Sitting in Coach Wesley Smith’s classroom, Girls Head Varsity Coach Michelle Morris tells her athletes about her plans for the upcoming boot camp. Boot camp is a two-week period where the athletes split into three platoons, Alpha, Charlie and Bravo, to compete against each other for points through a series of physical and mental obstacles every day.
“The purpose of boot camp is to understand how to move forward to the next season, we must understand why we lost.” Coach Morris said. “Once we decide why we lost, we take those factors and address them in the off-season and boot camp.”
During Coach Morris’ first year at Legacy in 2014 as head varsity coach, she created boot camp and continues on with the tradition every year. Unlike last year, Coach Morris created two weeks of boot camp. The first week focuses mainly on physical conditioning and pushing the athletes to their limit. The second week deals with mental toughness, teaching the athletes to rely on their teammates and not themselves.
“I feel like we achieved the physical toughness part, but I feel like we could have done better in the mental aspect. That’s why we extended it another week.” Coach Morris said. “ Boot camp is meant to teach our athletes that they are a team, and the only way to success is through your weakest link.”
Boot camp not only tests the athletes’ limits, but also builds new relationships within the basketball program and brings everyone closer together. It also allows Coach Morris to plan off-season and structure the upcoming season.
“The next season depends on the greatness achieved in boot camp,” Coach Morris said. “Boot camp is meant to get people out of their comfort zones and teach them to understand that we must depend on everyone to succeed.”
Coach Morris picked junior Madison Crawford and sophomores Cy’Nia Jackson and Janai DeJesus for this year’s platoon leaders. Boot camp allows the coaches to see if the leaders they chose step up to the task.
“Boot camp gives me a way to see how the platoon leaders are respected by others,” Coach Morris said. “I’m also able to see who on the team steps up and shows good signs of leadership throughout boot camp.”
Chosen as platoon leader for Alpha, DeJesus shadows Coach Smith. The coaches are not allowed to intervene in the platoon leaders group, allowing DeJesus to step into the leadership role and try their best to win boot camp as a team.
“I believe that boot camp benefits us mentally and physically,” DeJesus said. “Boot camp forces you to bond with your team and create new leaders when we are put through certain challenges where we need to help our teammates and lead them through it.
Sophomore junior varsity player Andi Oldham joins her platoon for her second year of boot camp. Although she’s not a platoon leader this year, she still does her job by lifting up her teammates and leading them when needed.
“I think boot camp is worth it because it helps get us back into shape during off-season, along with learning discipline, mental toughness, becoming better encouragers and coming together as a team,” Oldham said. “All of these things will help us throughout the off-season and the next season.”
Sophomore varsity player Alisha Briggs was placed in Charlie’s platoon under Crawford. Throughout the weeks, Briggs pushes through boot camp with her teammates and pushes herself to her mental and physical breaking points.
“Even though boot camp is draining, it’s able to get us out of our comfort zones really well,” Briggs said. “Boot camp helps us with our mental and physical strength and that’s what we need most for the upcoming season.”
Morris and the other coaches have a goal they set for themselves: creating new leaders to rise during boot camp. Boot camp tests the platoon leader’s ability to lead, but it takes more than one person to lead a team.
“When we see new leaders rise, it lets the coaches know we accomplished our goal,” Morris said. “Along with seeing the girls accomplish the obstacles and the happiness on their faces when they realize they did it.”
