International student-athletes have made a major impact in Hawaii sports. Here are some of the most notable:

University of Hawaii men’s volleyball

The Warriors have a long tradition of international standouts, going back to Israeli outside hitter Yuval Katz in 1995 and ’96. Katz was the most outstanding performer on one of UH’s most popular teams ever, in any sport. They sold out the Stan Sheriff Center five times in 1996 and made it to the NCAA championship match. Costas Theocharidis of Greece led UH to a national championship in 2003 that was later vacated because Theocharidis had played with professionals prior to college.

Chaminade men’s basketball

In recent years, the Silverswords have had three stars who have called four different continents home. Kuany Kuany (2013,’17) was born in Kenya and moved to Australia at age 9; at Chaminade his 1,600 points and 876 rebounds put him third and second all-time in program history. Kevin Hu (2012-16), from Taiwan, starred in Chaminade’s win over Texas in 2012. Serbian Marko Kolaric (2004-08) helped the ’Swords to two PacWest championships.

UH men’s basketball

In 2001 and 2002, the Rainbows went to the NCAA tournament with rosters that included prominent players from Canada (Phil Martin and Carl English), Israel (Haim Shimonovich), Serbia (Predrag Savovic), and Lithuania (Nerijus Puida and Mindaugas Burneika).

Australians

Athletes from Down Under have starred in several UH sports, including women’s basketball (Raylene Howard), softball (Brooke Wilkins, Stacey Porter), football (a long line of punters, starting with future Pro Bowl selectee Mat McBriar) and baseball (most recently shortstop Jacob Sheldon-Collins). The Rainbow Warriors men’s basketball roster for the upcoming season has three Australian players, including senior Jack Purchase, and the team will make an exhibition tour of Australia in August.

Brigham Young-Hawaii women’s tennis

Before the athletic program’s disbanding, the Seasiders dominated Division II tennis with largely international rosters. As men’s and women’s coach, Dave Porter directed more than 1,400 winning matches.

UH women’s basketball

Like Howard, Tania Brunton from New Zealand is one of the all-time Wahine hoops greats.

UH women’s volleyball

Several internationals have come through Manoa’s most celebrated sports program. The most outstanding were Martina Cincerova from the Czech Republic and current assistant coach Angelica Ljungquist from Sweden. Cincerova was the setter on the program’s last national championship team (1987), and Ljungquist, a current assistant, was national player of the year (1996).