scene on Social

 everyone is living with it. But hey, it's only 30 years of your life!

Honolulu neighborhoods from downtown 031025

<title>Hawai‘i Scene on Social: OMG the cost of housing! | Aloha State Daily</title>

In today's social media find, local comedian Tumua jokes about the joys of trying to buy a completely ordinary home at $1.1 million.

Hawai‘i Scene on Social: OMG the cost of housing!

[{"text":"Everything was trending towards 2024 being Spyros Chakas' year. ","type":"text"}]

The star outside hitter was the latest elite international men's volleyball player to make his way to the University of Hawai‘i and embrace the Islands as much as it embraced him over the course of his college career. It's why he turned down pro overtures following his sophomore and junior seasons.

"You get offers, but it wasn't something that was enough for me to persuade me to leave Hawai‘i, and honestly, it would take a lot to get me out of Hawai‘i. I was having such a good time with my teammates, my friends in the islands, that I don't think that I would have given up on it," Chakas recently recalled to Aloha State Daily. "Especially after my third year, I've done three years of it. I might as well finish."

Chakas entered his senior year as the star player, floor captain and unquestioned leader for the Rainbow Warriors, who had won national titles in 2021 and 2022 and finished national runners-up in 2023. 

After a team trip to Japan in the fall, the stage was set for Chakas to have a memorable senior season. The 'Bows were considered among the teams in the mix for national title contention, while Chakas was one of the preseason favorites for national player of the year. 

"I was feeling really good going into that season. We had such a good time going to Japan, bonding as a team, and then just playing some really good volleyball. That was a great experience," said Chakas, the Most Outstanding Player in the 2022 NCAA Tournament. "The year started really well, and then going into the season, I was feeling probably my best physically that I felt my four years in Hawai‘i."

[{"text":"Then March 10 happened, and Chakas' college career was suddenly over. ","type":"text"}]

In the fifth set of an intense championship match of the Outrigger Volleyball Invitational, a ball was for set for Chakas, which he swung straight into the UC Irvine block. He landed on his left leg and immediately went down, clutching his left knee. The Stan Sheriff Center crowd of 6,923 went silent. 

The Rainbow Warriors went on to win the match, and Chakas won MVP of the tournament. Following the match, Chakas' teammates went to the training room to check in on him. He knew something was off immediately, but it wasn't confirmed until the next day. 

Chakas went home and was only able to sleep for about an hour before heading to the hospital for a 7 a.m. MRI, which revealed a full ACL tear, a third degree MCL tear and a first degree meniscus tear. Chakas had to wait an additional 10 days to get surgery to allow the swelling to go down. 

From there, a laborious rehabilitation process — both mentally and physically — ensued. His first physical therapy session took place the day after surgery. 

"That was pretty intense, learning how to live with crutches. The first month and a half being stuck in bed, only getting up to go to the toilet was an interesting time," he recalled with a grin.

During UH's five-set win over UC Santa Barbara on March 30, Chakas was part of the starting lineup as the second libero and sat on the bench, a respite from the early recovery stages he was facing at home. 

The Rainbow Warriors went 5-5 in Big West play without Chakas, falling to UC Irvine in the conference semifinals before missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2018. 

In exchanging injury stories with others, Chakas realized his wasn't painful as others he had talked to, although he faced a long road ahead to get to where he once was.

As for his pro prospects, a team in Germany that was prepared to negotiate with Chakas after the season ended withdrew their interest following the injury. 

"I saw it all as a lesson, because it was not that I could control whether I got injured or not," he said. "I could only control how I dealt with it. And I think I did a pretty decent job controlling it and learning through it."

Chakas expressed gratitude towards the athletic training staff at UH. With Raiki Miyazato, he was able to learn to slowly get off his crutches and stand on his two feet again, supplemented with workouts at the pool. Meanwhile, strength coach Josh Elms introduced Chakas to leg exercises with the goal of not letting his leg atrophy. Chakas says in the early stages of rehab, his left leg was "skinny as hell."

The countless hours in bed allowed Chakas to self-reflect and learn more about himself. He even watched the fateful match against UC Irvine in which he suffered the injury. 

"I was rewatching the game against Irvine that I got hurt, and then I was watching how tense I was and how hard I was playing. I was like, OK, maybe I need to calm down a little bit sometimes. That was an important lesson," Chakas said. "Getting hurt obviously wasn't great for me or for the team. I believe that we could have done way better. But that doesn't take away the effort that the boys put in after I got hurt. I was really proud to watch them battle every game out, play their hearts out. ... Overall, not the way that I wanted it to go, but there's good things to keep from that season."

