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FITNESS ZONE - OFF-SEASON TRAINING TIPS
Nine Resistance-Training Exercises To Make You Stronger For Next Season
by: Ben Cook; Photos: Steve Vaccariello
One great thing about football is the long off-season, which gives you time to prepare your body for the next season.
Athletes who play a single sport all year long-on club teams and school teams, and on the playground-are often overworked and not physically well-rounded. Football's short season lets you develop your body by playing other sports or by following a training program.
When football season ends, some players move right to another sport. The change in the way you practice, and the different playing styles of other sports, can help your body recover from football. If you only play football, when the season ends you should consider a strength and conditioning plan to prepare your body for the next season.
First, take some time off from all physical activity. Two weeks off will help heal your body, and the downtime will have you eager to get active again. Then, consider a variety of resistance-training exercises-exercises that build muscle-to strengthen your body.
Guidelines For Resistance Training
Everyone knows that resistance training, which includes activities that use your own body weight for resistance and lifting exercises that use weighted objects, is a great way to build muscle. The first question is, at which age should you start? Some people worry that starting resistance training too young can stunt your growth. There is no strong evidence that resistance training reduces growth. Many resistance-training exercises, if properly supervised and done gradually over time, are safe for young football players. By strengthening your frame, they may even prevent injuries that happen because of weak or uncoordinated muscles.
Eating poorly and not resting enough have more impact on your growth than resistance training. Eating well and getting plenty of sleep each night will help you grow to your full height.
Your resistance-training workout can be organized in many different ways. See www.kickoffmag.com for a list of exercises you can include in your routine and for examples of daily workouts for players of different ages. Keep in mind that you also need to leave time during the week to do conditioning runs. If you are playing a winter sport like basketball or lacrosse, you will probably be in pretty good shape. However, if you only play football, you can start running soon after the season ends.
The nine exercises that follow are good for young football players of different ages. If you are a younger player, to avoid possible injury, do not attempt the exercises for older players.
Important:
Safety always comes first. To avoid injury, always have a certified strength and conditioning specialist supervise your workouts. Stick to a plan that slowly introduces resistance and range-of-motion exercises that are appropriate for your age. Never train alone. Find an adult who is properly trained to supervise your workouts and can help you maximize your gains, while avoiding injuries. No matter what your age, when you are first starting out, begin with the exercises for younger players. Until you can do exercises with weighted bars properly, start with a broomstick or very light dumbbells. The most important thing is to learn the different motions and proper technique, not to see how much weight you can lift.
General Strength Exercises
Exercises to build large muscles
Push-ups
For players 7 years or older. Military-style push-ups build upper-body strength and strong arms for blocking opponents. Start by lying flat on the ground on your stomach. Place your hands on the floor in front of your shoulders. Push your body up from the ground, using your feet and your hands while keeping your body straight. Your arms should do most of the work. Then slowly lower your chest toward the ground, using your arms to support your body weight.
Overhead Presses
For players 13 years or older. Use a broomstick, weight-training bar, dumbbells or a piece of PVC pipe. Hold the bar at shoulder level. Begin by pressing the weight over your head to full arm's length, to a point slightly behind your ears. Return the bar slowly to your shoulders. To avoid lower-back strain, be sure not to lean back as you move the bar upward.
Romanian Dead Lifts (RDLs)
For players 13 years or older. Use a broomstick, weight-training bar, dumbbells or a piece of PVC pipe. Stand up straight with your feet shoulder-width apart. Hold the bar with your hands at waist level just outside your hips. Without bending your knees, bend at your waist, pushing your buttocks back as far as possible without your toes leaving the floor. Allow the bar to hang toward the floor. Be sure to keep your upper and lower back straight, not rounded. To come back up, bring your hips forward until you are in a standing position again. To avoid strain, your back must remain straight throughout this exercise.
