Operation: Wolverine Resilience

It was hot and steamy. 

Even at 6 a.m. on a recent Wednesday, the typical humidity of a Florida summer was cranked up to 11 as the Windermere High School football team arrived for a training session that would be unlike any other they had experienced before. 

And that was precisely the point.

It was not long before the field was filled with the sound of shouting — always met with “Yes, Drill Sergeant” in reply — and sweaty football players pushing themselves as hard as they could. It resembled basic training for the U.S. Army sans the military fatigues. Instead of preparing for war in a far-away country, this training was to prepare the Windermere football team for war on the gridiron.

AT ATTENTION

Five drill sergeants from Charlie Company 2nd Battalion 485th Regiment were on hand to run a full three-hour training session. The players were separated into four groups: Alpha, Bravo, Charlie and Delta. Those four groups rotated among stations with a drill sergeant — 12 players were at each station for three minutes. 

For 20 minutes, the players gave it everything they had before being allowed for a water break. After a short break, they got right back out and did it again for an hour.  

Windermere assistant coach Adam Militello came up with the idea for the training session a few months ago. Last year, the Wolverines posted a 2-7 record; two of those losses were by fewer than 10 points. After five years without a winning season, the pressure is on to try something different. 

“At this age, the wins-losses matter for varsity, but it’s about teaching these young men how not to give up, how to fight through adversity, how to dig down deep, have some intestinal fortitude and push yourself when you can’t push yourself further,” Militello said.

He presented the idea to head coach Eric Olson and athletic director Russell Williams, who both loved it.

Militello is a captain in the 5th Battalion U.S. Army Reserves and thought a good (albeit mild) dose of military discipline would help send the message for this upcoming season — resilience and toughness. Militello came dressed in his army boots, pants and hat. The Windermere football shirt was the only non-Army attire he had on.

At first, it took a while for that resilience and toughness to show through in the first session. 

“It was definitely deer-in-the-headlights,” Militello said. 

Even so, that was how he expected the players to react at first. 

“No one’s going to roll into that environment for the first time and just be completely oriented to what’s going on,” he said. “They’re disoriented; they don’t know who (the drill sergeants) are or why they’re yelling and telling them to get in a certain line; coming in, kind of laughing and straight faces the first seconds.” 

Senior center Joey Lisa was expecting to work hard going into the training session, but he had no idea it was going to be anything like it turned out to be. 

“I really did not know what was going to happen,” he said. 

Banastre Tarleton, a sophomore long-snapper, also was shocked by the intensity of it at first, but he came to enjoy it as it went along. 

“It helped put me in a new mentality,” he said. 

After an hour of intense training, the groups were separated into two large groups as they went into the locker room to listen to the drill sergeants speak — a simulated halftime. During the hourlong talk, the drill sergeants and Militello drove home the message that they wanted the players to understand. 

It seemed to hit home: The group came out for the second part of the training ready to work harder. Tarleton noticed the difference immediately.

“It motivated everyone and gave them the discipline of mind to push through the pain,” Tarleton said. 

Militello was proud of the way his team fought through the rigorous training.

“It exceeded my expectations,” he said. “We had about half our program here today, and all of them fought to the very end. I commend them for their effort.”