Men’s basketball team participates in mini boot camp

OLIVET, Mich. – On Oct. 6, the members of the Olivet College men's basketball program participated in a mini boot camp at Fort Custer in Battle Creek.

Assistant Coach Chris Watz came up with the idea for the boot camp after visiting a Marine Corps Recruit Depot (MCRD) in San Diego last April. In addition, Watz's son, Jake, is marine recruit at the MCRD participating in the actual 13-week Marine Boot Camp and will be graduating on Dec. 21, 2012.

With a team full of many new faces, the boot camp allowed the basketball players to have a chance to get know more about one another in a different setting. At the boot camp, they participated in combat ready fitness test, which included a series of runs, crawls and carrying objects, and a leadership obstacle course.

"Attending the boot camp was interesting at first," said Olivet sophomore Blake Krum. "But at the end of the day, it was a great experience that we'll look back on because of the lessons we learned in a short time. We also learned a lot about our teammates and what everyone's strengths and weaknesses are before practice started."

For a complete photo gallery from the event, view the Michigan Marines Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/MichiganMarines/photos_stream?ref=ts).