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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?
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?
Training
Sports
Leadership
Esprit de Corps
Command Post
Edited >1 y ago
Posted >1 y ago
Responses: 15
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I think this is great. I do hope there are former military entrepreneurs exploiting this niche market.
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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.
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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
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
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