Beginning February 2, 2000, the Sports Center at Chelsea Piers will introduce Ranger School, an 8-week intensive training camp designed to simulate the training drills and exercises done by the elite US Army Ranger Battalions. The class will meet every Wednesday morning at 6 AM and will concentrate on the core activities performed by the Rangers: running, swimming, climbing, rappelling, shooting, orienteering, and hand-to-hand combat.

How, you might be wondering, can something like this be offered indoors? The facilities at the Sports Center-from the swimming pool to the sand volleyball pit to the Hudson River just outside-provide ideal settings for different Ranger-training scenarios.

In the box are some examples of how the different Ranger-training exercises will be simulated during the Sports Center's Ranger School. In the Ranger tradition, all skills and drills will be done in teams of two. Future sessions of Ranger School may include kayaking, canoeing and off-site expeditions.

Sports Center personal trainers Tierney Vaughan and Gail Mayer will team up with professional boxing coach Steve Small to captain the country's first gym-based Ranger School. Small explains, "With a pool, rock wall, sand pit, and a little imagination you can simulate much of what happens in the Rangers."

The workouts will be long and grueling. But, luckily, the steam room, sauna, and a protein shake await the completion of each day's hard-fought activities, rather than a dreary mess hall at Fort Benning, Georgia.