Seawolves, Team Denali share day of training, fitness

  • Published
  • By Army Staff Sgt. Jeffrey Smith
  • 4-25 IBCT Public Affairs
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Collegiate athletes with the University of Alaska Anchorage Seawolves men's hockey team were up before dawn and ready to train with U.S. Army Alaska paratroopers in a day filled with tests of physical endurance Oct. 25 at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.

The event was designed to foster mutual respect between the paratroopers and athletes as they found similarities in shared values and attributes.

The busy schedule was designed to enhance leadership and teamwork skills while focusing on physical and mental fitness.

The Seawolves broke into small teams with each team assigned one paratrooper as a guide and teammate.

The first event on the agenda was a grueling cross fit workout session consisting of six rounds of 40 pushups, 30 goblet squats with a 20-pound kettle bell, 20 box jumps, 10 pullups, five lunges per leg with a 45-pound plate lifted over the head, and a 200 meter run carrying a medicine ball.

One team's guide, Sgt. Rick Henry, with the 1st Squadron (Airborne), 40th Cavalry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (Airborne), 25th Infantry Division, said he was impressed by the hockey players' efforts.

"I thought they were beasts," he said. "They are definitely top collegiate athletes for sure."
Henry was happy to host the hockey team for the day at JBER.

"It's a great opportunity to network with the community. It's good for building esprit de corps and camaraderie with local players from the Anchorage area, and I think it's just a good opportunity to for a little friendly competition, to kind of pit some military athletes with some college athletes," Henry said.

"This is a good opportunity for us to do a team building exercise," said Steve Thompson, the director of hockey operations for UAA. "Obviously the military is a great standard of leadership, so we want to try and role model from you guys and learn some life lessons out here, and it's also a great opportunity for you guys to kick our butts and get us whipped into shape for the season."

"We appreciate everything that you guys do for us," Thompson said. "My dad was in the Air Force, so I grew up on Elmendorf, and we have a lot of Canadian guys, and they always think it's really awesome to see how our country is based off the military and how much pride we take in being American."

After the Crossfit exercises, the teams showered and headed to the Wilderness Inn Dining Facility for lunch and a leadership and teamwork presentation led by the commander of the 1-40th Cavalry, Army Lt. Col. Richard Scott.

Scott, a former collegiate athlete starring in soccer at the University of Washington, said there are many commonalities between Soldiers and collegiate athletes.

He said people who grew up in an athletic environment do extremely well in the Army, because their attributes easily transfer. Organized sports learned at youth, regional, national, Olympic, and college teams share Army values and standards of competitiveness, sacrifice, commitment and fitness.

"A lot of the things that you guys are doing right now, I am for the same things here in this organization," Scott told the team. "That's where the similarities come in to play."

"We take the same approach in our organization in the Army," Scott said. "With leadership comes great responsibility, shared hardship, commitment, dedication, hard work, sacrifice. ... Collegiate athletes know about winning. They know sacrifice and commitment, and hard work and what that leads to. They know about team work."

USARAK's command team, Army Maj. Gen. Michael H. Shields and Command Sgt. Maj. Bernard Knight, were also in attendance at the luncheon.

Shields provided valuable advice to the athletes.

"Preparation, preparation, preparation," Shields said. "Bottom line is, a lot of people want to win, but they don't have the will to prepare to win.

"That's what's going to make the difference between the great teams and probably good or average teams," Shields said.

Replenished and rested, the Seawolves and paratroopers moved out for more scheduled physical endurance and team-building exercises including a Humvee push, a several-mile run which included a grueling uphill climb wearing protective masks, a casualty litter carry, a room clearing mission including tussles against foam-padded enemies to locate sensitive material, then a run to the finish line carrying Army inflatable
boats.

"It was awesome," said Seawolves captain Matt Bailey, from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. "It was a good experience to get a feel for what you guys go through, and learn about some of the training stuff you guys do."

Like Scott, Bailey also said there are similarities between collegiate and Soldier athletes.

"A lot of the same teamwork stuff we do on a daily basis is huge for you guys too, so there is a lot of correlation between the different aspects and values you guys have and the ones we have in hockey," Bailey said.

Bailey said the workout was tough, but fun and rewarding.

"It was a good workout for us. I really like doing different things, so it was a good change," Bailey said. "It was good camaraderie working out with you guys and working with our team leaders."

Capping the day off with a little more fun, the Seawolves played floor hockey with children at JBER's Two Rivers Youth Center.