As a former NFL player, NFL training camp is where the real work begins, especially for rookies and undrafted athletes who want to try making a team.
Before boot camp, you may have been on vacation or spent time with friends and family. But the fun ends the moment you’re given the key to your training camp room. This is where the sweat and tears begin. This is where nervous butterflies give you a constant uneasy feeling in your stomach.
You start training camp by meeting with other players and coaches. There is a nervous excitement in the air and it seems that all the players have some nervousness. Your mind plays against your confidence and you find yourself asking questions like, “Am I really good enough to play in the pros?” “What am I going to do if I don’t make the team?” “What if I can’t remember the plays they teach us?” “What if I get sick or injured?”
Then you get your schedule and it tells you where to go and meet you. The schedule tells you that your first meeting is a team meeting with the head coach, staff, coaches, and team owner. That’s it. Training camp has officially started. It’s time to get down to business and prove yourself. Psych yourself up. You are the best. You will do very well and impress everyone. You are going to be part of the team and become a starter. You are a professional soccer player!
The schedule says practice starts tomorrow. Morning practice is from 9:00 AM to 11:30 AM Lunch is from noon to 2:00 PM. From 2:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. we watch a movie. Our second practice is from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm
During the first three days of camp, the practice is light with shorts and a helmet. This is to leave your legacy under you. On the fourth day of camping you can put on sanitary pads. This is when the excitement begins and the butterflies go wild. You are so eager to hit someone. It feels like it’s been forever since you were last on the field and ready to play. This is the hardest day for you. Your body has to get used to pads that weigh 70 pounds. Your body suffers as you perform practice exercises while wearing these heavy pads in 100+ degree heat. This is when you find out if you are fit or not. Can you survive? You’re going to get sick? Are you going to look weak in front of the other players? Be a man! You can handle it. If others can do it, so can you. It is mind over matter. Should!
The trainers make the fourth day with full protections a very physical day. This is to familiarize players with the use of sanitary pads in the heat. This is where coaches see which players have the strength and stamina to compete in the NFL. This is also where coaches see which players are serious about being athletes and keep their bodies in top physical condition and which players are lazy and don’t work out.
After the afternoon practice, the players go to the showers and cold tubs. Cold tubs are filled with ice water. They feel like hell, but they help a sore and swollen body recover like nothing else.
After cleaning, it’s time for dinner from 6:30 pm to 7:30 pm But the day is not over yet. You have cinema to watch from 20:00 to 21:30. Snacks are at 10:00 pm and curfew is at 11:00 pm By 11:00 pm you better be in your room and ready for bed. If not, you face the wrath of the trainers, and the last thing you want to do is make your trainers angry. Coaches don’t like problem players, especially rookies and backups. There is too much talent out there to put up with troublemakers. Get your butt to bed.
This is your life every day for the next 6 weeks. Do you think you can handle it?