All Americans at SEALs Training

The Men’s All Americans visited the Navy SEAL training base in Coronado, Calif. this week during their training for their three-game series with New Zealand Universities.

“That was a trip I’ll never forget,” said co-captain Ryan Roundy. “It was one of the hardest things I have ever done in my life. We pushed ourselves, and getting just a little taste of what those guys go through day-in, day-out, makes me so much more grateful for what I have.”

The players were put through a series of training tasks – running, obstacle courses, team tasks, and were worn out in just a few hours.

“It was an awesome team-building experience and was not easy by any means,” added co-captain Blaine Scully. “It was an honor to be allowed to train with one of the greatest teams on the planet. We learned a lot in a short amount of time and came away with 100 different lessons on mental toughness. The SEALS are a really high-performance team that operates with the highest stakes. It was a really good experience to see the kind of pressure they put themselves under.”

Roundy said he was struck first of all by how taking even a second off in a team is exposed in SEALS training. With seven men carrying a log above their heads, if one guy drops his hands, everyone feels it. It’s not so exposed in a rugby game, said Roundy, but the lesson holds.

The BYU captain was also humbled by what the SEALs personnel are expected to do as a daily lifestyle.

“Even with us I could say to myself, OK, two more hours and we’re back playing rugby and having fun; these guys, they do it every day, so they can do it as a career and keep our country safe,” said Roundy. “Once we’re gone, they don’t leave.”

“We came out of that with more of a sense of our collective identity,” added Scully. “We know we can handle any situation, any time. We’ve been through tougher times.”