WARRINGTON Wolves First Team squad swapped their rugby kits for firefighter uniforms in a recent teambuilding exercise.
The players visited the Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service to take part in a range of activities run by the staff at the station including training drills and fire rescue scenarios.
Head of Coaching and Rugby Tony Smith said: “It was a great exercise, there are a lot of parallels with what we do, with decision making under pressure, although our guys don’t face life or death situation although it may seem that way for some of our fans sometimes. These guys are making crucial decisions under pressure all the time and we thought that there would be some things we could learn from the fire centre and were grateful for the opportunity.
“It’s an alternative way of training as well, there are some physical aspects to it but it was mainly for the change of venue and change of environment in different situations, you get to see people react under pressure and look for leadership and followers as well. The guys had a great time putting the uniforms on, like big kids, every young boy wanted to be a fireman when he was little at some stage, our lads got to do that for a day at least.”
Tony McGurik, Chief Fire Officer and Chief Executive, said: “The experiences were around the role of a firefighter mainly learning about teamwork, focus, attention to detail and developing understanding of how different parts of a team come together to achieve a goal. We tried to use some of the elements of being a firefighter to bring the whole concept together. Clearly they are used to working in a team but we aimed to get them to think of it in a different concept, taking them out of their usual environment and really make them focus on working as a team in an area they are not necessarily comfortable with. It gives them something different to do but still emphasising the importance of teamwork.”
Richie Mather walked out all kitted up from a smoke filled building and said: “It was pretty scary. You couldn’t see in front of you and you had to trust each other to guide you round. All credit to the fire service they do a great job. It was great for team building. I’ve never done anything like that before. All the boys enjoyed it.
“It was good to get out of our normal training environment as it’s important that we get together as a team and challenge ourselves.”
Pictures show top (L-R) Richie Mathers, Chris Hicks and Ryan Atkins with (right) Ben Westwood and Paul Wood during the fire training day.
