Thurs.-Fri., July 28-29, 2002
Lots of American football goings on the last two days.
Who would have ever guessed that?
Jacob with the white towel coming
out of the back of his pants
He was one of four players that the coaches picked to lead the stretching exercises on Thursday.
Time to warm up the old neck
One-on-One Drill with
Jacob on Offense
Same Drill with Jacob
on Defense this time
Hand punching a blocking bag
The Agility Ladder is always tricky
Of course you have to Bear Crawl
to finish the drill
The Drill from Start to Finish
Some days forward rolls are easy, other days not so much.
I like his stance
He's got the Hops!
Progression into tackling
come Monday
Overall, another forward step tonight for our favorite Stinger.
The Cowboys are in town again
On Friday morning, the entire Camarillo Stingers program was invited to be the guests of the NFL's Dallas Cowboys, a.k.a. "America's Team," at their practice in Oxnard, California, up close and personal.
The Stingers were in the House!
Jacob would be easy to spot all day with his distinctive red hat.
On the stage is Cowboy's legendary
All-Pro Lineman Nate Newton to
greet the Stingers with LOTS of
positive thoughts
It was a BEAUTIFUL day for
American football!
Now, THAT'S a Cowboys fan!
Here come the Cowboys!
The Stingers getting to see the DBs
doing some catching drills
Fill in the blank . . .
Back in the day this QB, #14, was known to have a ____________ for an arm.
QB Dak Prescott throwing
Today was his 29th birthday and he acknowledged all of the Stingers after they sang him the Happy Birthday song.
Jacob and his buddies being
videoed by the Cowboys Media
LB Pass Drops
#5 is the Cowboys Punter
Bryan Anger
He is a Camarillo H.S. alumni who punted for the University of California Golden Bears before being picked in the Third Round of the 2012 NFL Draft by the Jacksonville Jaguars.
Besides the Jaguars, Anger's NFL 11 year career has taken him to stints with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Houston Texans and now the Dallas Cowboys.
The view from the stands
Punt Protection Blocking Drill
Near the end of the two hour practice, players started approaching the fence where the Stingers were watching to give out much anticipated autographs.
#87, Jeremy Sprinkle, TE, Arkansas
#25, Nashon Wright, CB, Oregon State
#84, Sean McKeon, TE, Michigan
#89, Ian Bunting, TE, California
I like Ian's mouthpiece hanging on his ear.
These were all good moments for Jacob to be sure but then there was the moment of the day.
Jacob's exchange with All-Pro
#21, Ezekiel Elliott, RB, Ohio State
Even though Jacob was wearing the Milano Seaman jersey that Nicolas Principi gave him a few years ago, Ezekiel Elliott still took the time to tell Jacob that he saw the number and appreciated his wearing it.
Talk about a memorable moment that shook Jacob's beliefs in the supremacy of Los Angeles Rams football.
Now on display in Jacob's home, two Dallas Cowboys mini-helmets sporting the autographs that he gathered this morning
In the evening, it was time for this week's fifth and final Camarillo Stingers practice, the conclusion of Hell Week.
Actually, Hell Week actually took up ten days over a span of two weeks.
Last week there were five practices in just shorts and t-shirts. This week the battle dress was full gear but the emphasis both weeks was on agility drills and conditioning.
Practices focusing on actual American football fundamentals and live contact start next Monday.
Still, there were fun moments tonight, like . . .
. . . this six year olds AWESOME
three point stance!
Shoulder bumping to get the feel for
a collision with another human being
Jacob is facing us and is the fourth player from his coach.
Jacob, still facing us,
banging away
Even Dick Butkus had to start somewhere.
Same concept standing up
He's still a little fuzzy on the concept it appears.
YAHOO,
He's starting to get it!
A work in progress to be sure, but he's definitely trying.
To celebrate the end of Hell Week, the Stingers President invited the coaches and parents, not the grandparents thank God, to join the teams during the now traditional practice ending Stingers Circle.
The Stingers Circle has the entire six team program circling the field alternating between commands from the Stingers President to jog, sprint, bear crawl or do lunges.
I hoped that all of the coaches and parents participating tonight had insurance.
Michael Bear Crawling
Michael and Jacob running
past me about half way through
tonight's ordeal
the coaches bought the kids ice creams
from Mister Softee after practice
SO many levels today
To end our long two days of American football mania . . .
. . . a new book about a 68 year old
American football player
According to the Guinness Book of World Records, he is the oldest ever active person in the history of the planet to play our beloved sport.
I did meet a man, Guillaume Beard, in March of 2013 for lunch in Dijon, France that was 63 years old and still playing LB/OT. I've lost contact with him but have to wonder how much longer he played.
Guillaume's story can be found here about half way down this old blog post of mine:
Maybe Guillaume is the real record holder . . .
No comments:
Post a Comment