It takes a special coach to remain optimistic about a Hawaii football team that has converted one field goal this season — a 29-yarder in the opener 69 days ago — and been victimized by two kickoff returns for touchdowns.

But Mayur Chaudhari, who coordinates the Rainbow Warriors’ special teams, is pleased with the development of a converted punter and an Australia-raised soccer player who had not kicked a football until three months before the start of training camp in late July.

Alex Trifonovitch, a third-year sophomore from Punahou School, and Ryan Meskell, who was raised in Australia’s Gold Coast, split the place-kicker duties until two games ago. Now Trifonovitch, who initially was recruited as a punter, is used on point-scoring kicks. Meskell is used exclusively on kickoffs.

Last season, Rigo Sanchez, now with the Indianapolis Colts, handled both kicking jobs, as well as punting. During the offseason, it was decided Trifonovitch, who was inconsistent with his punts, would be a better fit at place-kicker.

“How do you remove moving pieces?” said Chaudhari, explaining Trifonovitch’s move. “Punting is hard. There’s a moving ball. There’s a drop involved. There’s a rush involved. There are a lot of things happening for a punter. I think it’s a really hard spot to play. Not that kicker isn’t, either. At least the ball is in the same spot and he’s not in charge of catching it. That’s somebody else’s job. I’m trying to remove some moving pieces for him so he can really focus on himself and his (kicking) technique.”

Trifonovitch made a field goal earlier this season that was waved off because of a penalty, and he was wide left from 37 yards against San Diego State last weekend. But he has improved his range — he can connect consistently from 50 yards in practices and warm-ups — and concentration.

“Going into the kick, I usually tell myself one thing I need to focus on in order for that kick to be successful,” Trifonovitch said. “I usually focus on that one thing hard enough that it usually drowns out everything else.”

Meskell played goalkeeper in Australia and for an American junior college before joining Prokick Australia, a Melbourne-based program that trains players to be football kickers and punters. This year’s UH training camp was the first time he had worn a helmet and pads.

UH’s strategy is to place kickoffs into the corner quadrants, allowing the coverage players to box in the returner. That required a two-step learning process for Meskell.

“It’s like you took a quarterback who’s never played quarterback before, and tell him to ‘throw a perfect corner route, throw a perfect 5-yard out, and throw a perfect deep-ball seam, and do it now,’ ” Chaudhari said. “Well, you need reps and game experience to do it. They’re totally different throws, and they’re totally different kicks for him. It’s not as simple as ‘kick it over there.’ Just like it’s not as simple as ‘throw it over there.’ The technique is different. Everything is different.”

In the first two games, Meskell’s average kickoff was 54 yards, to an opponent’s 11, with a hang time of 3.8 seconds. In the past two games, he is averaging 61.3 yards per kickoff, with a hang time of 4.2 seconds. The kickoff goal is to not allow an opponent to start a drive beyond the 25. Opponents have started drives on the 25 and inside on 15 of Meskell’s past 16 kickoffs.

“I’m still learning, trying to get used to the different contact points on the ball,” Meskell said. “I’m trying to get the ball to rotate end over end rather than swirling around a bit. Little things like that will help with accuracy and power.”

Meskell also has adjusted his form.

“My follow-through is a lot different from a soccer kicker now,” he said. “If I went back to kicking a soccer ball, it wouldn’t be too pretty because I’m trying to kick like an American football player. The hang time has gone up, which is good. It’s a pleasing thing. Hopefully, it will get higher and higher.”