Koa Rothman was born on the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii. In 2014 Koa was awarded both the Tube and Wipeout of the Year at the Billabong XXL event, he is clearly fearless and continues to ride some of the most dangerous waves in the world. He is the son of Eddie Rothman, who in 1976 founded Hui O He'e Nalu (literally, "Club of Wave Riders"), shortened to "Da Hui", in Oahu. Da Hui, was established purportedly as a reaction to the tourists who were traveling to Hawaii and were not respectful of the local culture and surf etiquette on the North Shore. At a young age Rothman surfed with his father, who pushed him to surf waves much bigger than those his peers were surfing and it shows.
On 2016 Koa Rothman was awarded with The Performance of the Year.
On 2017 Koa Rothman won the Da Hui Backdoor Shootout in an epic 12' to 15' waves at Pipeline. Koa nails his own Wave of the Winter. In a tight competitive field, it was one wave 12 points barrel ride, that served as an exclamation mark to Koa's solid performance throughout the contest, pushing him into first place.