Essendon ruckman Tom Bellchambers believes the club’s high altitude camp to Boulder, powered by Antler, has been beneficial in bringing the senior group of players closer together.
As the team nears the end of an intense two-week training camp Bellchambers said the bond amongst the group had strengthened.
“It has been good to get the senior group together and go through a few tougher exercises like the sleds and a couple of hikes we have been on,” he said.
“You probably don’t get as much of the camaraderie in Melbourne but to come over here, be in a foreign environment, the boys have held up really well and stuck together as a team.”
“The camp has been really good for me to work on my fitness and I know it has for a lot of the other guys as well.”
The group took part in a 20km hike up the Switzerland trail, one of the more testing sessions on the trip.
Bellchambers said the second half of the hike involving an uphill climb was the toughest.
“The conditions weren’t too bad but the wind was probably the main thing with winds of around 80-90km’s an hour,” he said.
“I am one of the bigger fellas and I was struggling to keep my feeet at times.”
“There is a few thick spots where the snow hasn’t cleared up properly yet and the feet dig in which makes it a bit harder to get them up and going.”
“There wasn’t a lot happening on the hike it was pretty much three hours of just putting the head down and walking.”
Assistant coach Simon Goodwin said he was impressed with the player’s ability to confront the challenging hike front on.
“It was designed to be a mentally challenging exercise and that it was, it was a touch on four hours, 20kms and there wasn’t much to see or do,” Goodwin said.
“There weren’t many activities and it was designed that way to really test them out mentally.”
“It was good to see how they coped in a foreign environment that was cold, uncomfortable and long.”
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