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MARINE CORPS BASE HAWAII, Hawaii —University of Hawaii basketball team and coaching staff visited base Oct. 1 to see how tough they were when receiving special attention from two former Marine drill instructors from 3rd Marine Regiment.
As soon as their bus stopped, the Warriors were introduced to their instructors who rushed the team off the bus.
“The morning was my favorite part of the day,” Staff Sgt. Alonzo Williams, former drill instructor, 3rd Marine Regiment said. “It was the shell shock. When I saw their faces as I was screaming at them it was priceless.”
The 14 players and five coaches, dressed in camouflage pants, did a series of exercises the Marine Corps way with the sound of commanding voices echoing through the buildings in the area. In true boot camp fashion, the team members were treated like recruits during their exercises with Marines in their face testing their mettle and physical strength.
After enjoying the first half of the morning’s exercises, the Marine instructors quickly put the group in formation and lead them on a jog to the Boondocker training area where they would conduct the obstacle course.
“We just wanted to introduce them to what Marines do and give them a little glimpse of what it takes to become a Marine,” Williams said.
The start of the obstacle course began after Williams explained the course and had a Marine demonstrate each obstacle and rope climbing techniques. Since some players were unable to climb the rope, they had to do 25 four-count Marine Corps push-ups instead.
“We wanted the players to understand and realize that these obstacles are no joke,” Williams said. “As the day went on they were putting forth a lot of effort and I think this whole day turned out well because of that.”
The teammates went through the course once individually, but were then divided into two teams for a head-to-head competition. After each player finished the course completely, they would then run back to the first obstacle and tag the next player so that he could begin. The players pushed themselves with the help of their coaching staff and the Marines who stood on the side and motivated them to finish. All players were able to climb the rope before finishing — a challenge not all were able to do the first time.
The team was soaked in sweat before jogging back to 3rd Marine Regiment’s Headquarters building.
“I think it was a great experience,” Trevor Wiseman, Warriors’ small forward, said. “Its nice to come out and actually see what these guys do for training. When we first got here we had the Marines yelling at us kind of like our coach sometimes. I think it showed us that we have to be mentally strong in everything we do. Marines work hard and I give it up to them, I don’t know if I could do what they do everyday.”
When asked why he decided to make his team do this, Warrior’s coach Gib Arnold, said, “I have a lot of Marine friends here so I just talked to them about this and I knew right away it was a good bonding and learning experience. I wanted them to see what life’s like for Marines but I also wanted to see how tough they were and who would fold.”
| Date Taken: | 09.01.2011 |
| Date Posted: | 10.07.2011 18:05 |
| Story ID: | 78193 |
| Location: | KANEOHE BAY, HAWAII, US |
| Web Views: | 27 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, A day in the life, by LCpl Jacob Barber, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
