Final thoughts on the Asia tour
Nearly a month after the “Warriors to Asia” tour started, the stories are still flowing.
It was that good.
“This has been just so valuable for us, and it’s such a fun way to build a team,” Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold said.
The moments are almost too many to recall. Shopping in Shanghai. Walking the Great Wall of China. Eating bugs in Qingdao.
It was a 16-day trip that the Warriors will never forget. “Amazing,” sophomore Trevor Wiseman said. “I may never get to do a trip like this again, so I’ll remember this for the rest of my life.”
WarriorInsider.com has been documenting the trip every day since it began on August 5. This will be the final post from the trip.
Most of the previous videos have focused on the players and coaches, but it is worth noting that there were several other key contributors on the trip.
Chris McMillan: strength and conditioning coach who also multi-tasked as the team’s video coordinator.
Nick Milan: graduate assistant who took care of many of the overlooked duties, such as laundry.
Lyn Nakagawa: team trainer who was the most popular person in the travel party after some of the exotic Chinese meals (she had the medications for stomach ailments). She also attended to several of the Hawaii boosters who got injured during the trip.
Lisa Arnold: wife of the head coach and the team’s best cheerleader during the trip. It’s a good thing the Chinese referees couldn’t understand her during the games.
Frank and Bee Arnold: parents of the head coach. Frank, the former UH head coach, served as a spokesman at several gatherings when Gib was not available.
Joselyn Akana and Jessica Robins: wife and sister-in-law, respectively, of assistant coach Brandyn Akana. They performed Polynesian dances as the impromptu halftime entertainment at several games in China.
Roy Robins: father of Joselyn and Jessica; father-in-law of Brandyn Akana. He also helped with the halftime entertainment, and was the unofficial “security” for the team.
Roy Lu: tour guide for most of the stops in China. He kept everybody informed and on schedule.
Brian McInnis: Honolulu Star-Advertiser reporter. We could both relate to the difficulties of transmitting information across international borders. We made up for it with a celebratory “media night” on the final night of the trip.
Hawaii boosters: led by booster club president Tom Ishii, the small group of fans was enthusiastic and energetic throughout the trip – both at the games and the sightseeing stops.
Of course, the coverage provided on the trip by WarriorInsider.com would not be possible without the title sponsorship from Tony Schmidt and his family at Pacific Risk Solutions.
A heartfelt thank you to all the other individuals who made donations: Alan Lee, Ryee , Jk808 , Mraloha777 , Glen Takishita, Former Honolulu Advertiser Sports Department Employee , Palolo Warrior , Gary , JayS , ScottS , Mike and Sue Tabor , Wachi, Kurodas, Stan and Karen, Norman and Claire, and four anonymous donors.
On a side note, we have only a handful of the WarriorInsider/Asia Tour green t-shirts remaining, and will give some away periodically over the next few weeks. Check the site daily for the giveaways.
Dayton,
You said it all “Its that good!”.
Viewed and read’em all; will be checking all the time.
Keep up the good work.
Mahalo!
The coverage on this Asia Tour was outstanding! All I can say is…….GREAT JOB!
Thanks Dayton for all the videos. I know it’s not your niche, but you did it well. You gotta hand it to Gib; he’s a visionary like June Jones. Think out of the box and pull something together like this at the last minute..Maybe for the 2015 trip (Europe? Australia?), there’ll be time for some advance planning and financial commitments, not to mention a larger group traveling with the team. Looking forward to another good season.