The military's influence on civilian sports teams

RallyPoint Team — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 11:38:08 -0400

More and more sports teams are taking on military-style training to take them to the next level. The Western Michigan University men’s basketball team even attributes its Mid-American Conference championship last year to the specialized training. For that particular team, the players went through The Program: http://www.theprogram.org/index.html#page-top, which focuses on leadership development and team building for professional and collegiate athletic teams. The training includes exercises like carrying 50-pound sand bags, crawling through muddy water, and physical combat drills.

Now, The Program isn’t about strength and conditioning, but rather leadership and unit cohesion. The instructors have military backgrounds and take athletes through the drills. Athletes develop mental toughness and learn to take on situations as they come. The Program stresses it’s not about individual talent, but the entire team working together to win and achieve success.

Here are The Program’s core principals:

We are physically and mentally tough.
We don’t make excuses and we don’t let others make excuses for us.
We work hard! And to us at The Program working hard means we do one more!

The success of any team or organization is based on the whole and not the individual. One talented athlete can’t win a championship, but an entire team working together with a common goal can. We see sports teams all the time go from the underdog position to the winning title. What they have in common is the drive and passion to work together and win, even if they may not necessarily have the most skilled athletes in the league.

Should more sports teams experience military-style training? What else do military drills teach us? Could other organizations benefit from similar training?

The Program | Leadership Development and Team BuildingThe Program - Leadership Development and...

We Develop Better Leaders and Create More Cohesive Teams

Response by SPC David Shaffer made Oct 7 at 2014 12:10 PM

SPC David Shaffer — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 12:10:12 -0400

I think it's great! Everyone on ThePoint know that military physical fitness is great and the exercises you perform as a team do build trust, confidence, and overall team spirit. I think it should be used by all teams. Even Corporate America could benefit in many ways from taking part in this training. They would have less fatigue at work, less sick days, be more productive, and everyone knows that exercise will boost your brain power so you will have better ideas with less mental block. There are many things i'm sure I didn't write here but my point is Exercise should be made an important part of every entity and instilled in our daily lives.

Response by LTC Mark Gavula made Oct 7 at 2014 12:33 PM

LTC Mark Gavula — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 12:33:30 -0400

I think this is great. I do hope there are former military entrepreneurs exploiting this niche market.

Response by TSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 7 at 2014 12:45 PM

TSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 12:45:38 -0400

I think it's a great idea. What I would rather see is the same concept integrated into our public school systems! We have children that are over-weight, under educated and completed disconnected from most everything in society except their cell phones and ipads. In today's society we don't stress the value of teamwork or hard work unless you are apart of a sports team in schools. What we fail to realize as a society is that just getting these kids to pass a test on a piece of paper or on a computer screen isn't enough to develop our youngsters into quality adults. Everything beneficial to society can't be taught in a classroom or tested on a piece of paper.

Response by SSG Hector Brooks made Oct 7 at 2014 3:27 PM

SSG Hector Brooks — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 15:27:12 -0400

Wasn't it a group of 12 civilian sports medicine and a few fitness instructors who help the Army develop it's current APFT regulation. I once read a Milper Message on that. To be perfectly honest, PT should be done when you want to do it...now I know that this is not always the case but has anyone known anybody to have gone to the Master Fitness Instructors Course? If so, did any of those "traditionally" NCO's ever run you thru the gauntlet of bringing you up or near to their level? If so, then great, you are only among the 7% that have. (Study conducted in 2012) What I am talking about is the "grass roots" of our Army. When I joined, I was in really great shape (HS Tri-Athlete) and had no issues with anything that was thrown at me, except the push-ups, sit-ups, WHY you ask? I had never done so many sets, or numerous amounts (thanks DS Age) before ever!! For those of you who know of the famous Dallas Cowboys Coach Jimmy Johnson, he was quoted as saying to a large faculty of coaches, trainers, players, owners and the press that, "Fatigue will make cowards out of all of us!". Let's think about that...If you do more push-ups and more sit-ups and run longer distances, you will get better and when you do each exercises in sets a bit faster repetition, you get much better at doing those types of exercises. Incorporate jumps, high steps, short bursts movements, long drawn out alligator crawls, short distances.....I always believed that PT was free....

