Men’s Soccer Trains with ROTC Ranger Challenge Team
2/28/2013 5:33:00 PM | Men's Soccer
PHOTO GALLERY | TRAINING SESSION HIGHLIGHTS
The instructions were simple, arrive at 0500 hours and wear clothes you don't mind getting dirty.
That was all Men's Soccer Head Coach Kevin Kennedy told his team the day before the team's strangest spring training session in a number of years. What came that day was a departure from the ordinary and a crash course in what it takes to be a member of Georgia Southern's ROTC Ranger Challenge Team.
"We got in touch with Master Sergeant Tim Parks of the Eagle Battalion, and they were more than happy to show our student-athletes the kind of workout that the Ranger team went through," said Kennedy.
The team is well accustomed to early morning training sessions, but nothing that the Eagles have done prepared the team for their session with the ROTC. The group was split into two squads which joined cadets and student-athletes together.
The Ranger Challenge Team is the cream of the crop within the Eagle Battalion's Corps of Cadets. The team recently won the 6th Brigade Ranger Challenge at Camp Blanding, Fla. to earn a spot in the International Sandhurst Competition which will be held at the United States Military Academy in West Point this April.
"We thought it would be a great opportunity for our team to learn a little bit about leadership," said Kennedy. "We also wanted the guys to see how the ROTC squad works and communicates while working together towards an objective."
From there, the teams were given the task of transporting five 5-gallon water jugs throughout campus, three of which could be moved on a stretcher. While on the journey, the teams would encounter a series of challenges.
The course took the teams from the Recreation Activity Center at the southwest corner of campus to the Iron Works building at the northern tip of campus. They continued to Hanner Fieldhouse, the Russell Union rotunda and back to Paulson Stadium before closing the morning back at the RAC.
"It was a great learning experience for our team," said Team Captain Hunter Norton. "They are a group filled with leaders. When they get a task to complete, they work together and combine abilities to achieve the goal. It's something that we can learn from as a sports team."
Some of the challenges that the groups encountered were a forced tire carry, stairs to climb inside Hanner Fieldhouse, a wall to cross as a team, running while wearing gas masks, bear crawls up the hill at Paulson Stadium and a refreshing swim through a pond at the RAC.
"I don't think the guys are begging to go back anytime soon, but I think the guys liked the variety in the training," said Kennedy. "It was very interesting to see how efficient the ROTC guys were with their communication within a group, which was beneficial for our team."
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