Chaminade gamers have fun after upsetting Cal throughout the first spherical of the 2017 Maui Invitational on the Lahaina Civic Center. The Silverswords – hosts of the excessive profile males’s school basketball match who play in the primary bracket on Maui each two years — haven’t performed on the Valley Isle since 2019 and aren’t set to play right here once more till 2025 following the announcement that this yr’s occasion is being moved to Oahu.
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photograph

The final time I talked to Eric Bovaird — previous to Wednesday — was Aug. 4.

That day, the Chaminade University males’s basketball coach and I spoke about how nice it might be for the Silverswords to be again of their rightful place throughout Thanksgiving week: In the Lahaina Civic Center enjoying within the Maui Invitational.

I deliberate to make use of these quotes for a column, very like this one. But I didn’t get to that interview in time to make use of it whereas it was nonetheless pertinent, as simply 4 days later the Lahaina wildfires modified all the pieces.

Due to COVID and the actual fact they’re within the match they host solely each two years, the Swords haven’t performed on Maui since 2019.

Now, that hole will develop to 6 years — to 2025 — as a result of circumstances introduced on by the wildfires.

Chaminade coach Eric Bovaird talks protection with Kendall Small throughout a second-half break in a Maui Invitational recreation on Nov. 27, 2019 at Lahaina Civic Center.
The Maui News / MATTHEW THAYER photograph

While he’s excited to take his staff into the Stan Sheriff Center Nov. 20 to tackle No. 1 Kansas, Bovaird and his staff would slightly be right here.

The coach actually mentioned it very effectively.

“Oh yeah, part of the reason that some of my student-athletes come to Chaminade is for the fact to play in the Maui Invitational, especially playing in it on Maui,” he mentioned Wednesday. “It’s one thing we’ve all watched on TV as children and all of us need to be part of that. Unfortunately there’s simply been some unhealthy circumstances which have occurred. I believe this era of youngsters, by way of the COVID period and so forth, they’re form of used to coping with different plans.

“Our No. 1 destination for this tournament is Maui and it’ll always be Maui. There’s no better place to host this tournament than on Maui, but unfortunately what happened has happened.”

Bovaird added that the occasion that includes 5 top-10 groups — Kansas, No. 3 Purdue, No. 7 Gonzaga, No. 8 Tennessee and No. 10 Marquette are additionally within the subject — shall be Maui-centric on ESPN channels, together with many pictures again to the frigid Mainland that includes the great thing about the Valley Isle.

“We want to be there to support the people of Maui, we want to continue to bring awareness of the needs and everything like that,” Bovaird mentioned. “So, whatever we can do while the tournament is on Oahu we want to continue to do that.”

Bovaird has been aware of conversations that went on between Maui County authorities officers and Kemper Sports Live, the match organizer previously referred to as KemperLesnik, as they searched and hoped for a strategy to maintain the occasion on the Valley Isle.

The Lahaina Civic Center, the place the occasion is often held, is at the moment a hub for wildfire reduction efforts throughout the board and proper on the northern fringe of the devastation in Lahaina city, so it was merely not an choice.

Throw in having boosters within the Kaanapali lodges which might be at the moment housing hundreds of individuals displaced by the fires, and the LCC fades farther from being an choice to host the occasion.

War Memorial Gym is being renovated to develop into a hurricane shelter and the South Maui Community Park gymnasium merely doesn’t have sufficient parking or seating to make it usable. I used to be informed that Maui High School’s Shine Matsui Athletic Center was mentioned, however rapidly shot down when the powers-that-be realized faculty shall be in session Nov. 20-22.

“It was our intention to find a way to host it on Maui, to find a way to host in Lahaina Civic Center,” Bovaird mentioned. “But we completely perceive and we completely help the native administration and authorities over there. They really feel that — and clearly for good cause — that they should proceed to make use of Lahaina Civic Center as a hub for the catastrophe reduction. Who can blame them for that? That’s what it must be, is to help the general public right now.

“We considered War Memorial Gym, but it’s under renovation. In my opinion those are the only two venues that could potentially host something of this magnitude over there.”

It took me an additional inquiry to the Kemper Sports Live people so as to add to their assertion asserting the transfer to Oahu that they intend to be again right here subsequent yr. For Bovaird, that isn’t in query, assuming issues shall be in place by then to host the occasion right here.

“I know it’s everybody’s full intention to bring the Maui Invitational back to Maui as quickly as we can,” he mentioned. “We’re obviously hoping that that’s next year.”

Bovaird did say that “mixed messages” early within the course of could have set issues again a bit, however in the long run it simply wasn’t going to occur right here this yr.

“There were mixed messages about whether Maui wants tourists or whether they don’t want tourists and there was a lot of concern from fan bases — they don’t know the intricacies of an island like Maui like we do,” Bovaird mentioned. “So, there was quite a lot of simply unknown by way of quite a lot of the massive fan bases. So, there was quite a lot of issues.

“I think the governor has addressed that and the mayor has addressed that since, but … we had to make a decision.”

The logistics of televising 12 school basketball video games in three days was a big a part of the looming deadline that finally compelled the Sept. 15 announcement that the occasion can be held on Oahu.

“We waited as long as could, we kept pushing, pushing it back as much as possible,” Bovaird mentioned. “There’s so many details that go along with this tournament that a site had to be determined.”

The SSC just isn’t an ideal locale for the occasion. The eight groups shall be hard-pressed to search out apply gyms as a result of the University of Hawaii shall be busy utilizing its personal on-campus amenities.

Rainbow Wahine volleyball’s senior night time match in opposition to Long Beach State is Nov. 18, about 40 hours earlier than the Maui Invitational begins.

Rainbow Wahine basketball will host the Bank of Hawaii Classic with two video games every on Nov. 17 and Nov. 19, the final being a UH-Idaho recreation that begins at 5 p.m. the night time earlier than the Maui Invitational.

“Every intention, every intention, 100 percent,” Bovaird mentioned of the occasion returning to Maui subsequent yr. “That’s the place we need to be, that’s the place Kemper Sports Live desires to be, that’s the place all the highest groups that need to come over sooner or later, that’s the place they need to be.

“So, yeah, every intention is for that to happen.”

The Silverswords themselves have been upset that the occasion couldn’t occur right here this yr. Several members of this staff performed this occasion in Las Vegas in 2021, one yr after it was held in Asheville, N.C., as a result of pandemic.

“They’ve heard us talk about some of our experiences going over to Maui for the Maui Invitational,” Bovaird mentioned. “There was particular disappointment in there once I informed them, but when we couldn’t host it on Maui then our second alternative can be to host it on Oahu. Fortunately the University of Hawaii granted us permission to make use of their Stan Sheriff Center.

“Guys are excited about that, but it’s not the same as that beautiful stretch of West Maui, for sure. They’re excited about just the opportunity. Nobody really wanted to go anywhere else, but be in Hawaii for sure.”

* Robert Collias is at rcollias@mauinews.com