NORTHSIDE PLAYERS LEARN ABOUT TRUST, ACCOUNTABILITY AT FORT CHAFFEE RETREAT

On a typically hot August afternoon, the Northside Grizzlies football team convened, as they have generally done the past several weeks. They learned about trust and about accountability. They learned to finish the task at hand while wearing helmets. There were some words of encouragement from their coaches, and several players were feeling a sense of relief at times once a selected workout was completed. But they weren’t on the football field when all of this was going on. Instead, they were on a military base, going through some of the things that a special few routinely deal with while serving and protecting this country’s borders. For the second straight year, the Grizzlies participated in a preseason retreat at Fort Chaffee. They stayed two nights in the barracks, they participated in several military-related activities and they learned to bond as a team. Oh, and they still found time to practice football in the process. “This was our second year to come out to Fort Chaffee, and it’s a great place to do it,” Northside coach Mike Falleur said. “It was good to get our kids away and it’s just your guys and your kids with no interruptions, no distractions and it’s just football and in this case, just a little bit of some military activities. “The fact that we’ve done it once before, the juniors and seniors know what to expect. For the sophomores, it was probably a little bit of an eye-opener, but they’ve handled it really well. ... What we try to teach to them is it’s a way to bond our team together and to get away, to just be us.” Falleur got the idea from when he coached in Georgia prior to taking over at Northside before the 2013 season. He said several teams across that state would travel for week-long retreats, though not necessarily at a military base but a place where they could practice and focus on football in a different setting. Related More Northside Grizzlies football After practicing Thursday morning at Mayo-Thompson Stadium, the Grizzlies boarded the bus and traveled to Fort Chaffee. Under an intense sun, they began their retreat with a game of capture the flag, using Airsoft guns. But then, they were in for a surprise, an activity they didn’t do during last year’s retreat. The players then headed to a four-story building, similar in structure to those located overseas in Iraq. At that building, the Grizzlies ascended to the roof. But they had to rappel down the side of the building, with members of the B company Recruiting and Retention Battalion of the Arkansas Army National Guard there to pull the rope and help bring the players down to the ground. “It’s supposed to build trust on people you don’t really know and getting the bond that goes together,” Northside senior Greg Washington said. “So basically, we’re at the top of a four-story building and the only thing you have is a harness and gloves and a helmet on. “You’re at the very top and they put the rope on you and there’s somebody at the bottom and he (is pulling the rope). But you don’t know who he is, you’ve never met this guy but you’ve got to put trust in him because if you leave your hand off, it’s supposed to put you in free fall, but he’s trained to where if you take your hand off, he’ll stop you.” Some of the players were eager for the challenge to go down four stories off the side of a building. “It wasn’t scary, it was mostly trust and hoping you don’t fall or anything,” senior Xavier Castillo said. “You mostly just let go and everybody will just take care of you.” But for others, the rappelling exercise was a bit nerve-wracking. “It wasn’t scary; I just knew they would have me so I knew it would be all about trust,” junior Jeremiah Tabut said. “I was scared at first, I’m not going to lie, I was scared. Then after you hop over (the roof), it’s all good.” Even for someone like Anthony Travis, a senior who joined the football team last season and became one of the team’s top tacklers, as well as someone who went through the pressure of playing in back-to-back state championship games for Northside’s basketball team, rappelling proved to be an imposing challenge. “I felt like I was in Call of Duty or something, or actually in the Army or something,” Travis said. “I was really scared, I was nervous, but at the same time, they had my back. I was just scared of heights. “It was easier going down. ... I’m not a big fan of heights and stuff, but after it was all done, it was pretty fun.” Washington had similar feelings when he climbed the four flights of stairs to make his way down the side of the building. “Going up the stairs, you’re like, ‘What am I doing?’” he said. “It’s crazy to think about like they actually do that for a living, and some of them don’t even have any harnesses on, it’s just like a rope they go down. “So it’s definitely an experience to get to do what they do on a daily basis, and you respect them after that, that’s for sure.” And for the people the players put their trust in, Guard members themselves designed the rappelling exercise as a way of giving those players the confidence to handle certain situations down the road. “The biggest thing we’re trying to teach these folks here is overcoming adversity, overcoming fear and there’s no better way than to put them on that wall,” Arkansas Army National Guard Master Sergeant Anthony Moats said. “When you put them on the wall, they get to see that while they may be the star football player that doesn’t ever fear anything, now they’ve got to look fear in the eye and know that you’ve got to trust somebody else to do their job in order for good things to happen.” At the crack of dawn on Friday morning, the Grizzlies awoke from their barracks and participated in physical training exercises. Then, Falleur conducted morning and afternoon practices. The Grizzlies then scrimmaged one another Saturday morning before taking a bus to head back to Fort Smith that afternoon. While they were at Fort Chaffee, the players also took part in team meetings and even took in a movie their first night on the base. Falleur said there was one underlying theme the three days the Grizzlies were at the retreat. “I heard the word ‘trust’ a lot,” Falleur said. “I hope it gave them a better understanding. ... When we stayed in the same barracks, we mixed it up with different grade levels and different offense and defense (positions). “Hopefully, they got to know each other a little better and to learn to trust each other and then to bond as a football team and for them to understand that together, we’re a whole lot stronger than as individuals.” Falleur added he would like to bring the Grizzlies back to Fort Chaffee for next year’s preseason, and maybe make this an annual affair. “I hope so, I hope it becomes a part of what we do,” he said. The Grizzlies will resume preseason workouts on their home turf Monday as they prepare for their only scrimmage, at home on Aug. 14 against Bentonville West. Northside then begins the regular season on the first Zero Week in Arkansas, at home on Aug. 24 against Rogers Heritage.

NORTHSIDE PLAYERS LEARN ABOUT TRUST, ACCOUNTABILITY AT FORT CHAFFEE RETREAT

BUCK RINGGOLD

Times Record | 8/5/2018

PHOTO CREDIT: Buck Ringgold