Chargers Welcome Changes as Training Camp Opens at UCSD
s won’t notice major differences at the Charger training camp at UC San Diego in La Jolla, but the players sure will.
The Chargers--training at UCSD for the 11th consecutive season--expect to be playing on fields that are in much better shape than they were last year. Players will live in campus apartments instead of dormitories and they will eat (a key part of any football camp) at the cafeteria at Third College rather than at Warren College, where the cafeteria has been torn down. Daily meetings will be conducted in meeting rooms instead of dormitory rooms.
“I do not expect any problems with the playing fields,” said John Hinek, the Charger training camp coordinator. “They did a heck of a lot better job re-sodding the lower fields, and they are much improved over last year.”
The fields at UCSD, which are used primarily for intramural soccer when school is in session, were vacated three weeks earlier than usual this year, so that there would be more time to get the fields in shape for the Chargers.
“Last year, the middle of the field was bare,” Hinek said. “Then the school made arrangements to sod the field and some of the materials used were ones that shouldn’t have been used.”
Hinek did not specify which materials should not have been used, but field conditions became so poor that midway through last year’s camp the Chargers said they would leave UCSD. They planned to start practicing on the field at La Jolla Country Day High School, where the Charger players had practiced during the 1982 strike.
Last August, Charger Coach Don Coryell said: “Minor injuries are caused by holes. We’re afraid we’re going to lose good players. The field has been bad, but not this bad.”
The move to La Jolla Country Day never materialized and the Chargers finished training at UCSD. During the off-season, the Chargers considered moving their training site to San Diego State but finally decided to return to UCSD.
On June 1, Hinek headed to UCSD to start his annual precamp preparations. Using 40-foot moving vans, the Chargers moved their equipment room from San Diego Jack Murphy Stadium to UCSD last week. The office staff is moving this week, and the kitchen staff at UCSD is busy ordering tons of food.
About 90 players and 50 staff members arrived Friday to begin pro football’s rites of summer. Beginning Sunday, the Chargers will practice from 9 to 11 a.m. and 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. daily. Practices are open to the public.