AMHERST — Hidden from view behind Amherst’s Souhegan High School, amidst the trees beyond the baseball field, is a ropes course with 14 stations certain to test any athlete’s mental makeup.

Several all-stars on the state’s 2012 Shrine Maple Sugar Bowl football team climbed out of their comfort zones Monday morning.

“This is problem-solving. This is relying on each other to keep each other safe,” said Souhegan grid coach and wellness teacher Mike Beliveau, who leads New Hampshire’s 36-player Shrine team in the Aug. 4 all-star game at Dartmouth College’s Memorial Field. “All shapes and sizes of players (are) here. I thought this would be perfect.”

Training camp for the 59th annual game versus Vermont starts July 26 when the team reports to Meriden’s Kimball Union Academy. Beliveau didn’t want his players and assistants to wait weeks for their first chance at building camaraderie — and trust.

Souhegan’s ropes course, used for the outdoor education curriculum since the school opened in 1992, helped Beliveau accomplish those goals.

“We’re all supposed to be these tough football players,” said 5-foot 11-inch, 195-pound Jordan Garron, a UNH recruit and former Bedford standout. “But once you’re up in a tree …” Such sentiment was echoed throughout Beliveau’s two-hour team-building exercise.

None of the players expressed an outright fear of heights. But, if only for a moment, a sense of unease was often shared by the 16 players and multiple assistants who visited the course.

It’s understandable, too.

The station closest to the ground was 20 feet in the air. The station with the greatest distance between rope and dirt floor was 45 feet. The ropes, firmly connected to massive trees, were three-eighths of an inch wide.

“There’s a high level of perceived risk. But it’s the professional’s job to minimize the risk through the use of safety equipment (like mandatory harnesses and helmets) and techniques,” said John Dowd, a certified climbing instructor and Souhegan’s outdoor education teacher since the school’s inception.

Before climbing, participants learned the skill of belaying. It is a rope-holding technique used by the climber’s partner, who helps protect against a fall to the ground.

Nonetheless, Dowd said climbing still targets a basic human fear: Falling.

Relying on teamwork and constant encouragement, Dowd said climbers hopefully translate experiences on the course to “more meaningful real-life, day-to-day challenges.”

Franklin’s Brian Pickowicz and Plymouth’s Nick Reisert were among the many Shrine all-stars who excelled in unsettling situations.

Set to play football for St. Anselm College, Pickowicz volunteered to go first in the final activity. He climbed a 40-foot telephone pole, stood upright atop it and, once balanced without using his hands for support, jumped to a trapeze hanging 7 feet in front of him.

Then came the most frightening component of the challenge: A free fall that abruptly ended 5 feet before impact with the ground.

“If you fall, you fall. There is that fear. But it’s worth the rush,” said the 6-foot-2, 210-pound Pickowicz. “Pretty much, you’ve just got to go for it. If you’re going to do something, you’ve just got to commit to it.”

Reisert, bound for Boston University, applied similar logic earlier in the morning.

While 20 feet off the ground, Reisert was the first to walk 20 feet between trees without gripping anything for support. He successfully inched forward on wobbling parallel ropes positioned 14 inches apart.

After reaching his destination, Reisert had to pivot, turn and reverse direction. He did it.

“You definitely don’t want to let go, naturally,” said the 6-foot-3, 190-pound Reisert, one of 30 Shrine players who competed in the inaugural East-West All-Star Game June 23. I knew the belay team had me. But (the uncertainty) is just kind of natural.”

Attempting a high-wire act was, Dowd said, a “challenge by choice.”

Imposing 6-foot-2, 345-pound Nick Dragon of Swanzey’s Monadnock Regional, declined to climb. He wasn’t alone.

“I’m big and that’s a small wire,” said Dragon, also an East-West all-star.

Dragon, though, was an active participant. Heavier climbers who required extra muscle from their belay teams looked to him.

It’s precisely what Beliveau wanted to see when he chose Souhegan’s hidden gem over deep sea fishing and whitewater rafting.

“We wanted to look at the dynamics of the group. There was a point to (using the course), definitely,” he said. “But the biggest point was to get together and get to know each other in a setting outside of football.”

mthaler@unionleader.com