VCU endures a week of Navy SEAL team training
To thrive running college basketball's most frantic swarming full-court pressure defense each season, VCU players must be better conditioned than their opponents.
That's a big reason coach Shaka Smart has insisted his team endure a week of pre-dawn Navy SEAL team training every September for the past four years.
Many other teams have followed VCU's lead in incorporating military training, but the Rams do a few things differently. Everyone involved in the program participated for VCU, from players, to coaches, to student managers to even the team's sports information director. The idea is to create a program-wide bonding experience — not just one that brings the players closer together.
"Communication, leadership, team-building," Smart said in the above video. "They always hit us with some form of adversity, or multiple forms of adversity. It's good for our guys because that's what we're going to face in games, particularly on the road and against great teams."
The idea for SEAL training was the brainchild of VCU strength and conditioning coach Daniel Roose, who came up with the concept after meeting ex-U.S. Navy SEAL John McGuire at a function in Richmond four years ago and taking a physical training class from him. Hell week consisted of three days of SEAL training the first go-round. It has been five ever since.
The only changes VCU implemented this year were donning army fatigues, separating into teams of six and completing "missions" all over Richmond. They did everything from going on long runs, to rowing rafts, to completing obstacle courses, to carrying 300-pound sand bags.
The reward for VCU's hard work could be a special season. Between the return of the core of an NCAA tournament team and the arrival of top recruits Terry Larrier and Mike Gilmore, VCU will enter the season as the favorites in the Atlantic 10 and a threat to make a deep run next March.
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Jeff Eisenberg is the editor of The Dagger on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at daggerblog@yahoo.com or follow him on Twitter!
