A Week in Hell

The football coach at Notre Dame High School politely calls it “camp week.”

A camp where 53 boys spend six sweltering days under the summer’s hottest sun, twice a day pushing the limits of their physical ability.

By the time this camp is over, there will be few boys left in the Notre Dame football program.

Only men.

Welcome to Hell Week.

From dawn until long after dark they will toil for their chance to join the starting lineup, and perhaps become champions. By the end of the week, they will not only have strengthened their bodies but their bonds as teammates.

From Monday morning until late Saturday, the traditional preseason Hell Week is filled with meetings, drills, weightlifting and twice-a-day practices. During the final three days of the week, players live, eat and sleep football, remaining on the campus night and day until the final dinner on Saturday.

The players sleep in the school gym, where they pass out from 11 p.m. lights-out to their 6:30 a.m. wake-up call.

Head coach Kevin Rooney said the grueling schedule is intended to teach some fundamentals.

“We’re out here to get best prepared for our first game. . .and to help players become better people,” Rooney said.

Most of the boys are only worried about making it to the end of practice Saturday.

“I hate the running. . .and the sled,” said Ailoli Malietulua, referring to the heavy padded sled that he and his fellow offensive linemen push across the field as a matter of ritual.

“But I love the hitting,” he added.

He wasn’t the only player to find something to like about Hell Week.

Despite the apparent torture, senior defensive tackle Joe Aragno, now a Hell Week veteran, had been looking forward to football all summer. While temporarily sidelined with a neck spasm, Aragno watched his teammates on the practice field, eager to return to the action.

“This year it’s fun,” he said.