Authors Note: Sometimes, when KPGFootball is going on the road, as we are tomorrow, January 6, 2018, we republish an article we have before published either here or on some other forum. KPGFootball is headed to Bourbon County, Kentucky tomorrow so the below is an article we authored and published on a site called G1NBC-Chrisitan County. Please enjoy our article about the critical importance offseason training has to the game of football…
The wonderful thing about football, in my estimation, is the fact it is among the few sports where a bench warmer can turn himself into a first-team player merely by wanting it badly enough and working hard enough. Sometimes it is amazing the physical transformation kids undergo in merely one offseason strength & conditioning program.
I have been effusive of my praise of HHS’ strength & conditioning coach, Adam Dowland, who I believe to be the best with whom I have ever worked. There are football coaches who are big proponents of weight training and others, not so much.
Personally, I have always said that a game which requires speed, explosion, power and strength is better played by the fast, explosive, powerful, and strong. That seems logical. Maybe I am just entirely wrong, but I fail to see how better play wouldn’t result from building the physical attributes I above described. Football, I have always said, is a game played between predator and prey with the predators appearing to have way more fun playing it than the guys being preyed upon by stronger, faster, more explosive, and powerful opponents.
Vince Lombardi was fond of saying that the spirit, the will to win, and the will to excel, are the things that endure. These qualities are so much more important than the events that occur. The offseason is where an athlete has an ability to fully exhibit his spirit, his will to win, and measure his desire to excel. It’s out there for you, the player, provided you possess the diligence and willingness to seize the opportunity the offseason presents.
At KPGFootball we have always told young footballers that their opponent is eating snack cakes and playing X-box this offseason. They can either do the same things or they can use the offseason training to create a vast physical chasm between the adversary and them making their physical domination of their in-season opponent elementary.
As for the importance of offseason training, I am not sure that it has ever been explained any better than by a guy who never played a down of football in his life. Morihei Ueshiba was a martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido. He is often referenced as the founder of the martial arts’ reference to someone as being either a Kaiso or Ōsensei meaning Great Teacher.
Ueshiba was quoted as saying that [T]he purpose of training is to tighten up the slack, toughen the body, and polish the spirit. There is a veteran football coach who is a friend to KPGFootball. His name is Glen Campbell and he possesses 35 or so years of football coaching experience.
Campbell is always telling KPGFootball to remind our young players to tighten up! We aren’t sure we have ever truly understood exactly to what he was referring or what these guys were to tighten, but, knowing Glen’s background as a martial artist, we have before wondered if he isn’t specifically referencing the Ueshiba quote of training to tighten up the slack. KPGFootball must remember to ask Coach Glen Campbell when next we talk.
The important thing is for young football players across Kentucky to work hard this offseason to toughen their bodies and polish their spirits. Plus, it would go a long way toward avoiding the rash of injuries suffered throughout the Commonwealth this past season. That sound of clanking you hear coming from the respective football field houses across Kentucky is much more than just some plates being thrown about; it is a polishing of spirits.
Reporting for KPGFootball, this is Fletcher Long reminding you to both tighten up and PLAY THROUGH THE WHISTLE!
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