Hawaii Athletics holds meet-and-greet

Multiple figures in the University of Hawaii Athletics department held a meet-and-greet at City Square shopping center in Kalihi on Saturday.

More than 30 players and coaches were present in a fundraising effort for UH-Manoa’s athletics department.

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Saturday was an opportunity for fans to meet the players and coaches they root for, and vice versa.

“It’s just huge, because at the end of the day, Coach Chang and myself and the rest of us, we say this is not our team — this is Hawaii’s team, and this community is a part of us and when we win, the whole community wins,” Hawaii football associate head coach Chris Brown told KHON2 sports director Rob DeMello on Saturday. “When we do this together, it’s such a special thing when we get to see these fans come out and see some of our players, it’s so great. It makes our players feel special, too. There’s people out there that really love them and are really supporting us in our program.”

For the University of Hawaii football team, Saturday was one of the final public appearances before fall camp begins on Wednesday, which marks one month prior to the team’s season opener against Delaware State on Aug. 24 at the Clarence T.C. Ching Athletics Complex.

“It gives us another outlook and motivation on what we do or for who we do it for,” defensive back Elijah Palmer said. “Seeing the community is seeing everybody come out and support us, it’s just as fuel to that fire because honestly, we got to change it around. They’re coming back to see coach (Brown) and it’s like they remember him from back in the day. We have that impact and we see that we have an impact at this event. It’s given us time to get ready and really just adding fuel to the fire, honestly.”