University of North Carolina Athletics
Lucas: The Climb Begins
September 16, 2014 | Men's Basketball, Featured Writers, Adam Lucas
Nate Britt had just completed six 50-meter sprints up a hill at the outdoor rec center on the Carolina campus. With the 2015 Tar Heels broken into groups by height, Britt had dominated his group of fellow guards, going 6-0.
It was the first day of preseason conditioning, and the sophomore was feeling pretty good about himself. Hey, this wasn't too tough. He'd survived.
And then someone told him he wasn't finished, that this was just the start.
"Hold up," Britt said, the smile melting from his face. "There's more?"
"That was just the warmup," came the reply.
"Awww nahhhhhhh," Britt said.
Indeed, the six uphill sprints were just the start. They were followed by six uphill sprints of twice that distance, plus six more of three times that distance. The final tally was nearly a full hour of running, all of it uphill and often mixing in defensive slides just to make it a little trickier.
In hindsight, the opening six dashes were fairly straightforward. With players split into their groups, the running was fairly evenly matched, with the exception of Britt's perfection. The stakes were high: the player who won the most races out of each group could be exempt from one of the final sprints. Jonas Sahratian was positioned at the finish line, where he was able to provide color commentary on each race. When Stilman White cut off Marcus Paige on one run, Sahratian boomed, "Stilman pulled a Zola Budd and ran Marcus off the track!"
Even in the early going, there was a marked difference in the mood as the repetitions progressed. Brice Johnson finished his second run up the hill against a trio of other big men with a high step. By the third time, though, Jackson Simmons was keeping pace, and eventually setting the pace.
The most unusual sight for the Frisbee golfers who happened to play through while the Tar Heels were sweating across the hills was Kennedy Meeks wearing a hooded sweatshirt. The Carolina big man adopted the habit from Marvin Williams, who spent most of this summer doing his offseason weightlifting with Sahratian in a hoodie.
Meeks believes it helps with weight loss--and with the sophomore currently weighing 271 pounds, after arriving in Chapel Hill at 317 pounds, whatever he believes clearly works. As he panted just slightly after moving on to the second set of six sprints, which came with a 50-meter sprint plus approximately 50 meters of defensive slides (all uphill), he said, "I'm going to be 263 when this workout is over."
Sahratian adjusted his intensity as the workout progressed, varying between encouraging and challenging. Johnson began to flag during the second set, offering an exhausted, "I'm tired."
"You're going to be tired at Cameron, too!" Sahratian bellowed, and Johnson trotted back to the starting line for another repetition.
The final set of six sprints was by far the most arduous. It began with the same 50 meter uphill sprint. Then players had to maintain a jog to the next starting line, which featured a combination of uphill slides, zig zags and backwards running. Then, upon reaching the halfway point, each runner had to turn and sprint straight for the finish line.
But it wasn't over. After the first sprint, they had 90 seconds to jog--not walk, never walk--all the way back to the starting line before beginning their next repetition.
Each group winner from the first set of six could exempt themselves from one of the final taxing climbs. After the third rep, Desmond Hubert passed by Britt, a fellow group winner. "Which one are you skipping?" Hubert asked.
"None," Britt said, not breaking stride. "I'm doing them all."
And he did, as did all the Tar Heels. The big men were the last group to finish, after being challenged that if any of them walked at any point--including back to the finish line--the entire team would have to run again. This predictably spawned plenty of encouragement from their teammates. "Don't let your team down," shouted assistant coach Steve Robinson. "Don't be the one!" chimed in Marcus Paige.
They all made it, and the first day of conditioning was done. The layout of the parking lot required players to ascend one more hill just to get back to the vans that would carry them to the parking lot. It was a cruel final twist.
Two players ran at least part of the way up the hill: Britt, of course. And Meeks, who was still wearing his sweatshirt.