Not knocking the folks that hit the gym up and get pumped up, but a sleeker, more agile force can make all the difference. I would love to ask the question to the Army, "What is a Soldier supposed to look like?" If they answered the question, it would lead to more questions. When I joined, I was lucky to come in, in real good shape, but I learned quick lessons and took them with me. Lesson 1: Fatigue made me want to quit because I never used certain muscles before and to combat this, I used and abused them until they fell off. To develop better leaders, find out how quickly they get fatigued, mentally and physically. Example: You have 30 seconds to perform 25 PU; 30 secs for 25 SU and 100yds in 50 secs. Repeat once again. Raise time frame by 5 seconds. Repeat once again. Then comes the teamwork events all timed, fireman's carry, etc... Referring back to the APFT regulation....it does mention that imagination and creativity is highly encouraged to achieve success.

Response by SFC William Hamilton made Oct 7 at 2014 3:59 PM

SFC William Hamilton — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 15:59:04 -0400

Wonder women warriors. Pallas Athena would be proud. HOOAH!

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 7 at 2014 10:43 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Tue, 07 Oct 2014 22:43:46 -0400

While I was with 2-87IN at Fort drum we had the Syracuse football team do about 2 weeks as a "basic training" stayed in barracks did drill the whole nine yards and they won there first bowl game and thanked us for that.

Response by Sgt LaQuienna Collins made Oct 8 at 2014 2:04 AM

Sgt LaQuienna Collins — Wed, 08 Oct 2014 02:04:02 -0400

I personally feel that the esprit de corps attitude instilled by this form of training will be a better "team" asset than the self serving "star" players training as individuals. One learns to work as a team to achieve goals and to put personal differences aside.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 10 at 2014 9:45 AM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 09:45:51 -0400

I don't see anything wrong with it. If it gives the team an advantage, why not? Up to that team.

Speaking of organizations and physical training:

Many police departments should definitely adopt these policies. I saw a county cop yesterday who took five minutes to roll himself out of his patrol car.

Response by SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 10 at 2014 10:29 AM

SFC(P) Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 10:29:44 -0400

I think that this is a great concept. If it can help the athletes come together and realize that their activity isn't won or lost based upon one person's merits, I say why not.

Response by MSgt Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 10 at 2014 12:15 PM

MSgt Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 12:15:07 -0400

If it brings better cohesiveness to the group and makes them better then go for it.

Response by 1SG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 10 at 2014 4:03 PM

1SG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 16:03:00 -0400

I think the concept is a great idea! Anything getting a team together working towards the same goals, is good. There are other ways for teams to accomplish this. I've coordinated with Tarleton State University this past summer to have their football team conduct a week long training camp on Fort Hood. Syracuse University does something similar with Fort Drum and there are other teams that do similar things at different installations close to them. It's a win win for the team and the host installation to build military to civilian relations.

Response by SGT Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 10 at 2014 4:53 PM

SGT Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 16:53:20 -0400

I wished I looked that cheerful doing log PT.

Response by SSG Private RallyPoint Member made Oct 10 at 2014 11:26 PM

SSG Private RallyPoint Member — Fri, 10 Oct 2014 23:26:53 -0400

If it brings the team closer together, then I don't see why not

Response by SGT Scott Bell made Aug 30 at 2015 9:37 AM

SGT Scott Bell — Sun, 30 Aug 2015 09:37:50 -0400

YES

Response by Rick Watters made Nov 20 at 2015 12:08 PM

Rick Watters — Fri, 20 Nov 2015 12:08:55 -0500

I think you're definitely on the right track with this. I attended a seminar during the Pan Am games in Toronto At which a famous basketball player shared his story about how a coach took his high school team from worst to first by increasing their practice and drills from a few times a week to three times a day. As the story went on, the message was very clear that the athlete in question was profoundly influenced by the physical and mental discipline that was instilled on the team as well as himself and went on to become a superstar.

Furthermore, I work with Para–sports initiatives and have seen how important mental and physical discipline is to individuals, teams and organizations. Many Wounded Warriors have transitioned into sports and other careers; bringing with them the discipline to succeed at whatever they set their sights on.

The military training model may not work for all organizations but it certainly has shown effective in many areas from what I've experienced.

Respectfully,
Rick Watters