Warriors will open Hoopfest with haka
Lifting weights, running sprints and shooting baskets were all standard drills for the Hawaii basketball team during the preseason.
One not-so-standard drill was the practicing of a Tahitian haka.
The Warriors plan to open the ‘Ohana Hoopfest with the haka, and it will culminate over a month’s worth of practice.
“When we first started learning it, we had to do it over and over,” freshman Trevor Wiseman said. “I would come out of there sweating as much as regular (basketball) practice.”
Manarii Gauthier from the dance group Ia Ora O Tahiti Nui directed the Warriors during the practice sessions, and it wasn’t easy. The current roster of Warriors includes just one Hawaii-raised player – walk-on Pi’i Minns.
“It’s totally out of our element,” said junior Anthony Salter, who is from Tallahassee, Fla. “But it’s fun to get together with the team, and we’re bonding as we’re doing it. There’s a lot of laughs.”
Rumor has it head coach Gib Arnold and his staff have been secretly practicing a haka of their own to be unveiled at ‘Ohana Hoopfest.
Hey Dayton,
Great site! Nice to be able to read your UHBKB reports again.
nice dayton.
Thanks for this site. Looks good. The haka is pretty funny. I think they gotta gain some weight. shooooots den.
Thanks for a great site. I’ll definitely be a frequent visitor.
Thank you all for checking this site so early and participating in the comments. It just went up today (Thursday, Oct.14) so we’re still in the process of building.
Unfortunately, we have no budget for marketing so we’re relying on word of mouth. If you like the site, please let your friends know about it.
It is a great site, Dayton. Thanks for all your hard in putting it together, and another way to keep track of our Warrior Basketball Team.
Yes, thank you everyone! And, speaking of still being in the “process of building,” I just fixed the clock so the timestamps are on Hawaiian time.
Cool website!
It would be great if you can post some videos of the midnight ohana.
We do plan to have video from the event — which is now called ‘Ohana Hoopfest. It probably won’t go up right away (still working out some kinks). Hope to have it up by Sunday sometime.
Dayton, great site! Looking forward to visiting here often. It’s good to see the team coming together. Also it’s encouraging to see Hiram and Bill healthy again.
In the future, I’d love to see some coverage of the players’ shoes aka kicks! What’s their favorites on and off-court, favorite of all time, etc. There has to be sneaker fiends on this team! 🙂
Dayton, great site. Nice to Rainbow Warrior Basketball represented!!
good job dayton. Nice to See Rainbow Warrior Basketball being touted. Rainbow Cliff in LA
will be so pleased. i think he used to go by Cliff Sanchez. 😀
Bighilofan2, YES kind sir I am very please of Dayton’s creation of the Warrior Insider !
Being a former Bow from the mid 70’s and early 80’s still have the loyalty and passion
for Rainbow Basketball. Coach Gib Arnold is doing an omens job with recruiting and with
these young freshmen developing over time it won’t be long for the Bows being on top in
basketball with the GREAT tradition that this program has had and will have again !
Mahalo Mr. Morinaga for your VISION and EXPERTISE !
Great Website – It shows the progress of Basketball this year and will generate fan participation and hopefully great attendance at games. Good work
hey, nice site. good to see you back ” covering” basketball. I will be joining bobby again as the color analyst on radio and have started the basketball blog this week at http://www.staradvertiser.com. Look forward to seeing you at practice and the games
Great work, Dayton. We just gave your site a plug on our ESPN 1420 Honolulu Facebook page. Best of luck in making this site grow. For UH basketball fans like myself, it’s a fantastic idea. Keep up the superb work!
Yup, great site Dayton! Looking forward to the season.
Great site Dayton. Looks like you have access to things that most fans do not. Coach Gib and his program can only benefit from your site and the marketing dept. at UH can surely use all the help you can offer. Hope this site remains viable for a long time. Men’s Volleyball and Baseball could also use your expertise when the season changes. I also miss the reporting and writings of Wes Nakama if you can find a place for him.
Awesome site!!! Video’s are worth their weight in gold. Should be a valuable recruiting tool. Thanks for setting this up.
All right, Dayton!!!
We were directed here via Stephen Tsai’s Warrior Beat blog. Looking forward to great conversation with new and old Bow’s fans! Looking good so far! Keep it up!
Mahalo Nui from Michigan!
As far as the basketball team’s haka… they need to be more warrior-like, and stop trying to dance so much. When done with passion and intensity, this psyches up the fans, which in turn psyches the team. We all feed off of each other, and the team needs to realize that. Get mean with it!!!
Dayton,
Let the Basketball Warriors know that they should start a new tradition and do the “Haka” before each game. Only do the football version of the “Haka”, the “mean” intensity version.
Dayton,
It looks like you will have alot of support coming from the Tsaikos, and Tsaikettes.
Whoo-hoo!
Great to see the newest Warriors getting into the island culture.
Thanks, too, for putting jup this site!!!
Go Warriors!!!
Awesome