Scholarship students get military treatment

The clean-cut good looks and welcoming smiles of the NZ Army Physical Training Instructors (PTIs) gave no hint of what the next two days on the Burnham Military Camp would be like for the visiting Lincoln University Sports Scholarship students.

The 18 students were there as part of the Universitys Sports Scholarship programme which every year sends its second-year students to the camp to test their physical and mental stamina.

According to Lincoln Universitys Recreation Centre and Sport Scholarship Manager, Peter Magson, the aim is to expose these young athletes to an unfamiliar and extended training environment that draws out of them individual resourcefulness, and an inclination towards teamwork relative to the strengths and weaknesses of each member.

A Sports Scholarship at Lincoln is more than just free tuition and skills, strength and conditioning training relative to ones code. We want to develop athletes with substance and character that they can apply to any aspect of their lives. Sending our second-year scholarship students to Burnham for two days is a core part of this development, says Peter.

The group were divided into two teams and the gloriously hot day started well enough with a relatively low-key team building exercise on the lawn. However, although still sporting an affable disposition, the lead PTIs opening address left no one in any doubt as to who would be calling the shots for the next two days.

The exercise complete and with no time for reflection, a quick warm-up march around the camp saw the group commence with the Armys standard Required Fitness Level (RFL) exercises: something which entails a sub-12 minute 2.4km run, and as many curl-up ab crunches and push ups as one can stand. Some rules learnt along the way included keeping your shirt on This is no time to show off your tattoo! barked the PTI to one student and no hands on hips, ever.

The RFL complete, the students were given 30 seconds to swiftly locate themselves into the Army gymnasium in preparation for the bane of any sportspersons performance assessment: the beep test. Encroaching on earlier facial expressions suggesting being merely somewhat puffed came grimaces, and a retreat from the front of the eyes that alluded to the arrival of a new kind of sensation pain.

The students performed admirably. Sadly, however, not admirably enough as far as the PTIs were concerned; and so, after being made to muster as many chin-ups as possible, and partaking in a prolonged sprint exercise known as the Lincoln Test (no relation), the students were made to repeat the beep test all over again. Pain was now married to a kind of shock. One could almost hear the students thoughts expressing a kind of disbelief at what was currently transpiring and a dread at what might still be to come.

Any reward and encouragement from the PTIs upon completion of the punishment beep test extended about as far as granting a two minute break and a remark that We wont have to do that again if you maintain a sense of urgency.

Two minutes up. Time for rope drills and chin-ups; and, then, a miracle a fifteen minute break! Considering the last two hours, it feels like a holiday, remarked Jack Stratton, one of the Sports Scholarship students.

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Scholarship students get military treatment