'Pene?” The 16-year-old snaps his foot and replies. 'Present”.

'Ruby?” She snaps. 'Present.” Thirty names, 30 snaps, 30 presents.

It's 6.15am and a new day is stretching awake over the Te Puke High School gym. It's brisk and there's a heavy dew on the bottom field.

'Nga?” Snap. 'Present.” 'Oceanna?” Snap. 'Present.” And so on.

Up before the world wakes up – the CACTUS group at boot camp. Chris Callinan.

It's roll call for school boot camp or CACTUS – an acronym for Combined Adolescent Challenge Training Unit Support.

'It's a bit of a bee sting this morning, bit of a slog,” warns Dahl Gurdit-Singh, the Papamoa Snap Fitness manager who'll be barking the orders, driving the kids beyond what they think they are capable of, beyond what they want to do.

'My calf muscles are sore,” complains Kahu, as she trudges through an early circuit. 'Yeah, well that's the idea. Everyone's calf muscles are sore,” says the taskmaster. 'Perhaps she's just after a bit of attention.”

And she gets it. The kids kick in behind. 'C'mon Kahu, let's go.”

There are some kids who want to be here. There are some kids who don't want to be here but have been told they must be here.

'They could be kids with issues in the classroom or they are misunderstood and the thinking is CACTUS might help.”

One hour, three mornings a week for eight weeks. And then finishing with the punishing longest day – 4am to 4pm of pure exercise.

'It's designed to extend a young person's mind and physical capability,” says Te Puke High teacher Emma Jamieson. 'There's a focus on teamwork, goal setting, leadership and discipline.”

And there's diversity. There are the ‘have-nots.'

'Some are from very challenging personal circumstances, kids who haven't had the opportunities,” says Dahl. 'Life's been hard.”

And there are the others. 'Yeah, kids who have had a level of privilege and support and still may lack a connection and empathy for the others.”

That's where CACTUS kicks in.

Photo: Chris Callinan

'We force the environment through physical challenge. They have to help each other, to connect, regardless of who they are or from what sort of home they come from.” Cliques don't click here.

There's a heart-starting circuit of burpees and lunges, which leaves the group dripping with sweat and dew. There are high fives, hugs and cries of accomplishment. 'We are a team.”

'And they're saying that kid over there, who I might never have spoken to, isn't such a bad person because they're doing what I do three times a week,” says Dahl. And the kids confirm that.

'They're probably not the sort of people I would have hung out with in the past,” says Oceanna Preston. 'But everyone's so supportive at CACTUS. There's new respect and new friends. And you discover there is more to yourself.”

And they all have to get stuck in to the task at hand and they all get dirty. And as the sun lifts on the lower field there's heaving, sweating, groaning, laughter, buckets of support for each other. They also applaud themselves, high five, hug and laugh through an hour of hurting. It's like watching two rugby teams on the same aside.

When the group starts flipping tractor tyres two physically-imposing young men suddenly find themselves working with the girls who are struggling with the task. 'They're girls they probably wouldn't even acknowledge at school. Now they're working together and it's wonderful to watch.”

One of those young men is 193cm and 120kg of Pene Taumata, a would-be professional rugby player. 'I am used to this fitness stuff and it's nice to be able to help others.”

There are endless touching anecdotes. 'One of the girls took a phone call and she was really upset,” recounts Dahl. 'Another girl just stepped up and dealt with it, took her aside, listened and comforted her and dealt with it. And was a girl with her own issues.”

You can't create that sort of leadership, according to Dahl. 'CACTUS just provides an environment in which it can flourish.”

Photo: Chris Callinan.

For the six teachers in the group their day starts well before 6.15am. They're cruising the neighbourhood to pick up the kids for CACTUS. It guarantees attendance. But dragging a cranky kid out of bed for boot camp before dawn on a school day can be an unenviable task.

'I stopped by to pick up one kid and she was all: ‘I don't want to go, I don't want to go'. She turns up all sulky and angry and makes it quite clear to everyone she does not want to be there.”

The same girl is now a team leader. And when she slept in one day there was a text message, a huge apology. 'Sorry for letting the team down, I am sorry to my squad.”

'It's pretty amazing to see that shift in attitude and thinking,” says Emma. 'That meant a hell of a lot to the teachers.”

Kahu Mohi is an extraordinary sporting talent 'That's what they say.” She's armed with an explosive smile and it would be hard not to like her. But just behind the smile there are issues. 'My attitude is not on point – yeah I need to pick up my attitude and discipline.” A delightful disarming honesty.

But, says Kahu, CACTUS sends her to class with that smile on full beam. And she just may achieve that lifetime ambition to be a policeman.

'CACTUS is a lot about the challenges and obstacles they have in their lives, the things they struggle to overcome,” says Emma. 'But if they think about it, and persist, no matter how much they want to give up, then they can get over those hard times.” Dahl says CACTUS proves to him that all kids are good. 'But some are faced with choices and the easy choice is not always the right choice.”

An easy choice might be to turn off the alarm and go back to sleep on CACTUS day. 'Now they are taking the hard choices and appreciating there is enormous personal satisfaction and reward.”

The Cactus kids at Te Puke High are Lochie Barton, Madison Beehre, Nga Kete Davis, Isaac Gunson, Ruby Lelievre, Michelle Lu, Isaiah McNeill, Kahu Mohi, Jenna Murray, Reese Nathan, Ashleigh Ngow, Caleb Pollard, Oceanna Preston, Dejah Rahi-Reeves, Arapeta Raki, Dayna Rowe, Kyle Snare, Hollie Snell, Tenitia Taukawawa, Pena Taumata, Cuba Te Aho, Isaac Teki, Joseph Thompson, Tiki Watson and Vanessa Williamson.

After boot camp the kids shower and have breakfast before class. They want to thank some people who help CACTUS happen. Like New World, Countdown, The Fresh Market, Sports world and Gao Trading. And sponsors Bay Trust, Te Puke and Maketu Rotary, Hargreaves Charitable Trust, Youth Te Puke Trust, Kiwicoast Lions and the NZ Youth Trust.