Spring football practices wrap up this week and we will conclude the sessions with a combine test. Similar to the NFL combine which was recently held in Indianapolis, we test our players in a variety of events to gather measurable results. We test the 40 yard dash for speed, the “L drill” for agility, shuttle for quickness, broad jump for lower body explosivity, Medball toss for whole body explosivity, bench press max reps for upper body muscular strength and endurance, goblet squat for lower body muscular strength and endurance along with core stabilization, and pullups for overall fitness. Athletes’ by event results are organized on a spreadsheet that calculates a score for each event of 0-20 points, and then an overall score for each player.
While the NFL combine has been jokingly nicknamed the “underwear olympics” because it just showcases the physical attributes of the athlete and not the immeasurables that are so important in football. But we, like the NFL, have found that there is a strong correlation between combine results and on field performance. With many athletes competing over many years, I can confidently say, our best players are most often those who score the highest.
The other reason for the testing is to see our players compete against themselves and others. There is an old saying, “competition makes a horse run.” That holds true for athletes as well. Players will work to beat their own scores from Training Camp as well as the scores of their teammates during the event. Amongst teammates, one would expect fierce competition at the top of the leaderboard, but it’s often interesting to see some of the fiercest competition coming from those striving not to be on the bottom. We will share the results with every player so that they can see where they compare with their teammates before heading into our Spring lifting sessions and Summer OTAs. Lastly, we trust that it serves as a baseline for comparison and motivating factor in our players’ off-season training. As Peter Drucker, a highly influential management consultant, educator, and author used to say, “What gets measured, gets managed.”
Coach Rich Alercio is available to discuss coaching philosophy, X’s & O’s, or teach his O-Line “techniques in the trenches.” Contact Coach at richalercio@gmail.com and share http://www.olineskills.com with your colleagues and friends. Thanks for supporting this blog and joining our conversations, and as always, thanks for your time!
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