ATHLETICS

THE PROCESS

Often, the hardest thing in the world for a young person to be is themselves. Their family tells them who they are, their friends tell them, society tells them, laws and customs tell them. But what do they say? How do they get to that place of self-knowledge and conviction where they are able to state without doubt, fear or anger: “This is who I am, this is what I believe, this is how I intend to live my life”.

In this task, their best tool is the Warrior Ethos. Directed inward, the Warrior Ethos grounds them, fortifies them and focuses their resolve. As athletes, they have been taught discipline. As competitive young men & women, they have been motivated, commanded and validated by others. DETACHMENT-1 Athlete Operator Training helps athletes teach themselves self-discipline.

The DETACHMENT-1 Athlete Operator Training Course provides athletes with opportunities, education & training to school themselves in self-motivation, self-command and self-validation. To help athletes develop, understand and utilize their Warrior Ethos to answer the simple questions of: “Who am I?” and “How am I making my team better?”

THE MODEL

Our execution strategy incorporates proven methodologies, extremely qualified personnel, and a highly responsive approach to managing deliverables. We provide the student-athlete and their teams with systematic research- and outcomes-based education and training shown to develop and increase individual and team resilience, hardiness and mental toughness to perform at the elite level under any circumstance. We’ve been working within the the Special Operations community for over two decades and have developed several models that make up the theoretical framework on which all our programs are built. Now we are here to help you build your Team of Warriors.

ATHLETE OPERATOR TRAINING COURSE

The Detachment-1 Athlete Operator Training Course provides your team with individualized sport and performance psychology consulting services designed to ensure participants have a clear understanding of adaptability and mental toughness, how it applies to them and how it effects their performance on and off the field. Our outcomes-based training and education modules equip players, coaches, and leaders with processes to structure their organization’s day to day operations to provide ongoing opportunities for developing individual and team mental toughness, adaptability and invaluable life skills to dominate the competition both on and off the field.

90-MINUTE ASSESSMENT & SELECTION

During our free 90-Minute Assessment and Selection Meeting, we’ll both have an opportunity to get to know each other’s organization. Our team of former Special Operation Warriors will visit your site and present you with a detailed overview of our process, conduct a thorough and structured needs assessment interview, and answer any questions or concerns that you may have. In addition, during this no obligation 90-minute conversation, our trainers will equip you with some tactics, techniques and procedures that will empower your leadership team and set the course for building your Team of Warriors.

Whether we select your organization for the Athlete Operator Training Course or you intend to hire Detachment-1, fill out the form requesting your no obligation meeting and we’ll get back to you by the very next business day to schedule your 90-Minute Assessment and Selection Meeting. There’s no commitment, we love doing it, and it’s free!

DETACHMENT-1 INDOC

DET-1 INDOC is a customized, two-day intensive program that pushes athletes outside of their mental and physical comfort zones and trains them to achieve success through improved leadership and coordinated team effort.The DET-1 INDOC IS NOT a “fear-based” boot camp style program. Each of the DET-1 Cadre have been through various boot camps and recognize their value for developing entry level military recruits, however, we do not feel they are the appropriate model to guide elite athletes to that place of self-knowledge and conviction where they are able to state without doubt, fear or anger: “This is who I am, this is what I believe, this is how I intend to live my life”.

We designed the DET-1 INDOC program to introduce & reinforce the culture directly responsible for the unparalleled success of our Nation’s Tier-1 Special Operations Units: “You don’t have to be willing to die for each other, but we will die with each other”. This means that each person must be willing to work, not only for themselves, but for the person next to them as well as for their coaches.They have got to be willing to push. When it feels gross. And they are tired. And it hurts. And they want to quit. They can’t. Because not only would they be letting themselves down, they would would also be letting down that person next to them. They are setting the example for their teammates. Whether they know it or not. Whether they are intending to or not. They are leading by example anytime anybody is looking at them. If they see them quit, why should they keep going? If they give up on themselves, and they are the one setting the example, why shouldn’t their teammates give up on themselves

DAY 1 Focuses on challenging the athlete’s tendency to rely on individuality and talent. We push each athlete to the limits of his/her capabilities to ingrain a deep understanding that at the elite level, talent alone is not enough. To successfully complete the program, each athlete must demonstrate coachability, adapt to new situations, perform under pressure, and have the will to push their bodies past any perceived thresholds they may have created in their minds.

