Scattered souls

For cadets, summer is about ingenuity, self-reliancePosted: Thursday August 23, 2007 2:20PM; Updated: Thursday August 23, 2007 2:57PM

Center Blaine Guenther spent part of his summer in Kadena, Japan, safety Bobby Giannini logged time in Langley, Va., and other teammates were scattered from China to Florida. Chaos? Sure, but for Air Force, it's a typical summer.

On 116 Division I-A campuses, summer is about laboring together through workouts that are "voluntary" in name only. For the three military academies' players, who often spend part of their summers away from school, it's often about flexibility and self-discipline.

At the Air Force Academy summers are broken down into three three-week periods and most players spend at least some part of their break at an Air Force base, working the cadet-run basic training for incoming freshman or running sports camps. That makes running a simple 7-on-7 drill an exercise in improvisation, with players playing out of position to offset the lack of numbers.

"There's something special about academy kids," Air Force coach Troy Calhoun said. "They're extremely resourceful. They're guys that got a complete disregard when it comes to alibis. They want to find a way to get things accomplished"

Take Falcons wide receiver/running back Chad Hall and linebacker Julian Madrid, who trudged to the air field six days a week at 4:45 a.m. to go through Academy Flight Screening, a 12-hour-a-day course that evaluates whether cadets will have success as pilots or navigators following graduation. Despite the laborious hours, the roommates still managed to spend 4-5 hours a day in the gym or on the practice field.

It's a level of dedication that leaves no questions among teammates about whether or not they are putting in the work, despite a situation that has them hundreds, even thousands of miles apart for the entire summer.

"Obviously, going to an academy, it takes a different breed to go there," senior linebacker Drew Folwer said. "That in itself gives everybody assurance that everybody's doing what they need to do just 'cause that's typically what we're labeled as, we're labeled as: 'Those overachievers that no one would give a chance but then the academy gives them a chance to play D-I ball,' and we make the most of it."

For Fowler, who spent part of last summer at Offutt AFB in Omaha, Neb., this summer was more relaxed. He spent the first three-week period working a sports camp at the Academy, went back home to North Carolina for the second period and finished his break by returning to Colorado Springs to take a class.

Fowler estimates there were 25-30 teammates on campus during the early period he spent there, and while the sheer number was more than enough to pull off any drill or workout, the variety of responsibilities the cadets have during their time in Colorado Springs makes it a near impossibility.

"What's tough about it, too, is when people are there, there's so many people doing different things at that academy," he said. "It's almost impossible to meet up with everybody and try to get a team list or semi-team list because everybody is on different schedules."

For Calhoun, who took over the Air Force program after serving as the Houston Texans offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach last year, this summer was his first in dealing with the mandated chaos as a coach. While he says the situation isn't ideal, he has unique understanding and respect for the routine as a 1989 Academy graduate.

"It's one of those you can look at it and say, 'I don't have any of my guys and there are 116 schools that do that have them there and they practice all summer,' " he said. "But what it requires character-wise, it requires guys to be extremely well rounded. That's part of being at the Air Force Academy."

Calhoun's message to the Falcons as they left for the break was to lean on the self-discipline and ingenuity that is such a large part of academy life, especially at a time when they had only themselves to answer to.

"I think winners find a way, they're going to find some way to get in the weight room: the barbells may not be perfect, they may not have the bumper plates or the footballs might be a different size or the fields might be lined a little bit differently, mowed every fifth day instead of every other day, [but] guys who are winners are still going to find a way to stay focused on what they want to accomplish," Calhoun said.

"One by one we have to have guys that are dedicated and we gotta find a way to lift, run, throw and catch. If that means the three weeks they're home that they get mom, or their sister to catch a few balls or throw some to them."

While other schools work to create activities away from the rigors of summer workouts to bond as a team, the Falcons (who are largely apart until they report back on July 31 outside of two "Transition Saturdays" when the three-week periods overlap, which Fowler says is "like a reunion, it's like a huge party") aren't concerned with how they'll build that trust among teammates before the season opens Sept. 1 against South Carolina State.

"I think just the life we live at that academy and the stuff we've been through, we really don't have to work on that chemistry because we're all the same people," Fowler said. "It's one of those things that you actually feel if you have to go through it and stuff. But it's a good feeling to have."

Adds Calhoun: "The shared experiences that they do have ... that's a pretty unique shared bond, going through basic training [and] some of the things they do. There tends to be a tremendous chemistry."