I am exhausted but it’s a good exhaustion. The last three days have been both an emotional as well as a physical high. I’m struggling with the idea of writing this article. I want to be sure to translate onto paper the experience of LinemenInc 2005 but I’m not sure I can do it justice. Regardless, here is my best effort.
Day one of camp is always full of anticipation and uncertainty as well as a million fires that light up and need putting out. Players forgetting to bring their final payment, coaching and player substitutions at the last minute, missing room keys, flooding toilets, finding the hose bib for water and realizing we didn’t bring enough hose, “I forgot my cleats coach can you run me to Big 5?†“What do you mean you’re already locked out of your room?†and my forgetting to tell about half of the players that they could order pizza for a late night snack. And let’s not forget how I forgot to put on a hat and ended up with a face the color of a fire engine!
Settled into their rooms the players slowly make their way out, receive camp decorum instructions and head for the field and the first practice. There was a lot of whistle blowing and coaches yelling and players running in every direction, and scanning 360 degrees the eye captured nothing but bodies in motion. Camp had officially gotten under way. We were rolling down the freeway at about 50 mph and headed towards 100! Spirits were high and the player’s faces reflected the joy and excitement they were experiencing. It felt good to get that first practice under our belts.
As camp progressed, the players and coaches alike got down to the serious business of hard work. Very quickly it became evident that this was going to be the most intense three days of their lives. Mother Nature didn’t disappoint us either: Temperatures were in the mid 80’s on Monday and steadily pushed into the 90’s by camps’ end on Wednesday. Regardless, spirits were always high.
By Tuesday night the preliminary work had been completed and at the last practice of the day the “Coaches Invitational†was held. This is a prelude to the Championship Rounds, which are held at the last practice of camp. Through five practices, coaches have been both working with and evaluating players. Now comes the first test. By invitation, coaches select players to match up in one-on-one competitions against other coach’s player selections. It was quite comical to watch these coaches trying to strategize against each other as they pitched players into the arena. The roar of the crowd watching these gladiators battle could be heard all across the campus. And later that night in-group, everyone was talking about the competitions.
The high school coaches who attended LinemenInc 2005 were treated to their own camp during the non-practice time. Darrell Funk from Colorado State, did a great job of putting on an Offensive Line clinic while Jim House from San Diego State, gave another stellar performance with the Defensive Line clinic. Many of the coaches I spoke with afterwards said they obtained so much more from these smaller more personal clinics, than they ever got from the large conventions they have attended. They especially enjoyed going from the clinic to the practice field and getting to apply this knowledge in a practical setting, along side of the coaches who had just provided the instruction.
Wednesday morning, the last day of camp, began with rising temperatures already in the 80’s and rising hopes in the chests of players. I held up a wooden gladiator sword for all to see. This was the prize, the physical, tangible prize that the boys were working towards. The bigger prize, the real prize was of course their own personal growth as both players and young men and I told them so. At the Championship Rounds that afternoon everything moved at a fevered pitch. The effort put out by these guys was tremendous and win or lose, they all knew they had accomplished something special. It didn’t matter whether they had won a sword or not. They all became champions the minute they walked into camp on day one. Just the fact that they made the decision to improve themselves, to be challenged, to take a chance and to endure, made each and everyone of them a champion.
Check out was hurried with players and coaches alike rushing to make flights and to begin the long drive’s home. And while I am sure most of these kids slept all the way home, I hope when they got up today, as they padded around the comfort of home, for just a moment they thought about the last three days and quietly thought, wow. I also hope they take what they learned in camp and pass it on to their teammates who were unable to attend. You have to give something back to the game, gentlemen.
LinemenInc 2005 is over and as sentimental as it sounds, I won’t forget it. There is something special, something innately good about watching and helping young men grow and realize they can accomplish any goal set for them through hard work and perseverance. I personally take pride in what we have accomplished and I am motivated to go forward and do the work that lay ahead.
A special thanks to the following people for without their time, support, dedication and effort, none of this would be possible: My wife, Karin, my partner Dave Reinders and his wife, Kathy, my father Larry and his brother, Harry and my son, Jeff. Jim House, Darrell Funk, Jeff Hammerschmidt, Max Glowacki, Rich James, Matt Diskin, Preston Walrath, and Aaron Thigpen, who are all outstanding coaches and excellent examples of what a man should be. To Jennifer Heinz, our physical trainer. To Tim Tabke, Ray Reinders and Mitch Kell for their sacrifice and their savvy and inventiveness with a camera. For taking care of us, the staff at the University of the Pacific. And finally, to the high school coaches and players, for without you guys we would be nothing but an idea. God bless.