The Clarke Central High School Raider team competes at the Raider competition at Jackson County High School on Sept. 21, 2019. According to JROTC Instructor and Raider coach First Sergeant Antione Clark, the teamwork and leadership aspects of Raider competitions are integral. “(Raider competitions are) going to test leadership. Each team has a team captain and that team captain, in practice, (has) to strategize how they’re going to beat other teams, in that particular event (while) doing it safely, and how fast they can do it, because that’s what they’re scored on,” Clark said. Photo courtesy of Jada Barksdale
The CCHS JROTC program will host their first Raider competition on Sept. 25 at 8:30 a.m. The JROTC instructors and cadets are excited to have the opportunity to showcase their Raider teams.
Following the addition of the JROTC’s obstacle course at Clarke Central High School, the JROTC program is ready to host their first Raider competition on Sept. 25 at 8:30 a.m., and hopes that students and staff will attend.
At Raider competitions, CCHS’s male and female Raider teams, each with 12 JROTC cadets, test their teamwork and high-level fitness through five physical activities including an obstacle course, agility course and a team run.
“The Raider team is very physically demanding. They do a lot of obstacle courses, and have to really focus on teamwork, which is one of the big things in any ROTC program,” Battalion Commander Zaili Gantt, a senior, said. “Raiders gives you a taste of what it’s like to be on a team (and) gives you more of what it’s like to be in (the) army.”
According to JROTC Instructor and Raider coach First Sergeant Antione Clark, part of what makes being on Raiders such a unique experience is the supportive dynamic between Raider teams, even while competing against each other.
“Unlike other athletic sports where you have the competitiveness of this school versus that school, Raiders is actually the opposite,” Clark said. “You could actually have a rival school cheering on your school because Raider cadets know how difficult it is to compete, and they motivate each other no matter what school they’re from.”
“It would be a good educational experience for those people who aren’t in ROTC, and it would just feel really special to know that those people really do care about everything that’s going on in the school and not just what’s going on (in) the school building.”
— Zaili Gantt,
Battalion Commander and senior
Gantt believes that having CCHS community members attend the competition would bridge the gap between the JROTC and the rest of the school.
“(Having people attend the competition) would feel really special. It would just show that people care. Since the ROTC building isn’t even attached to the school, a lot of people don’t really know where ROTC is, and they just think it’s an army class,” Gantt said. “It would be a good educational experience for those people who aren’t in ROTC, and it would just feel really special to know that those people really do care about everything that’s going on in the school and not just what’s going on (in) the school building.”
