Arriving at the Camp at Melekeok State at 6.00am on Saturday, the squad stowed their gear and then were briefed on the weekend’s activities.  At 6.30am they were on their first activity, a 30 minute run through the hills behind the village.  The squad were divided into 3 teams and competed in every activity throughout the Camp.  On return they had a quick shower and then breakfast and at 8.00am were taken through a session on substance abuse by the Seabees.  Then it was a 1 mile run to the local school where the Seabees took them through their first session on physical exercise. 

For those who had not completed the strength work and running during the past 3 months it was a real challenge to keep up and several simply gave up at times.  With breaks for recovery and energy replacement and re-hydration it was back into work lead by the Seabees.  The schedule had lights out at 9.00pm on the Saturday night but by lunchtime players were already asking for this to be brought forward to 8.00pm.

The afternoon continued with education sessions and physical activities, along with recovery sessions.  By late afternoon the teams were starting to work together and encourage each other.  Tired bodies were being pushed to the limit and many suffered from cramp, but battled on. 

PBF President, Frank Kyota attended the Camp from Saturday afternoon until its end on Sunday.  His encouragement and words of wisdom helped the players to adjust mentally to what was asked of them.  Each team was allocated a coach who acted as their instructor and each team also had a leader appointed.  These people pushed players to their limits and slowly but surely all responded.

The Camp has a series of goals including:

·         To develop a good attitude to accomplishing all allocated tasks

·         To develop a very high work rate

·         To have each player challenge themselves to levels not previously attained

·         To develop a high level of team work in all tasks

·         To develop leadership skills that help accomplish team tasks

By Camps end all instructors agreed that we had achieved these goals.

 

 Sunday did not bring any respite from the torture as after rising at 5.00am the teams competed on another run through the hills on a different and more challenging route.  Surprisingly all teams managed to beat their previous day’s times. 

 Then it was back with the Seabees and education on the mental aspects of physical training.  On the run to and from the school, teams now started to understand about preparing for the task ahead.  The first physical activity repeated that of yesterday and now the players managed to challenge themselves and while some may have stopped for a short while, they did continue and no-one gave up.

 

 In closing the Camp, President Frank and Head Coach Johnny Kintaro both congratulated the players on their work throughout the Camp.  Team Abunia came out winners, followed by Team Hustlers and Team Heat.  The conditioning program continues from January 25th with both strength and fitness work and hopefully the players will now understand what they need to do to push themselves to their limits.