DAY 2 We present athletes with a new set of challenges and given objectives that can only be accomplished through the exercise of peer leadership and coordinated team effort. Through these exercises, the athletes are trained to both lead and follow, and will develop an understanding that in an environment that requires intensity to execute and to reach a higher level of performance, each individual needs to be willing to work, not only for themselves, but for the person next to them. In doing so, they will learn that everyone is going to do better if they are willing to go that extra inch for each other and push for one more rep when they can just as easily quit.

Upon completion of Day 2, DET-1 Cadre will utilize After Action Reviews (AAR) to introduce and elaborate on background fundamentals and changes to the training environment to emphasize an “understanding of the why.”

One more thing, don’t forget that the DET-1 Cadre is also a Team of Warriors who share a similar passion for building themselves and others into elite warriors. We continue to increase our knowledge and expertise in these areas by interacting with the Special Operations Community on an ongoing basis. We will adapt the DET-1 INDOC to accommodate any special requirements so that absolutely every member of your organization can participate.

FORGING YOUR CULTURE

We often find that organizations are comprised of multiple cliques or “tribes” comfortably nested in their own silos. Often these “tribes” each have their own culture, norms, language, and standard operating procedures (SOPs). A strong reason for change in one part of the organization might be an asset in another. The Detachment-1 Athlete Operator Training Course will empower your leadership team to demolish the silos that often stifle innovation to build teams that stop focusing on “protecting what is” to embracing “what could be”.

Our training is designed to take your elite organization to the Tier-1 level by addressing three elements necessary to dominate every aspect of your operating environment. First, we help you to laser focus the mission of your organization and develop the will to hold yourself and each other accountable to its success. Second, we facilitate an ongoing mutual engagement focused on creating norms and relationships that strengthen the community and culture of your organization. Lastly, we help ensure your company utilizes shared language, tools, stories, SOPs and processes that enable individuals to know how to navigate them appropriately.

CREED

BUILDING THE WARRIOR

Our trainers have been members of the most elite military organizations in the world. Now they bring that experience to help your organization thrive. Our extensive experience selecting and training elite Special Operations Warfighters has equipped us with deep category experience in several domains, including: leadership development, selection of new members, assessment of existing members, strategic planning, messaging, training and decision-making processes. Our unique outcomes-based training model addresses all learning styles and virtually assures your team is equipped with the tactics, techniques & procedures to dominate the competition. Click on the title of each training module to learn more.

Coach The Coaches

Leader development is a deliberate, continuous, and progressive process and is accomplished through the career‐long synthesis of the operational, institutional and self‐development domains. No matter the size of your organization, as a coach, you operate in a volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous world. You need to surround yourself with coaches, support staff and players that are capable, accountable, bold and innovative. They must understand and embrace your intent and vision. You need to prioritize and process a seemingly endless stream of data and information to make decision after decision that each may lead to victory or defeat on the field. The tactics, techniques and procedures we offer in our coaching programs have been developed from our experience directing the leadership training programs for Tier-1 Special Mission Units.

Team Leadership

The Ground Force Commander (GFC) is the individual in charge of the planning and execution of all phases of the specific mission. The GFC leads “the boots on the ground”. On an athletic team, these are your captains or the leadership council. Over the course of their careers, Detachment-1 trainers have identified the characteristics of effective GFC decision making and best practices for pre-mission preparation and execution. Our process enhances team-level decision making under conditions of uncertainty to better prepare team leaders for current and future competitive environments. Detachment-1 helps seamlessly incorporate these tactics and techniques into the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) of your team.

Warrior Mindset

We develop your team’s culture into systems for the unrestricted use or speed, strength, surprise and aggression to achieve total dominance over your competition. Once you are aware of how these systems work, you can use that knowledge to develop and shape training in a way that works within these parameters. The only way to purposefully develop the ability to execute a chosen skill to a level of automaticity that reduces or eliminates the need for conscious thought is through directed and purposeful repetitive practice. When a specific action, technique or movement is intentionally repeated, new neural pathways are established and/or strengthened. Eventually, after a long time and a lot of purposeful repetitions, only the parts of the brain and body that are absolutely essential for performing this task are involved and there is often no need for perception to reach the conscious brain and therefore remain outside our awareness. This is often referred to as “muscle memory”. In order to reliably perform anything under stress, we need to train each and every skill to become as close to “automatic” as possible. As famous firearms instructor Jeff Cooper was famous for saying: “You never rise to the occasion, you sink to your training” and our goal at Detachment-1 is to make it a very short fall.

