Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Hawai’i takes to the water for its offseason workouts (VIDEO)

Gib Arnold

Hawaii head coach Gib Arnold, right, reacts during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against UNLV, Saturday, Dec. 1, 2012, in Las Vegas. UNLV defeated Hawaii 77-63. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

AP

With the offseason being what it is, the usual training regimen college basketball players go through has the potential to become stale at some point in the summer. To combat this many programs will switch things up, with the goal not only being to reinvigorate the players but to also force them to adjust to changes on the fly.

Given the school’s location, the Hawai’i men’s basketball program has the ability to take full advantage of the ocean waters during the offseason. According to Dayton Moringa of Warrior Insider the team added canoe paddling on Waikiki Beach to its weekly sessions. After spending the majority of their beach workouts on land, the team took to the sea for some upper-body training and a little competition as well.

Once the players got a feel for paddling in the canoe, they participated in half-mile races against each other. The crew of [Missouri transfer Negus] Webster-Chan, Dyrbe Enos, Niko Filipovich and assistant coach Fisher emerged as the top canoe on this day.

“We went hard,” Webster-Chan said. “Picked the shortest guys, strongest guys on the team. Everybody was talking to us, we were the silent assassins.”


The paddling workout certainly has its physical benefits, but the coaching staff made sure to use the opportunity to also educate the players on the history of the islands they now represent. And with just one native Hawaiian on the current roster (Enos, who hails from O’ahu), such lessons can help strengthen the bond between the team and its fan base.
“I think it’s important when these guys come out here from different places, whether it be Toronto, Canada, or Munich, Germany, that they learn a little bit about the culture and history here of the island,” assistant coach Scott Fisher said. “We thought we could combine both some athletic events with the history and, of course, outrigger canoeing is a big part of what we do here in Hawai’i.”

The Warriors will have to account for the departures of center Vander Joaquim (13.8 ppg, 8.2 rpg), forward Hauns Brereton (10.0, 3.7) and guard Jace Tavita (5.7 apg) as they begin their second season in the Big West, but head coach Gib Arnold does have the pieces needed to once again factor into the league race.

Forwards Isaac Fotu (10.1, 6.2) and Christian Standhardinger (15.8, 7.9) combine to form one of the Big West’s best front court tandems, and guard Brandon Spearman averaged 9.6 points per game last season. Add in San Jose State transfer Keith Shamburger (12.7 ppg, 3.7 apg in two seasons at SJSU) and six other newcomers (Webster-Chan will help them in practice since he has to sit per NCAA transfer rules), and if the chemistry is there the Warriors can at the very least be a contender.

Follow @raphiellej