WE ARE ONE is the heartfelt true story of a group boys from varying ethnic backgrounds and far-off places, who’ve come together for the singular purpose of becoming a team. Under the skilled and watchful eye of celebrated head coach Greg McMackin, these boys will develop into a team of men. As defensive coordinator for both the Seattle Seahawks and The University of Miami Hurricanes, Coach McMackin has developed such great players as Warren Sapp and Ray Lewis. “Coach Mack” knows what it takes to create champions…and with his Warriors team, champions are what he’s making.
With only 1/50 the budget of most top-tier college football programs, what The Warriors lack in funding they make up in passion. Current Warriors quarterback Bryant Moniz (from O’ahu) was just a local boy who walked-on to the field for a try-out just a year ago. “Mo” as he’s called by the locals, is now “star of the island.” Having to find ways to attend school fulltime and support his young daughter, he works at Dominos Pizza, surprisingly signing autographs on the backs of pizza boxes, making just enough money to raise his daughter and lead Hawaii’s only major team!
In the storied tradition of June Jones, Mouse Davis and Jerry Glanville, Head Coach Greg McMackin continues to set new records and garner “all eyes” on his Warrior underdogs. For the first-time in the school’s history Coach Mack has invited cameras to be a part of the program that is “like none other in football.” Last year alone, Hawaii traveled 60,000 miles to play just six road games. Yet it remains one of the best programs in the nation, including a 12-0 run in 2007 and an appearance in the vaunted Sugar Bowl, shocking traditional football fans who had never even heard of Hawaii football.
From recruiting to training camp and throughout the entire 2011 season, viewers will become a part of this rarely seen organization. The film opens with the sound of native Samoan music as a small airplane glides just atop the American Samoan forest only to land on a rugged airfield. Hundreds of native children and adults rush to the plane to welcome Head Coach Greg McMackin. It is from here in early April that Coach Mack begins his tedious 2011 search for new recruits. Our cameras will capture the relentless Hawaii football staff scouring the depths of the island for talent, using recruiting methods seldom seen state-side, including speeches to kids huddled in outdoor schools, villages with no electricity or running water, but where natural athletes abound, cookouts of pigs on outdoor spits, kids playing football on fields strewn with volcanic glass and rocks, and the realization that for many, football is the ticket to a better tomorrow. From here it is across to the islands of Hawaii then to back towns and inner cities of the mainland US.
Viewers will rise and fall with the 2011 Warriors team as they travel an unbelievable trans-Pacific and cross-America route, staying in random locations across the states, flying coach in commercial airplanes, taking classes on the road and creating friends along the way. The team will travel to cities across America and will be introduced to a world that they’ve never seen. The film follows the Warriors as they approach and fight through bowl season. “We have our work cut out for us,” says Coach Mack, “But if we can survive the first month, we can survive the season.”
We will follow this team of naive young men as they find friendship and camaraderie living and battling as one unified squad. But the aggressive nature of football provides WE ARE ONE with an equal balance of hope and fight. The eclectic ethnic diversity of the teammates is reflected within the individual sub-stories. The diverse island communities that scatter the Pacific have very little to invigorate and empower their people. Through the leadership of Coach McMackin and his coaching staff these boys will be transformed into men, and their successes will have extraordinary impact on the people of their struggling hometown communities. It’s these same elements found in WE ARE ONE that so similarly reflect THE BLIND SIDE. For these young men, this opportunity is once-in-a-lifetime, and will give them a great start to do more with their lives. And what better way to lead your hometown than through the battle of Football!
With no professional sports teams or other venues of any kind to distract them, islanders are fixated on Hawaii Warriors football with a passion that would rival that of any other in sports – and one that has virtually gone unseen. Hawaii is among the poorest states in the nation, and The University Hawaii football program offers the rare people of these islands a respite from the harsh realities of life. Hear their stories, feel their pain and witness just how much the Warriors mean to the millions of international fans who support these young boys like no other team in football.
WE ARE ONE will inspire, touch the heart, and bring great pride to not only those that love the Hawaii Warriors but to all those who believe in dreams and the passion of the human spirit to succeed.
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