Two-day Boot Camp Builds Unity

“Above the Best,” was the name of a two-day boot camp completed this weekend by BYU’s Baseball team.

The boot camp was under the direction of Captain Dante Fontenot of the Utah National Guard and Captain Jeremy Tannahill, Commander of D Company 2nd Battalion of the 211th Aviation Regiment and a Maintenance Test Pilot.

Captains Fontenot and Tannahill taught the Cougars team concepts of relying on each other through a series of drills and exercises designed to create better team unity.

The only food players were allowed to eat on Friday was a single hard-boiled egg in the morning and one hot dog that evening. On Saturday, the 39 players shared two granola bars in the morning and two packs of M & M’s at lunch. Players slept overnight in sleeping bags inside the press box at Miller Park.

The Captains broke the team down on Friday, and then built them back up on Saturday, teaching them how to work in unison and administering discipline through pushups and sit-ups as players learned how to follow directions.

BYU’s coaching staff went through a similar two-day boot camp last August and thought the team would benefit from similar training. The team missed attending the BYU-Air Force football game across the street because of the boot camp.

Earlier in the week pitcher David Parry won the sixth annual run up nearby Y Mountain in a time of 15:04. Placing second to Parry was outfielder/pitcher Coltin White in 15:16 and third was pitcher Shawn Hardesty in 15:18.