PLATTEVILLE,Wis. — For the first time ever, the UW-Badgers took their training camp outside of Madison to the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
From Aug. 2-7, the Badgers will be in Platteville for the first week of training camp.
The UW-Platteville campus previously hosted the Chicago Bears training camp for 18 years from 1984 to 2001.
Dr. Kristina Navarro is the assistant chancellor at UW-Platteville and she used to attend Bears training camp when she was a child.
“We would eat at the country kitchen in town and then we would go camping at Blue Mountain State Park and then we would watch the Bears practice,” said Navarro.
She went from visiting UW-Platteville to working on the campus.
“As a kid, this school was not on my radar as a place I wanted to go to school,” said Navarro. “That goes to show that we are a hidden secret within the state of Wisconsin and the region.”
With the Bears holding their training camps at the college, and now the Wisconsin Badgers, Navarro said the secret about their facilities is out.
“This brings great visibility to our campus for individuals to want to come here and it is great for our recruitment efforts,” said Navarro.
During a press conference on Tuesday, Coach Luke Fickell said leaving Madison for training camp is not about giving the team a break from each other, in fact it's the complete opposite.
“It gives you a better grasp of even getting to know them and spending more time with them, you know there aren't those limitations as far as hours when you are in camp,” said Fickell.
Coach Fickell believes a big part of having a football team that can win championships is teamwork and one of the best ways to get the team to bond is taking them out of their comfort zones.
“You will sit in the meal room or the snack room at night and talk with your guys and hang with your guys, and I think there's a lot more opportunities for us to get to know each other,” said Fickell.
Navarro is happy her school could play a part in the Badgers' growth and she said the Pioneer football team is excited to have them.
”It is super exciting and it works out well where Division 3 starts a week later than Division 1 and so we start the day after they go home and I think there is a lot of buzz around campus, a lot of excitement,” said Navarro.
