MOULTRIE, Ga. — The Army marched into Packer Park Saturday in the form of about a half-dozen recruiters who led a basic-training-style team-building exercise for the Colquitt County Packers football team.

When they wrapped up around noon, they left a bunch of tired but proud Packers behind.

About 72 student athletes turned out, Packers coach Justin Rogers said afterwards, citing some scheduling conflicts. The event was held the same time some older students were taking the ACT test and some ninth graders were working on credit recovery at C.A. Gray Junior High. “We’re really proud of those who showed up,” he said.

The training consisted of a series of physical challenges through which groups of students had to work together.

“What is this? Simulated pressure,” Rogers said. He explained that it’s a good way for the athletes to face adversity so they can learn to work through it.

“Success comes at a price,” he told the Packers.

The athletes were divided into squads, and each squad had to face the challenges together. Nobody was finished until the whole squad was. 

At one event the squad lifted an ammunition box above their heads 1,000 times. As each squad reached that mark, they picked up gear and headed outside for a short hike. The Army recruiters yelled encouragement.

The squads hiked to the far side of Packer Park, where the recruiters had other challenges, then it was back to the track. There each squad picked up a log — a piece of utility pole about eight feet long — and proceeded to carry it for four laps. Rogers gave a shout-out on Facebook to Colquitt EMC for donating the poles.

Then it was back into the indoor practice facility, where squad members made a tunnel with their arched bodies. The person on the end crawled under his squadmates’ bodies, and when he came out the other end of the tunnel, he got up and arched himself as the next person in line crawled through. This way, the tunnel worked its way from the end zone to the 50 yard line.

At the 50 yard line, the athletes had only a moment to catch their breath before participating in a wheelbarrow race to the other end of the field.

After that race, they rested a short time and heard from Sgt. Seth Davis, the Army recruiter in Dalton, Ga., who originated the team-building program. He talked about the lessons of perseverance and leadership he hoped the athletes had learned in the event.

After that, it was back to work in a tug-of-war between opposing teammates. Most of the challenge was one-on-one, but a couple of times partners teamed up for two-on-two competition. 

To wrap up the challenges, Davis punted a football. Sophomore running back Charlie Pace caught it near the far end zone and ran it all the way back with the rest of the team chasing after him.

As the event was winding down, coach Rogers recounted all that the athletes had gone through that day, how hard the challenges were and the pride they felt for having overcome them.

“You will always be proud of yourself for doing hard things,” he told them. “Don’t run from it.”

In an interview afterward, Davis said he came up with the training as a way to give back to the community, but it’s also a valuable recruiting tool for the Army. He said he knows high school athletes have to keep their grades up to participate in their sports, work out all year round to be fit when it’s time to play ball, and have faced adversity at least once in their careers. 

“When I sign up one of these kids, they can make it (in the Army),” he said.

Davis said he started the program in Whitfield County schools, then it traveled by word-of-mouth. This is the first time he’s brought it to South Georgia.

Rogers said he heard about the program from another coach who’d used it. He was working to set something up for last year before the coronavirus pandemic ended those plans. He sees it as a great way to get ready for spring ball, which will flow into summer ball, then preseason, regular season, playoffs and, hopefully, the championship.

Participants said they enjoyed it. Pace talked about the energy he felt running the football ahead of all his teammates.

When asked what they learned, junior cornerbacks Tylan Brice and Letherrio Edwards volleyed their answers:

“Good work, motivation, teamwork …” Brice said.

“… Leadership, grit …” Edwards added.

“… A good mindset,” Brice went on.

“It was really about coming together as a family and having fun,” he added.