Teammates and coaches would frequently visit Chakas, making him plates from the team's postgame spread. Thousands from around the volleyball world messaged him, wishing him well in the recovery process. But when he was left to his own devices, that's when Chakas grew the most as a person.

"The physical part, you get used to it because you don't really have a choice. It's the mental part that you grow up a lot, because you just learn to face adversity in a different way, because it takes something away from you that you're used to doing for so many years. I played volleyball for so many years, and it's what I enjoy to do. So when that is being taken away from you, you just need to find other things to do," Chakas said. "For example, my enjoyment from music grew even more. I still remember being on crutches, and I'll go to (former teammate) Max Rosenfeld's house, and we would just make music together, and we'll just have good times. 

"That would be something that would distract me from my injury or any other issues that might have occurred. You find out so many more things about yourself, because you're not only focused on playing volleyball or winning games. There's so many other sides that you discover. I think that's the main thing that I keep from from this process: Just expanding my character and my interests as as a whole."

Chakas graduated from UH-Mānoa with a BA in psychology and then signed his first pro contract with AONS Milon in his native Greece, the same club team he played with as an amateur. With fond memories of the jam sessions he had with Rosenfeld, the first thing he bought after he landed in Athens was a drum set. 

Physical therapy for Chakas continued after moving back to Greece. After spending months working on his recovery, he began practicing with the team about 10 months following his injury. 

He returned to action on Feb. 19 — less than 11 months after surgery — and delivered five kills and four service aces against Hefestus Florinas. 

AONS Milon is currently in a best-of-five series in the Greek playoffs against Olympiacos, one of the most prominent multi-sport clubs in Greece. 

"It's rewarding," Chakas says of his return to the court. "There's some minor muscle issues that are pretty normal to occur after being out for so long, but I've been jumping well like I did before. I'm even stronger than I was before, so that's really encouraging." 

While the injury Chakas had against UC Irvine ended his season, it certainly didn't end his career. After enduring the hardest parts of the recovery process, he's eager to ascend up the pro ranks in Europe. 

"There's definitely goals in mind of where I want to go and where I want to play, but these goals won't achieve themselves," Chakas said. "I'm the one that has to be putting in the work every day if I want to achieve those goals. So, for example, if I want to go play in Italy, that will not happen if I just manifest or if I pray about it. I gotta actually put in the work. So, yeah, it's still a day by day process, trying to get a little better every day, whether that's physically, mentally or or both."

With a 12-hour time difference between Greece and Hawai‘i, Chakas said he's not able to watch as many matches live, but he'll watch them in full once they're uploaded on YouTube. He remains in touch with former teammates that are still in college, such as starting UH setter Tread Rosenthal and middle blocker Kurt Nusterer. He's hoping to visit the islands soon and show his friends some of the scenery, as well as reunite with poke bowls and spam musubi. 

"It's the best volleyball community I've ever seen in my life. People that actually care about the sport and love the sport and really, really good people that I came in contact with and made friends with over the years, and Hawai‘i is an amazing place itself. The Islands, the nature, the ocean, the mountains, it's something that I'll never forget, and I'll always want to come back to show my friends from here that I was living in Hawai‘i for four years. The food was pretty good, not gonna lie, some food that we don't have in this side of the world."

In the year since Chakas suffered his first major injury, he believes he's able to play at a high level again because of his short-term mentality. Have one good day at a time, and suddenly the starting point is a distant memory. 

"The first thing is that when adversity comes, you can't control what's going to happen to you, but you can control how you're going to deal with it," he said. "When I got injured, my initial thoughts, I was angry and sad and pissed about it. But then I realized that there's no point in me wasting energy in being emotional about it. But instead, I just gotta do my best to come back from it, go to PT, do my strengthening and all that. Just controlling the way that you come back from adversity, and not letting it get you stuck in a place where you don't want to be for a long time. 

"And then the second thing would be to take it day by day. I know that's a cliché, but when you're in a place like I said before, stuck in bed, not being able to get up, thinking long term is not really going to get you anywhere. You just gotta think like, 'OK, I'm gonna do this now.' I'm gonna do these things today to be better, feel better, and then get up the next morning and do the same things. I also had many messages from either kids that have gone through this injury or parents of kids that are going through these injuries. The messages that I would send to them was just be patient. Take it day by day, and be good on yourself. Love yourself."

Spyros Chakas 1

<title>Former Hawai‘i star Spyros Chakas carries college experience to the… | Aloha State Daily</title>

A year after suffering a major knee injury, Chakas is now playing for AONS Milon in his native Greece.

