As they made their way through the darkness onto the Meade Stadium playing surface, the Rhode Island women’s basketball team waited anxiously for what was in store.

It was a Tuesday morning in September, and the Rams were up before the sun. They had no idea what was about to take place, but the uniformed military personnel waiting for them provided the first clue. It was a full-day, military-style workout orchestrated by the Providence Marine Recruiting branch, which has teamed up with the Women’s Basketball Coach’s Association (WBCA) to reach out to female college athletes with the hopes of inspiring them to join after graduation.

Rhode Island Director of Basketball Operations Danielle Parks coordinated the exercise. “There were a couple of hopeful gains,” she said. “First, we wanted to instill discipline within our players. We also wanted them to step outside of their comfort zones and become better teammates and players.”

The challenge combined physically demanding exercises and running with an obstacle course that required teamwork and problem solving to complete, including two teammates carrying a third. Senior co-captain Megan Straumann reports that it was definitely not business as usual: “This practice challenged us in different ways than we were used to. We had to figure out a way to be successful while doing something new. A couple of things we did required the effort of every single person, and if one person was left behind, we were all affected. I think that’s the best thing any of us could have possibly gotten out of it—togetherness.”

The women’s basketball team is under the guidance of first-year head coach Daynia La-Force, who is helping to push the change in culture. The team has adopted a new slogan for this season: “Winning Minds.”

“It’s handling your business, on the court and off, like a woman—and being the best at whatever you are doing,” Parks explained.

Junior co-captain Brianna Thomas added that the new slogan “is on the back of our practice shirts. In any moment of weakness at practice, if you feel like giving in, you look at the person in front of you and see ‘Winning Minds’ and you don’t stop.”

—Caitlin Kennedy