At the mid-point of the offseason for the Ball State University women's volleyball team, sophomore attacker Jennifer Boyd decided to spend a week undergoing a different kind of training.
Boyd left her home outside of Pittsburgh, Pa., for the campus of Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colo., for the Ultimate Training Camp. The camp was organized by Athletes in Action (AIA), a Christian organization geared toward student-athletes.
The week-long camp focused on five principles that posed challenging questions to the athletes both spiritually and while in competition. Boyd said the five principles were taught during daily sessions along with a time of worship and then were reenforced after the sessions by a game of volleyball.
Some of the principles dealt with how to react when being benched by a coach or how to react to injury, as well as the importance of not becoming prideful and keeping attitudes in check both on and off the playing field.
Boyd was the only athlete from Ball State to attend either of the two sessions of the camp. She said three Ball State athletes and the former goalie for the soccer team Rachel Murphy, who attended last year, greatly influenced her decision to go.
"She's one of the biggest reasons I went and I'm really grateful for it," Boyd said. "She kept stressing that it was a life-changing camp and she was definitely right."
In order to attend the camp, Boyd said she had to raise $900 for the camp, the flight to and from Colorado and a shuttle from the Denver airport to Ft. Collins. In order to do this, Boyd created a Facebook group and invited her friends to join.
"I created the group to get people aware that I was going," Boyd said. "I was hoping to bring in some support from those people, whether financially or through prayer. I'm a big believer in the importance of prayer."
Boyd said she also sent e-mails to her high school and Ball State coaches as well as talking to family members in hopes of gaining support as well.
Once she arrived at the camp, Boyd said she was paired with another athlete, Lauren Canning, a lacrosse player at William and Mary College in Virginia, who was attending the camp alone.
The week culminated with a 20-hour competition called the "Special."During the "Special," the athletes were put into teams of seven. The teams then competed in various events for six and a half hours, from 5:30 p.m. until midnight. The teams were then allowed to rest. The team that finished the first leg of the competition in last place was only allowed four-and-a-half hours of sleep, while the team with the next lowest score was allowed ten more minutes of sleep, and so on.
The competition was designed to wear the athletes down both mentally and physically.
"It was very, very tiring and exhausting," Boyd said. "We were all very sore the next day, but it was a good experience."
This summer marked the 31st event for the Ultimate Training Camp. During the first session, 170 athletes attended and for the first time ever, AIA was forced to close the session and turn athletes away. Boyd said she was not surprised that camp has grown so large.
"It is really awesome to see how the camp is growing," Boyd said. "I had a lot of fun and got to see God work in so many ways in my life and in the lives of those around me. This is something every athlete needs to experience."
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