The student body typically sees the football team in helmets, under stadium lights, ready and eager to fight for victory on the field. However, the varsity team held a pre-season retreat at Augustana College in Rock Island, IL, that focused on players’ camaraderie off the field, David Schoenwetter, Varsity Football Coach, said.

While the retreat is not new, having begun in 2004 when Schoenwetter was an assistant varsity coach, its purpose remains a vital component of the team’s season, Schoenwetter said. The retreat tradition was established by Mike Knowell, former Varsity Football Head Coach.

“I realized that what [Knowell] was doing for the team fit with my ideology of what sports should really be about, [which is] a transformational experience” Schoenwetter said.

Four days of sweaty practices, watching film, and dissecting books characterized the retreat, Schoenwetter said. Players spend every moment dedicated to improving the team, leaving them to focus solely on the each other, senior wide receiver Parker Ward said. The retreat creates connections between players who are confined to a small space with only each other to lean on, Ward said.

“A big part of why our team chemistry is so successful at the retreat is because it’s really just you and the football guys,” Ward said. “You don’t have a choice. You’ll naturally become closer with everybody [on the team].”

Activities dedicated to team bonding were woven throughout the retreat, senior cornerback Aiden Sims said. The team started their day eating breakfast next to players they didn’t usually interact with, and ended the day with card games and a movie, Sims explained.

The most notable part of the retreat is its focus on leadership literature. This year’s book, Legacy by James Kerr, is a heartwarming and intense story about the New Zealand All Blacks rugby team, Schoenwetter said. Every year before the retreat, players are required to read the book with lessons that manifest during the team’s season, Schoenwetter explained. Daily book sessions held by Schoenwetter are conducted to teach the team about leadership and sacrifice.

“[Legacy] talks about how this experience on the football team is designed to be far more important than what your season record is,” Schoenwetter said. “It’s about a transformational experience, where kids learn things that they can carry forward in their life.”

Through these lessons, Schoenwetter attempts to drill a core value into players’ heads: team over me, Ward explained. If an athlete displayed acts of selflessness on and off the football field, it would create a butterfly effect amongst the rest of the team, Ward said.

“Team over me is about putting everything the team does before yourself,” Ward said. “[Football is] not about showboating or taking [shortcuts], it’s doing everything to make yourself better, along with making the team better.”

Though team chemistry was evident, there was still a divide between the grade levels on the team. Schoenwetter implemented team-bonding drills to create a unified team. Class and skill level did not matter when it came down to what was best for the team: equality, Sims said.

“Everyone is equal and everyone has the voice to be a leader,” Sims said. “It’s not the job of the older players to beat the younger players, but to form them into people who can lead. I wanted to assure [the younger players] that it’s not just [upperclassmen] holding them accountable, they can hold us accountable too.”

Whether it was during book sessions or field practices, Schoenwetter stressed the significance of taking accountability and stepping up as a leader, Sims said. Schoenwetter’s primary goal for the retreat was to make his players believe that it was their relationships with each other that will make the team a success. If the team believes that, they will max out their potential and create a legacy that stretches across generations of South football players, Schoenwetter said.

“We tell the [players] that if you want to leave [the team] better than you found it, you have to build not just for a great team this year, but for a better team [next year],” Schoenwetter said.