When Whit Overton earned his job as the new Head Coach of the Mansfield Tigers, he wanted to do a full-on rebuild. Just as a new homeowner may want to change the paint of a room to their own taste, Overton wanted the program to be shifted into his vision. With minimal time to make the changes, Overton and the Tigers have been putting in the hard work and shifting into overdrive to get things in line quickly and effectively. The Tigers have been working non-stop in the weight room, going to camps, watching film, and testing over new plays from day one. All of that constant work though creates a lot of fatigue and burnout for the players. All work and no play tends to leave everyone in dismay, but who said there’s no play?
Photo courtesy of Danielle Overton
Coach Overton may be dead serious when it comes to getting the program changed into how he wants it, but he’s no lump on a log when it comes to repaying his player’s hard work with some good ol’ fun. On Monday, July 31st, the Tigers began their first annual Tiger Boot Camp. The camp was the true beginning of the new program as the players and coaches spent three days together with just each other. There was no going home, no outside interference, or day to day routine of the player’s normal life present. The Tiger Boot Camp had multiple purposes as the players would mix work, fun, team building, and fellowship together to become an actual team by definition. Many teams have shirts or slogans they wear that say something about being family which tugs at the heart string of some fans, but the Tigers literally lived their family slogan for the three-day camp.
Photo courtesy of Danielle Overton
The Tigers kicked off their camp with a standard practice at the high school at 8:00 am Monday morning. Just like they would on Friday nights, the right to play had to be earned in practice. After a very successful practice though, the games began. After being fed a delicious lunch by Becky Walker, the team departed for Fort Smith to get things “rolling” with their first fun event being a stop at Bowling World. Rather than wearing nasty cleats, the Tigers wore the ever-stylish grey and maroons on their feet as they slashed through the lanes. Of course, with the youthful players strutting their stuff thinking they were bad to the bone, the coaches had no choice but to step up to the line and show them how it is done.
Photo courtesy of Danielle Overton
After the team got back to the high school from their fun and games, it was back to work as they studied up on film to break down their morning practice and learn from any mistakes made. Once film was over, it was off to the weight room to establish new maxes on weights. The players impressed not only each other but the coaches as well as they proved that their hard work had exponentially paid off by achieving new personal best nearly across the board. After polishing off with their film and getting hyped in the weight room, it was off to the team’s next fun event. This particular event got the players “hooked” on some friendly competition with a fishing derby at the Mansfield outdoor complex. With rooster tails and crank baits hitting the water, the team faced off to see who could reel in the haul of the day. The winner of the derby was none other than SR quarterback, Cole Kindle. The evening then closed with the players getting to listen to a top-notch FCA speech by the one and only, Travis Pettus. All of that fun, work, and fellowship was contained in merely one day. The Tigers still had two more days to go.
Photo courtesy of Danielle Overton
Day two of the Tigers Boot Camp started off like any other as Mansfield took to the weight room and practice field. The players looked ultra smooth in their techniques moves while looking like an intact unit as they donned their new practice uniforms. Again, it was work first then play. The play for the day was a good old fashion dodgeball tournament followed by a great lunch. Fellowship Baptist pastor, Gary Martin, stopped by at lunch and gave the players a little good word from the good Lord as they ate. With all of the morning fun and full bellies behind them, the Tigers set out to take on a little bit of community service. The players descended on Mansfield’s main street to put their energy and strength to good use as they cleaned up trash and pruned up the bushes along the sidewalks. Mansfield is not only the name on their jersey, but also their home so keeping it nice and clean through their community service is something the Tigers are starting to take pride in. Tuesday closed out with a little bit of street basketball and swimming before the Tigers hit the sack to dream of victories.
Photo courtesy of Danielle Overton
With two fun-filled days behind them, the Tigers closed out their first annual Tiger Boot Camp with a run at Mansfield City Lake on Wednesday morning. Once their morning run was over, the players were released back into the normalcy of their day-to-day lives. Although departure from the camp was bittersweet, the Tigers learned a lot in the areas of football, teamwork, and building character in just three days. “We came together as a team,” said Coach Overton. “We put in a lot of hard work and had quite a bit of fun in the process”. The Tigers will lean on a lot of the lessons they learned at their camp as they continue to push toward the upcoming season. But the fun isn’t over quite yet. The Mansfield SR High team will be having a Midnight Scrimmage on Friday, August 4th and all Tiger fans are invited to come out to see the Tiger’s hard work pay off!
The Tigers players and Coaching staff would like to thank Mansfield FCA, Robert and Becky Walker, Huntington Assembly of God, Travis Pettus, Jacob and Landi Burton, Fellowship Baptist Chruch, Gary Martin, Bo Lang, Westark Erection Inc, Brad and James Frye for volunteering and helping to make the first annual Tiger Boot Camp successful.
