Attending UTC this year was extremely powerful for me. I attended camp last year (2007) and grew a lot as a Christian and as an athlete. Going back for a second time brought many pleasant surprises.
One of the main reasons I went in the beginning was that we were trying to get a group of students to go from Brown to go to the camp. Because I had been to the camp before, I felt that I somewhat knew exactly what to expect, and that it might be more of a "spiritual tune-up" than a high-impact event. However, I was wrong :-).
The camp culminates in a 20-hour physical competition that forces you to rely on God for your strength and teaches you to worship God through playing your sport. When I attended the camp in 2007, this competition (called the SPECIAL) was a monumental event for me and completely changed the way I approached my senior season in football. This year, the outcome was much different.
As I started the SPECIAL this year, I came to the realization that I wasn't doing this to become a better athlete (for some reason it took me a long time to realize this). I had to really think about why I was pushing my body to its absolute limits during this competition.
I realized that the fact that I was not longer a competitive athlete enabled me to just focus on me and God. I know that the competition and camp are meant to focus on competing athletes, which is why it was such a surprise to me. That realization made the camp and the SPECIAL extremely powerful for me.
There was another VERY important factor that made this camp a powerful experience. I played football for 4 years at Brown. The season ended in November of 2007, and therefore my training did as well. When I went to UTC (6+ months later), I was in pretty lousy workout shape. That, combined with the high Colorado altitude, caused me to break physically VERY quickly. I had never been so broken down in my life.
We had 3-4 hours to sleep in the middle of the SPECIAL, and I spent it sitting up on a couch because my lungs hurt when I breathed lying down. I like to consider myself a tough guy, but I was seriously considering pulling myself out of the competition early in order to avoid actually hurting myself.
Deciding not to quite was a great decision. After sleeping, the next event was a 3.5 mile obstacle course. After completing that, I was totally exhausted. I walked away from the finish line, sat down against a fence, and started to pray (and consequently, I also started to cry like a baby). Two people on my SPECIAL team came and sat on both sides of me and prayed with/for me. That was probably my most memorable moment of the week. The fact that I was out of shape and that I was so broken made me completely rely on God during the SPECIAL. With his strength, I was able to go harder and longer in several events than I was able to go the previous year (despite being in great shape then).
The week gave me a fresh perspective during a key time in my life. The transition from college into the "real world" is somewhat frightening. We're taught (especially at a place like Brown) that we are powerful and that through our own strength we can accomplish whatever we want. My experience at UTC this year showed me just how helpless I can be without God, even in somethings I thought I was good at (sports).
I would absolutely recommend this to any athlete. Whether you're a hardcore varsity athlete, an intramural competitor, or just someone who works out to stay in shape, AIA's Ultimate Training Camp can change your relationship with God and better your life through sports.
Jimmy Tull (Brown '08)