Confident & Effective Thinking

One of the foundational struggles in physical warfare, is to shape the environment such that the battle will be fought on terms that are to your advantage. Likewise, a key component of an athlete’s mindset narrative is to succeed in establishing the reasons for, and potential outcomes for their actions on terms favorable to their efforts. The continuous, rapid communications flow in the information environment, facilitated by modern technological advances and social media saturation, requires responsive, agile processes and capabilities to preserve and enhance the athlete’s confidence. Further and more specifically, effective strategic self-talk requires synchronization of crucial themes, messages, images, and actions. We help athletes create an enduring strategic mental narrative with context, motive, and end state. This ensures consistent and confident thought over time and enables them to win the battle of the mind.

Attention Control, Routines & Re-Focus

We have found that there is often a misconception of how elite Tier 1 Units operate. Hollywood often portrays these warriors as Jedi Masters or Ninjas capable of complex and superhuman tasks. The reality is that these men have mastered the basics to such an incredibly high level, they can consistently execute those skills in the most complex and chaotic environments imaginable. Our experience operating and training those who perform at the tip of the spear has taught us that at the elite level, the ability to direct and maintain focus and attention is absolutely crucial to success. In fact, it is one of the main characteristics used to assess and select the members of our Nation’s elite Special Mission Units. They must be able to quickly identify what is the most important factor that will give the most relevant information in the shortest amount of time in order to be successful…and then shift seamlessly to the next, and then again after that. At Detachment-1, we call this ability DIRECTED MENTAL FORCE, or the willful focusing of attention. This is not only a psychological intervention, but a biological one. Through changes in the way we focus attention, we have the capacity to make a choice about what mental direction we will take. More than that, we also change, in scientifically demonstrable ways, the systematic functioning of neural circuitry. There is more to the process than just shifting our attention, however. Practice must be Purposeful and Directed. In fact, when stimuli identical to those that induce plastic changes in an attending brain are instead delivered to a nonattending brain, there is no induction of cortical plasticity. In other words, ATTENTION MUST BE PAID, and we equip our athletes with the tactics, techniques and procedures to foot the bill.

Arousal Control & Stress Managment

The organization and structure of command and control within your organization determines how you operate. Many companies use buzz words like agility and flexibility, yet retain a traditional hierarchy that limits these same attributes. Special Operations Units are comprised of small, highly competent teams with decentralized decision-making authority that allows them to be flexible across a diverse mission spectrum. These versatile and innovative teams are task-organized and deploy quickly to operate in austere, harsh environments without extensive support and are a proven unconventional option for addressing ambiguous situations. Decentralized command gives these teams the freedom to experiment, assess local situations and report rapidly across the entire organization. Their combined autonomy, agility and transparent communication provides a valuable blueprint for leadership across any industry or domain. Our trainers leverage their vast experience building and operating in small units to help your organization become faster, flatter and more flexible in today’s pace of change, free-flow of information, and the disruptive spirit of the digital generation to harnesses these new realities as assets.

After action & in-progress reviews

We have found that the In-Progress Review (IPR) and After Action Report (AAR) portions of the Athlete Operator Training Course are often the most valuable vehicle for real and meaningful cultural shifts within our client teams. By scheduling regular IPRs & AARs throughout the season, we consistently build off the entire AOTC program from INDOC, the Team Creed and individual and team meetings.

Our IPRs are take your elite organization to the Tier-1 level by addressing three elements. First, we refocus attention on the mission and actions of your team to help hold themselves and each other accountable to its success. Second, we facilitate and model ongoing mutual engagement focused on honest self-assessment, conflict resolution and cementing the norms and relationships that strengthen the community and culture of your team. Lastly, we evaluate, adapt and introduce shared language, tools, stories, SOPs and processes that enable individuals to know how to navigate those “new” cultural norms & expectations appropriately.

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