On Jan. 4, greater than a dozen celebrities will likely be seen arriving within the desert to endure among the harshest and most grueling challenges from the playbook of the particular Special Forces choice course of within the present “Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test.” One such family title will likely be Mike Piazza.
In this new Fox sequence, there are not any votes and no eliminations—simply survival for these 16 contestants—together with Danny Amendola, Mel B, Hannah Brown, Tyler Florence, Kate Gosselin, Dwight Howard, Montell Jordan, Gus Kenworthy, Nastia Liukin, Carli Lloyd, Beverley Mitchell, Kenya Moore, Dr Drew Pinsky, Anthony Scaramucci, and Jamie Lynn Spears. They joined baseball nice Mike Piazza—aka “The Supreme”—as they shortly discovered the that means of “No Guts, No Glory,” tackling intense coaching workouts which might be led by an elite crew of unforgiving ex-special forces operatives.
M&F sat down with Mike Piazza to be taught extra concerning the baseball icon’s household ties to the army, and the way a profession in a crew sport could have labored in his favor.
Mike Piazza’s father, Vince, was a army veteran who was drafted for the Korean warfare however suffered an ankle damage earlier than he was resulting from ship out. Had that not occurred, the baseball Hall of Famer could by no means have been born, as a result of the overwhelming majority of his father’s crew have been hit arduous within the battle of the Chosin Reservoir. When Vince’s contaminated ankle recovered, he was reassigned to frame patrol in West Germany. Fortunately, he made it residence and whereas he was devastated that lots of his buddies have been misplaced to warfare, he was blessedly capable of go on and lift 5 sons. “He talks a lot about the guys he knew, that didn’t come back,” says Mike Piazza, who spent 16 seasons within the majors, most notably with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Mets. “So, that kind of inspired me a little bit. And, consequently, in my own personal life, I just feel like there’s so many military people who really sacrificed for the freedom, and the opportunity for us to have a good life that I kind of feel a little guilty, you know? And, hopefully, this is my own little way of paying tribute to them.”
Courtesy of Fox
Mike Piazza says that Nothing Can Prepare You for the Special Forces
While Mike Piazza is participating in a tv present, relatively than truly becoming a member of the army, describing his tribute as “little” nonetheless could also be thought of considerably of an understatement. The solely manner for Piazza to go away the present is to personal the embarrassment of quitting, by failing himself or his crew, by damage, or by power from the DS. Special Forces. “World’s Toughest Test” is the final word analysis of the solid’s bodily, psychological, and emotional resilience, and the motion begins earlier than they even arrive at base. So how quickly into this ordeal did Piazza start to query his judgment for signing as much as such a brutal present? “Ha, I think the first day,” he laughs. “Don’t get me wrong, I did some research on the show and I knew it wasn’t going to be a picnic, I knew it wasn’t going to be all craft services and smoothies, but you don’t really understand until you go through it. I was a professional athlete, I trained hard at my craft and I consider myself somewhat physically fit. Even later in my life, I still like to work out, but nothing can prepare you for this.”
At age 53, Piazza proved that he nonetheless has loads of battle left within the recreation. But after all, making a house run is a very completely different expertise to working on the uneven floor of a sandy desert. “After the first few days, I was banged up pretty good,” he shares. “Just from playing baseball, my joints were [already] a little sore. It’s the intensity. That, for me, was the biggest eye-opener. Just general things like athletes’ foot. Wearing the boots and not being able to shower. The living conditions were so brutal. By the second day, I was peeling skin of my feet. Man, I thought I left this behind 10 years ago!”
Courtesy of Fox Entertainment
Teamwork Makes the Dream Work for Mike Piazza
Fortunately, it wasn’t simply Piazza’s background with being bodily that helped him on the present, as his experiences in a crew atmosphere additionally proved to help him mentally as effectively. “The interesting dichotomy was; the athletes on the show, the ones who were individual athletes and the ones who were team athletes,” says Piazza. “We saw right away, like with Gus Kenworthy, who as a skier, he’s an individual athlete, or Nastia Liukin, who was a gymnast, and you could tell that individual athletes are different from people who are on a team because when you are on a team, you have to depend on each other, you have to lean on each other, you have to embrace each other’s strengths and weaknesses and so I obviously gelled with Dwight Howard and Danny Amendola, guys that were team athletes. We hit it off right away, whereas on the show with me and Gus, there was a little conflict there. I think he didn’t quite get me, and I didn’t get him, and so that’s the interesting part. And then, to see the evolution of everyone coming together as a team, was really compelling. We really became close. We all text now and we have a group chat. Once you go through some kind of traumatic experience like this, and you help each other, and depend on each other, our pride level and our egos were completely destroyed. It was really interesting to see all those walls come down.”
Piazza was additionally ready, because of each his upbringing and his participation in baseball, to take directions from leaders. “I had this respect for authority, right away, but some people didn’t,” he laughs. While Piazza’s sporting expertise was definitely a bonus, the hitting catcher regularly discovered himself out of his consolation zone on Special Forces: World’s Toughest Test. “A lot of the tasks were terrifying,” says Piazza. “When we were traversing across the cables, over the crevasse, like 300-feet-down, of course we had safety gear on that exercise, but then just hiking up there, and realizing that if you fall, you’re dead. It’s called the weasel walk, where we are walking and the rock is right in front of you, so we were walking more at kind of a 45-degree angle, with no safety gear. That was terrifying for me.”
So, how did Piazza proper himself each time he began to really feel like he was dropping his grip, mentally talking? “I went back to that inner peace, and praying, and meditating,” says Piazza. “I don’t see how you can get through something like this without internalizing and calming yourself down, and putting it into perspective, and trying to re-focus.” While some individuals are frightened of heights, or being submerged in water, Piazza’s greatest worry was the thought of failing for himself, and for his crew. Without giving out any spoilers, it’s honest to say that there have been instances when the Dodgers and Mets legend would come to depend on this new crew to assist him dig deep. “Firstly, this has made me appreciate life,” displays Piazza. “Secondly, it’s given me more patience. I think, as an athlete that has achieved a high level, it’s easy for us to be critical of people and expect them to do what you were able to do and as a player who achieved some things. I look at other players now or the kids that I coach and I’m more patient. I’m more understanding, that everyone has their limitations. Try to put people in a position to succeed, not a position to fail.”