Former Hawai‘i star Spyros Chakas carries college experience to the pros

Katie Helland Headshot

Katie Helland

Entertainment

Arts & Culture

The Hui Mo‘olelo: Lahaina Film Festival

 will hold a screening of five animated short films on Oʻahu, following one on Maui last month. The free event starts at 6:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 27, at 

 of New York, as well as students from the 

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa School of Cinematic Arts

The festival is presented by the Maui Public Art Corps in collaboration with the

County of Maui, Maui Historical Society, Lahaina Restoration Foundation, and the

University of Hawai'i at Mānoa Outreach College.

The free event will also include a question and answer session with several of the artists and storytellers. 

O’Connor spoke with Aloha State Daily about his creative process, as well as themes in one of the featured films, which is entitled “Ola n

“We visualize this sort of like a sketchbook as if you were walking through the town doing quick little watercolor studies,” he said. “The Pioneer Hotel plays a central role. The school. And, also just the daily life of people. In our story, a number of artists gravitated towards the story of the temple, so there will be different interpretations of the Jodo [Mission] temple.”

That temple had burned down previously, he said. 

“The community around this temple has literally been through this before, and they're still trying to rebuild from two years ago, but it's something that the temple community had been through it previously,” he said. “And they realized, ‘This is the cycle of life here. This is what we need to continue to do again.’ ”

A 15-minute piece, like this, typically takes at least six months to a year to create, O’Connor added. In this case, the piece was pulled together in a much shorter time frame, he said. This particular film pulls together six recordings, which feature generational wisdom and talk about common places from different perspectives.

“There are a lot of generational stories,” O’Connor said. “There are people who are talking about growing up in the 1950s or even earlier and the way that they remember the town, and they're in conversation with people who are younger — in their 30s or 40s — and they're talking about how they remember the town.”

Haines Burt Freeland; Louis Garcia III and Kaliko Storer;

One of stories was recorded in Japanese. O’Connor reached out to a colleague to help with editing that clip since he does not speak Japanese, he added. 

Loss, trauma — and the corresponding rebuild of community — are themes he has seen first-hand. O’Connor has lived in New York City for more than 30 years, he added. 

“I've lived here through various periods of destruction,” O’Connor said. “I was here for 9/11. Here for the floods. Here for all these other things. And what makes the city resilient is the people of the city. We have blackouts, and neighbors are feeding each other. We have pandemics, and people are taking their elderly neighbors to the doctor. It’s the community which makes the place.” 

For O’Connor, the project brings up certain themes of humanity. 

“The idea that we can all rebuild this community and preserve this community through our connection to one another and our sharing of these stories and our sharing of these experiences — to me, it's specific to Lahaina in so many ways, but it's also specific to every person on earth who has been through tragedy, been through devastation, and seen redemption and restoration with their neighbors, with the larger world. To me, that is something which we need to do and celebrate and promote, however we can.”

O’Connor traveled to Maui for the first screening of the short film in February. He told some of the students who attended the event as their first public film screening, that they will “never have another experience like that screening,” he said.

“This feeling in the room is so — indescribable,” he said. “The different levels of emotion. People start giving testimony of their own life experiences. I don't know if that will be replicated outside of Maui. Hopefully it will be, because it's really an unbelievable screening experience. I've been in 100 film festivals, and I've only once experienced anything which is remotely close to this and even that was still a little bit far away.”

Ola nā iwi

<title>Five films about Lahaina featured in this festival | Aloha State Daily</title>

Richard O’Connor is a New York City animator working with students to tell multigenerational stories about Lahaina. The short film he animated explores the devastating impact of the wildfires of August 2023. Watch a screening of this and other short films on Thursday, March 27.

Five films about Lahaina featured in this festival

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Kelli Shiroma Braiotta

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The Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall is home to Hawaiʻi Symphony Orchestra, Hawaiʻi Opera Theatre and touring Broadway productions. The next phase of renovations is currently out to bid and would include updates to the exterior of the more than 60-year-old performing arts space.

Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall

Behind-the-scenes of the Neal S. Blaisdell Concert Hall’s recent renovations

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“Partnering", a collaborative approach designed to help groups become more effective, is an alternative to the legal system’s traditional dispute resolution because it promotes dispute prevention among stakeholders, says Clay, who is a trained facilitator. He recently wrote an article for the Hawai’i Bar Journal about why he launched Clay Partnering LLC, a company that aims to positively impact local businesses, nonprofits, government agencies and beyond.

Longtime Hawaii attorney Gerald Clay wants his legacy to be ‘Partnering’

Celebrate the sweet collab from Diamond Bakery and Sage Creamery on April 5 — and you might have the chance to win a cash prize.

Limited-time Royal Creem Ice Cream flavor launches this weekend

This movie, featuring director Martin Scorsese and top-tier Hollywood actors and actresses such as Leonardo DiCaprio and Emily Blunt, tells the story of a mob boss in Hawaiʻi.

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