Hawks Reaction Drill
September 23, 2022
At the end of a Hawks football game, the crowd is left in shock, and it’s not just because of how the team has been playing lately.
After they shake hands with the opposing team, you watch in confusion as every player silently makes five single file lines, facing local fans in the stands. A startling whistleblow marks the beginning of a perfectly in-sync and unique drill.
The Lakeland High School football team has started a new tradition. After the game, they perform what is called “The Reaction Drill.”
Every varsity player participates in eight sets of the drill with three perfectly in-sync movements per set.
New head coach Mike Schroeder brought the idea of the reaction drill to Corbit Field, where the team practiced it. They showed it off for the first time against Preston High School following their first victory of the season.
The reaction drill itself spans back to the 1980s.
Schroeder said the idea for a reaction drill started when he was in high school in Southern California. The junior college he later attended simulated some form of a drill as well. He didn’t remove anything from the drill; he only added three components.
He has been a head coach for 20 years and used the drill all 20.
Schroeder sees it as a way to show his team is disciplined and able to work as a team.
Most of the players had only positive things to say when questioned about the new tradition. It took a while for the players to get all of the steps down, but now, they embrace the challenge.
The players practiced it at least once a day until it was perfected.
Sophomore Ezra Benson said, “I enjoy the drill. It displays discipline, shows that we can do something together as a team and all be coordinated with one another.”
Lakeland’s right guard Carter Vanek had a similar take on the drill. “I enjoy it. I think it’s intimidating.”
When asked if the steps are hard to remember, Vanek replied, “Not when you’ve done it so many times that if you get it wrong, you have to run.”
No other school surrounding LHS has a drill like Schroeder’s, which sets our school apart from our competitors even more.
