Khalil Factory, Tyrius Johnson, Torre Alfred and Grant Fisher work together to lift a tractor tire as a conditioning drill for basketball.

The basketball team recently started conditioning, getting in shape for the upcoming season. They have mainly been running, but had a different workout last Friday. Two United States Marine Drill Sergeants came to, as Coach Wade Wallace put it, “whip ‘em into shape.”

The basketball players gathered in the field on Friday afternoon, waiting for instructions. Sergeant Rothman’s voice rang over the field as he explained the purpose of the conditioning.

“Today is not about you,” Rothman said. “It’s about your team. Your body’s going to break. I promise that.”

The players broke into small groups and did different exercises, including crunches, weight lifting, flipping a tractor tire and running across the field while carrying a partner.

“The easiest [exercise] was the one where we got to flip a tire,” said team manager Cameron Kirk. “The hardest was square box pushups.”

Wallace hoped that the players would become closer as a team, and he thinks that they accomplished that.

“Anytime you become closer as a team you’re going to improve your play. I hope they learned that they can push pass their limits,” Wallace said.

Though player Shaladre Johnson found the workout very difficult, he also believes that the team improved.

“It taught me to not give up,” Johnson said. “Work as a team and you can get things done.”