For the University of Hawaii football team, Wednesday’s practice was just like the previous ones of training camp.
And that was about to change.
After an hour of drills at the Ching Complex on the Manoa campus, head coach Timmy Chang summoned the Rainbow Warriors to the ‘Ewa end zone. Associate head coach Chris Brown then explained the day’s “mission mindset.”
“I told them: ‘Can we go into unfamiliar territory and perform?’” Brown asked.
At Brown’s instruction, the Warriors sprinted toward the gate on the Diamond Head-makai corner of the complex. They boarded three yellow Gomes’ school buses.
“We got into the bus, and there was some talking going on,” Brown said. “I had to stop that real quick, shut that up.”
Wearing their helmets, the Warriors rode in silence for the 3-mile drive to Kalani High School.
“As soon as they got off the bus, it was all business,” Brown said. “They ran to the field and were ready to work.”
Without missing a beat, the Warriors resumed the practice itinerary. They worked on special teams. The first-team offense ran plays against the No. 2 defense, then the second offense faced the top defense. Kicker Sean Olvera-Harle and punter Gehrig Heil launched diagonal kicks off metal tees from the sideline through the goal posts,
“The mindset stayed the same,” dime linebacker Jamih Otis said. “Football is football. Once we’ve got a field and a football, the fundamentals and everything stays the same.”
With six of 12 regular-season games on the road, including the Aug. 29 opener against Stanford, Chang wanted to take the Warriors out of what he described as their “comfort” zone. That meant an unannounced visit to Kalani’s practice field. (Without permanent stands, the Falcons do not play any varsity football games at their Waialae-Kahala campus.)
“We wanted to put them in a different environment so they can see, feel and perform their goals,” Chang said.”It was just a different deal of what we wanted to do and how we wanted to do it.”
Because of scheduling conflicts in the past, the Warriors have practiced at Farrington High School, Roosevelt High School and Saint Louis School. This was the Warriors’ first practice on Kalani’s artificial surface. There are no Kalani alumni on the Warriors’ active roster or coaching staff.
The Warriors did not appear to be distracted by the proximity of the Pacific Ocean or the cars passing on Kalanianaole Highway.
“It was beautiful out there,” running back Cam Barfield said. “We’ve got the ocean out there. Just seeing the different scenery and adapting to different things. That’s just the name of the game. It was being able to adapt. A different field, different wind. Everything wasn’t the same. All that factors in a game.”
Brown said the intent was to “not make it fun at all. I explained the mission to them. It’s about being uncomfortable and the unknown. I told the boys, ‘if the unknown scares you, that means we havent’t prepared well enough. It’s a good gauge to see where we stand.”
Brown said the hour at Kalani was productive with room for improvement.
“We have to sharpen some things,” Brown said. “It wasn’t as sharp as we wanted it to be. That’s good. We don’t want to peak right now.”
The Warriors are bracing for more challenges. A potential tropical cyclone is tracking toward the island chain.
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