Earlier this summer we flew out Adrenaline Athletes Peter Baum, Joe Walters and Ty Thompson for a photo shoot at Adrenaline Headquarters (San Diego, CA). We told them it would be a fun, easy couple of days exploring San Diego, eating authentic Mexican food, enjoying the weather and testing some of GoPro’s newest equipment. We also told them to bring their gear “just in case”. What we did not tell them was that we had an intense training session planned for them with our MMA psycho Training Director, Jesse Foss. Set on the pristine fields at the Del Mar Polo Grounds, the boys took the field in their custom gear we provided each of them. The set up consisted of goals, backstops, field boards, a few cameras, and a TON of lacrosse balls. We also had a few drones, or as they call them in the biz, quad copters, phantoms, etc.
Foss made it clear to the Athletes they were to train hard as if they were preparing for a game so we could evaluate them with the live stream via the Wi-Fi connection on the new GoPro’s, offer feedback and help them critique their own game. The players reluctantly agreed and headed to the field to sling a few balls around. Maybe it was the California burritos they had previously eaten or the beach being in close proximity, but the boys exerted an effort not quite fit for an Adrenaline Athlete. They were running through the motions despite their upcoming MLL games the following weekend and had the “photo-shoot” mindset, not the “training, All Fight No Flight” mindset we’ve grown to expect from them. Foss doesn’t do well with less than 110% effort so he quickly asked one of the quad copter pilots to “buzz the tower” so to speak to try to get their attention. What ensued was incredible, hilarious and certainly unexpected. Each of the drone pilots got in on the action and starting attacking the players. Next thing you know the guys were moving the ball quickly, dodging the drones and moving at a speed that was more indicative of their athletic ability. After about 10 minutes of this Peter, Joe and Ty started to get annoyed…ok, they were pissed
FOREWARNING: Don’t try this at home.
The trio took matters into their own hands and rallied together to take the drones out. The Athletes took the offensive and “accidentally”, as they described it, sailed balls over the goal right at the flying pests. Ty was the first to knock one out of the sky, then Joe nicked one with a glancing blow but it steadied. Baum finished off the ‘copter as he crushed the center of his target sending the drone spinning out of control and violently crashing into the ground a hundred yards off. Athletes 1, Drones 0. The camera guys were pissed but in Jesse’s eyes it was a training mission complete. Check the full video here:
Knocking a drone out of the sky seems extremely appealing doesn’t it? Our Athletes may have taken out a killer drone that day, but there’s more… and they’re coming to a field near you. Be on the lookout for the Adrenadrone for a chance to shoot it out of the sky. If you’re skilled enough to send it to the ground, you could win $250 to adrln.com! #DownTheDrone
Thank you to everyone who made this experience possible:
GoPro
Adrenaline Creative Crew
Nick Cade
Tim Ryan
Matt Lawless
DJ Joo
Alex McCracken