The University of Hawaii football team faces yet another glitch in preparation for the Aug. 30 season opener against Washington.
The Rainbow Warriors are scrambling to find a dining area for training camp — and, maybe, beyond — after learning the Stan Sheriff Center would not be available for their use. The building’s floors are being retiled, a renovation project that could last several weeks.
The past several years, the Warriors have used the arena’s hospitality area for training-table meals after practice. The arena is adjacent to the team’s locker room.
The Warriors now are seeking a dining area to accommodate the 103 players on the training-camp roster. Training camp opens Aug. 4 and runs through Aug. 23.
What’s more, the NCAA implemented a rule that allows a school to provide more than one training-table meal each day during the season.
The arena’s hospitality area was convenient because Sodexo, UH’s food provider, has a kitchen in the facility.
This is the latest obstacle for the Warriors. At the end of the spring semester, scholarship checks were not processed in time, leaving several mainland players to sleep in the locker room.
The Warriors also failed to reach a financial agreement to stay in the UH dormitories during training camp, so players will sleep on cots in the two dance studios on the athletic complex’s second floor. Last year, the Warriors split their time between the dance studios and Joint Base Pearl Harbor/Hickam. UH meeting rooms also are being renovated.
Coach Norm Chow said the Warriors will not dwell on the distractions.
"We’re relentlessly positive," Chow said.
That slogan is imprinted on T-shirts the Warriors wear during conditioning drills this summer.
Chow, running back Joey Iosefa and defensive end Beau Yap will represent the team at the Mountain West Conference’s football media preview in Las Vegas. They arrive Tuesday, with interviews set for Wednesday.
