Tour Diary on the US All-Military Tour
Tour Diary on the US All-Military Tour
Day three is dawning at the US All-Military team tour of the UK.
Players from all over the military branches, and all over the world, are trying to figure each other out and form a team. Tired, jet-lagged, and, in many cases, a little unsure of how it all pieces together, the US Military players have just a few days to get on top of it.
"We not here just to be here," former Eagle and Utah Warrior and Utah Utes John Cullen. "It's great to be here, and be selected, and be part of it, but we also need to switch on."
Cullen, as well as former 7s Eagle Cody Melphy, are captains of the side which includes players from a wide range of experiences. Most have played for many clubs because they've been posted to multiple Army, Air Force, or Navy bases and found a club.
"You automatically have 15 friends," said Logan Legg (TCU, Washington RFC, Austin Blacks, Lemurs, All-Army). "No matter where yo go you'll be able to find a group of friends."
"Anywhere you go, if you're wearing a rugby jersey and somebody sees you, they're going to invite you to their home, for a home-cooked meal, and out to the pitch to play some rugby," said Brian "Butters" Bidder, who has played all over the world.
Day One
The players made their way to the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst, where British military personnel of all branches go through to learn to become officers. They got acquainted, found their rooms, and were thankful that the weather remained cool and pleasant for an English fall.
Their residency hall is a short walk away from three beautiful rugby fields, that are rings by a couple of ponds and some magnificent buildings. This was a Sunday and the students were not on-campus, but later in the day they returned (Sunday night roast in the mess hall) to get back to work on Sunday.
The players claimed their rather magnificent trove of kit from Akuma (Akuma rep Paul Knowles graduated from Sandhurst) and compared resumes.
As the day wore on everyone met up in the Afghan Theatre Room, where England's and Britain's campaigns in that country are memorialized. Head Coach Allen Clarke gave the players some work on coming up with some key words to focus on—what team did they want to be, and how would their actions reflect those words?
It was simple, direct, and hugely effective from a coaching perspective in distilling what the team wanted to achieve. The words were about reflecting a warrior ethos, about effort, about being in the fight, and about unity.
More importantly, Cullen laid out rules for demerits for the players' less-than-serious disciplinary team (demerits for forgetting things, being out of kit, or ... almost anything), and handed the team mascot, a plush Captain America doll, to the youngest player. That would be Larry Williams, Jr., the 2022 Rudy Scholz Award winner when he was at West Point and now stationed in Germany.
"Can't let it out of my sight," said a smiling Williams, although secretly he is hoping someone goofs up and has to take up Captain America in his backpack.
Day 2
Clarke informed the players that they would have to blast through their jet lag to a certain extent to get ready. Day 2 would be the first day of training, with the first session being somewhat intense, and the second session ramping up the expectations. Day 3 will have the most intense sessions before they ease off a little as Friday's game approached.
Once again, Clarke and his staff looked to distill their plans and ideas to a small number of words and clear concepts. Then, finally, they got on the field.
Lineouts, pods and pattern, first-phase plays, defensive shape, and figuring out combinations.
No need to do much on fitness—the players are in shape and there's not enough time for that. As it is, the gym at Sandhurst is always open and several of the players hit the gym right after they arrived.
After that session most of the players and staff took their blazers to a local tailor to get small adjustments made, and then, oh look! There's a coffee shop. Coffee and snacks acquired, the players went to rest up and the coaches met to discuss their first impressions—where players will fit within the system and the team, who struggled, and why.
It was clear that the coaches wanted to know the backstory of the players and understand why anyone might have had a rough morning. Overall, however, the feeling was that skills level was good, execution good, and desire to get stuck-in very good.
As the second session kicked off the business of Sandhurst was clearly visible. Units of trainees were marching past, or running past with their unit leads loud in their ears. One unit galloped past the field looking spry and ready ... and returns have clearly waded through some freezing pond, squelching loudly and looking a little slower.
For the players started to find their rhythm a bit more and ramped it up.
Nighttime
There's a card game going, and Mickey Bressler (Naval Academy '12), club president, Camp Lejeune Misfits, Fort Worth, All MArines, Capitol City Selects, All Sea Services, All Marines, Rocky Gorge) lost the game and had to pay a harmless but slightly embarrassing penalty.
And then just as the players were getting to bed (and some were already down for the night) the fire alarms came on. This, it became clear, was a planned drill for the Sandhurst residents, as they were formed up in parade within a few minutes. No harm done, and Day 2 was done. A hard Day 3 would await.
And Friday: The USA Military vs British Army will be shown live on the BFBS Forces News YouTube channel with coverage beginning at 19:30 UK time, 13:30 Eastern Time, Friday, November 8.
