It is a very simple task, but it is very hard to do.

At least that’s how Coach Larry Hill describes boot camp.

It is hard to explain the difficulty of boot camp to someone who does not do boot camp. Perhaps these few lines will illuminate for some the mystery, the pain and the glory behind this annual football ritual.

During the classroom phase, each coach speaks about a different challenge boot camp presents, like being mentally and physically tough and becoming a team.

“It’s the first step of becoming a brotherhood,” junior Quarterback Josh Adkins said. “You develop full trust for the guys standing to the left and right of you.”

Boot camp also introduces the theme for the year:  “One Simple Mission: Win.”

The last day of classroom we are split into four groups. Charlie, Delta, and Echo work through the three 12-minute stations around the field house while Tango goes through the same three stations around the visitors bleachers.

On Monday the physical part of boot camp starts. It is called a walkthrough but no one does any walking. However, the coaches do completely stop the drill if they need to explain something. For the next two weeks, there are no breaks. Mistakes cost the team, and we pay for it by doing Rangers – eight mountain climbers.

The three stations to boot camp are mat drills, command weights, and jump ropes. Each station also includes something extra to make the drill more difficult for a few different people each day. Each day the groups also start at different drills.

Mat Drills

The best station to start at is mat drills. This might be the hardest station, so getting it out of the way when you are fresh makes the rest of the day better.

Bear crawling, rolling, diving, jumping, crawling backwards are just some of the fun activities on the mat. Funny, in kindergarten, mats meant nap time. We have come a long way in 12 years.

Each day four names for each group are written on the whiteboard in the mat room. Those four lucky guys have the horn, meaning that when the coach blows an air horn, those four must get to the front of the line and go again, no matter where they are. Usually the horn is blown three times per drill, so those four players go every time.

We are also expected to encourage our teammates even when we cannot catch a breath. Not doing the drill right or not encouraging gets the whole group in trouble. The coaches state our mistake then we do Rangers – remember those eight mountain climbers?

Command Weights

After the mat drills the group rotates to command weights.

As we run into the weight room, we find our partner and an empty station. One partner stands on a line in the floor with the bar at his feet while the other is on a knee off to the side. The coach can give the guys standing a number and they must do the right exercise, or the coach can switch who is standing and who is kneeling. Different bars have different weight on them to make it more difficult for certain people in this drill.

In command weights, we do not yell to encourage our teammates but we do yell out the number of reps we have done of an exercise until we get to eight.

Jump Ropes

The coach dismisses each pair out the back door when the 12 minutes is up, and we run to the jump rope station in the parking lot. There a coach sends us to our assigned boxes that are painted in the ground. The coach calls out the four guys who have the short ropes that day. Then he orders us to pick up our ropes. We must remember nine exercises; and when he calls out a number, we have to quickly start the correct exercise.

We are also expected to encourage each other at this station. If you get through 20 seconds of that exercise without messing up, you run around encouraging those who made a mistake and must continue for 10 more seconds.

If you finish at one station, your group goes to watch and encourage the guys finishing in the mat room. After they finish, we all kneel around Hill, and the coaches tell us what we must improve to achieve the perfect day.

Last year was the first time in a few years that it took a second attempt to achieve the perfect day.

This year the goal was to have fewer than 20 mistakes between all the groups to get the perfect day. Coach Craig Wersterfer read the total for the mat drills; then Coach Robert Teuton read the total for the weight room. They added up to 15 and guys started to think about doing it again the next day; but after a long pause, Coach Jeff Shinn yelled one and everyone jumped and cheered.

After we got our T-shirts and celebrated, many of the juniors began to realize this was the last time we get to do boot camp.

“It’s sad that something you’ve been looking forward to doing all your life is almost over,” junior Center Cade Dicks said.

Many felt the pain of going through the first thing they will do for the last time as a Ranger football player. Watching many teammates from previous years move on and realizing that will be us by the end of the year is difficult.

“The last boot camp,” junior Fullback Jon Perales said, “is something we will always remember.”