DURHAM, N.C. — N.C. Central’s football team is on a journey to what they hope is a second national championship in a row.
”We won a championship last year. Our goal is to go back-to-back. The standard right now, the expectations right now is for us to return to Atlanta for the Celebration Bowl,” NCCU head strength and conditioning coach Thomas Carroll said.
These Eagles realize you can’t reach glory without first going through the fire, or at least a simulation of it.
The team recently trained with the Durham Fire Department. While their goals are different, both the firefighters and these players undergo challenges with extreme heat.
The connection between a burning home and a burning desire to achieve victory may be more similar than you think.
“This is an opportunity for them to get closer to each other. This is an opportunity for them to grow as units,” Carroll said.
At the fire department training grounds on Wednesday, linebackers, wide receivers, linemen and other players were grinding out a heat-crushing workout. Players tried a physical agility test that all firefighters must complete before going on the job.
Fire Capt. Shawn Walls led the players through the drills.
“It’s just a time for them to come out and see what we do, instead of watching us on the news,” Walls said.
Walls handles the elements as a job requirement. He understands keeping a cool head in a dangerously hot environment is critical.
“A lot of times you can get tunnel vision. You gotta just kind of fall back and look at the big picture,” he said. “When you are arriving on scene, instead of just focusing on one thing—just trying to get a full view of what’s going on. At that time, you just have to slow down and make a decision.”
None of that is possible if you are not in peak shape.
“Conditioning is very important,” Walls said.
As a man who runs toward flames, Walls makes a living beating the heat.
“Being physically fit is a plus and a must,” he said.
Players tried on gear firefighters wear and tested equipment as a part of a simulation.
Walls said the agility test can be a pivotal separator before entering the profession.
“A lot of times I say if we have a 160 that apply, this is part of the process that kicks a lot of people out,” he said.
Walls said a call can come in over the intercom at any time when crews are at a firehouse.
“When the buzzer goes off, it just shows you how fast we gotta get suited up and on the truck,” Walls said.
Overexertion and heat exhaustion combined account for about 30% of yearly firefighter injuries across the nation, according to the National Fire Protection Association.
Operating with grace under pressure when temperatures reach near triple digits is comparable to what the NCCU athletes do for a game early in the season.
“That is always going to play a part with how you do on a scene and perform on a football field,” Walls said.
Weeding out the weak from the strong is a litmus test on the gridiron, too, when repeating as the Historically Black Colleges and Universities National Champions is the expectation.
A little nudge in the right direction is needed every now and again from Carroll.
“(We want to) put them in a situation where they are going to have to respond,” Carroll said.
He said that while the stakes are not life and death, this exercise will prepare the team.
“Once you get called to an assignment, called to a task as a firefighter, you have to stay in there until that task is completed, and that’s similar to how it is as a football player,” Carroll said.
“I want our guys to step into their shoes for a second and feel some of the sense of being able to hold your own as part of a team member, and I figure what better way than to put them into some hero’s shoes for a day.”
For 60 minutes of a game or however long it takes to put out a fire, the message is the same.
“We have a mantra we live by. When something good happens, keep playing. If something bad happens, keep playing,” Carroll said.
Their season kicks off Sept. 2 at O’Kelly-Riddick Stadium. The Eagles will start ranked No. 13 in the FCS subdivision.