Training Camp: The Best Thus Far

This has been the most difficult training camp to date. Not only from a coaching standpoint, but from an operational view as well. Challenge number one started the day before camp. Our intern Justin Jefferson was offered a great job at his school. It was an advancing opportunity for him that he earned. We were sad to see him go, but completely support him. Everything he’s done has been great, and with no one to replace him, we’ve had to pick up extra duties. Right now, Coach Harris and I are doing laundry, filling ice buckets, and setting up fields; trying to fill the void. There is little time to breathe, and everything is piling on top of each other. However, it is important for me not to carry this over to the players. They do not need to see my frustrations. I think that it’s important to spend more time trying to solve problems than trying to point them out. You could consider this a half full, half empty sort of thing.

Challenge number two is having to evaluate the players in such a short amount of time. Sometimes, we have what we call gamers. Those are the players who don’t practice well, but play great in the games. This creates a problem because we can’t make decisions if we never see them play their best. There are also some key injuries that make evaluation difficult. We have 40 players come to camp, but we can only keep 20. This year, there are many veteran players who look better than ever. All I have to say is “WOW”. They’ve been with us 3-4 years now and just look spectacular. More great news is that we have some really talented defensive players– not like we have ever had before. We also have some awesome rookies. I’m excited to see how great they will be further down the road and how much they will improve.

Today, we had to release a couple of players. There is no easy way to do this. It’s like a band-aid, you have to be honest and rip it off. I hate training camp for this reason. Players come here and give me the best they have, and I’m supposed to tell them that their best isn’t good enough. It’s hard; I have to separate heart from mind. But, we have to do it. There will be about 15 more cuts next week. The thing that makes it tough is the limited amount of time to evaluate everyone. The rookies do not have much time to prove themselves above the vets. However, no matter the good or bad points, this is what we sign up for. In the grand scheme of things, tomorrow, the sun will rise.

Gearing Up for Training Camp

I trust everyone has had a great year so far. As for us down here at the Lions office, we have been busy! We are two weeks away from training camp and are in the final preparations of having everything ready. We originally wanted to have everything done before February 1st, as there are always things that come up that are unexpected. We have to make sure that everything from the players having cable in their apartments, to having all of their physicals done is completed. I’m very particular about having everything ready, so I want to make sure equipment, jerseys, any supplies needed are arranged and in their assigned lockers before they get here. It shows that we are serious and committed to the season when we have everything in order. Me personally, when I see my employer put in the extra effort and time, it makes me want to work harder. I don’t just coach football, I handle operations as well. With that, I’ve learned that the more you pay attention to detail, the better prepared you are when something goes wrong.

Now, we are pretty close to where we need to be. I made a checklist back in December, and almost everything has been completed. We are already watching film and preparing for Richmond. We have our first line of practice, installed and ready to go. That doesn’t mean that things won’t change, but it gives us a tangible starting point. The first five days are planned by play and by minute. But, on Wednesday, something may go wrong and the schedule may have to be adjusted, but it give us an idea of what things will be like. The players have a schedule, like a study guide, of what all they need to do in order to prepare themselves.

I thought of something the other day that I wanted to share with you all. I used to teach high school for 7 years. We had a guy come in one time for seminar to motivate teachers to teach children. He told us a story about a guy who was walking through the woods. While he was walking along, he heard a bunch of kids screaming for help. So he poked himself through the woods, trying to find where this was coming from, and saw a river raging ahead. As he got closer, he saw that in the river… kids were drowning. In the banks of the rivers, parents and adults were pulling kids out. The more kids they pulled out, the more that seemed to appear. And so, the man standing there looking at the situation, pulled back and walked away towards upstream. Parents yelled at him, “Where are you going? Why aren’t you helping?”. He replied that he was going to find out where they were putting them in. So, it a different yet same sort of idea, this why I started youth indoor football 5 years ago. My goal was to build fans as young football players, that would then lead to fans for life. It has worked. We started with a 9 & 10 year old league. Then, when those kids turned 11, they still wanted to play. With that, I made another league to accommodate. After that the cycle kept going– more age groups, more children, and more life-long fans.

Chasing a Dream

This past Saturday started out like every other tryout I had done for the past 7 years. We had about 35 participants show up with the same goal of making a professional football team roster. Some of them had realistic goals, and lets just say some didn’t. One thing I will never do is tell someone they can’t chase their dreams. It wasn’t too long ago that I was driving three and four states going to open tryouts with the same ideas of making a professional team. I respect each and every player that comes out. Unfortunately, like every other tryout, there are young men there that just can’t compete. Half way through the workout, during 1 on 1 passing drills, a blur ran past me with the ball. It was a young man that had sent me a player bio and hi-lite film earlier in the week.

He might be one of the fastest players I have ever seen, but could he catch? Well, lets just say that we will see him in Lions camp this year. I hope this story has a good ending. Time will tell but I love this job and every once in awhile, you find a diamond in the rough.

Sponsor Dashers

The Columbus Lions are looking to add to there social media by creating a blog for fans and players.