Functional Strength Exercises
Exercises to make your movements more powerful
Sit-ups and Crunches
For players 7 years or older. Sit-ups build strong stomach muscles, which stabilize all of your body movements. Lie on your back with your legs bent and your feet on the floor. Place both hands behind your head. Inhale and raise your upper body from the floor. Exhale as you lower your upper body back toward the floor. Return to your starting position without resting your shoulders on the floor.
Another type of the sit-up is a crunch (pictured right). To do crunches, lie on your back with your hands behind your head. Raise your legs, bending your knees at a 90-degree angle so that your feet stick out. Once in position, inhale and lift your shoulders off the floor, moving your knees closer to your head. Slowly return back to your starting position and exhale as you complete the movement.
Duck Walking
For players 7 years or older. This exercise improves a football player's lower-body balance and range of motion. Get in a squatting position with your knees bent and your buttocks close to the ground. Walk forward and backward on the balls of your feet, while keeping your buttocks close to the ground.
Crab Walking
For players 7 years or older. Two ways of doing this exercise work different muscles. First, get in a push-up position and move forward and backward using your hands and feet. For the other type, sit down on the floor and raise your buttocks off the ground by supporting your weight with just your feet and hands (pictured above). Move your hands and feet to walk forward and backward (pictured left).
Muscle Power Exercises
Exercises to make your muscles stretch and shorten more quickly
Tuck Jumps
For players 7 years or older. Jump up and tuck your legs near your chest while you are in the air. To emphasize the tuck, loosely hug your knees. This hug has to be done quickly in order to land. When landing-in this and all jumping-related exercises-allow your knees to give a little in order to absorb the impact.
Cycle Jumps
For players 9 years or older. Begin with one foot in front and the other foot behind. Bend both knees. Jump off of the ground. In mid-air, switch the position of your legs, landing with your opposite legs in front and behind. When you land, hit the floor with your toes first and then allow your heels to hit. Allow your knees to bend. This reduces the amount of impact on your body. Landing onto a semisoft mat can also reduce the stress of landing. The jump can be very small in the beginning, while you get used to switching your legs. As you get better at it, jump for height, and have your feet kick up and hit your buttocks while you're in the air. This exercise is good for body control and quickness.
Power Cleans
For players 7 and 8 using a broomstick; for players 9 and older using light dumbbells, a weight-training bar, a weighted PVC bar or a similar light bar (35 pounds). Get in a squatting position with your back straight and your eyes up. Begin by rapidly pulling the weight-training bar (or whatever you are using) from the floor by extending your knees and hips fully. It is important to keep your back straight and your head and eyes angled slightly upward during the entire pull. At the same time you are extending your legs, use your arms to pull the bar upward toward your forehead. Remember to keep your elbows higher than your wrists during the pull. When the bar has reached its maximum height, flip your wrists, securely gripping the bar at the level of your shoulders. Once the bar has been secured, stand up tall and keep your elbows high. As you increase the resistance (weight) while doing this exercise, the height you will be able to pull the bar toward your forehead will become less and less. In order to finish the movement safely, you will have to squat lower and lower to catch the bar at your shoulders.
For more resistance-training exercises and sample workout routines, see www.kickoffmag.com.
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January 29, 2004 --
Teaching Youngsters How to be Good Sports
(Part l of 6)
by Dr. Darrell J. Burnett
"Sports do not build character. They reveal it." - Heywood Hale Broun
We're living in an age where the preservation of traditional values can no longer be taken for granted. It seems we need to have reminders (books, movies, newspaper articles, etc.) to maintain our awareness of the importance of preserving the basic human values, which are essential to the survival of a community.
It's no different in the world of sports. The traditional value of sportsmanship is being challenged from all sides: professional, college, high school, and even in youth sports. There are some who say sportsmanship is becoming a lost art and that unless we remind ourselves of the essentials of sportsmanship it will gradually fade as other values have done in our society.
In the midst of all this, it seems doubly important that we recommit ourselves to guiding our youth, reminding them what sportsmanship is all about, rewarding them for showing good sportsmanship and showing, by our example, that sportsmanship is still alive and valued in youth sports today.
Here's a 10-item checklist for kids to follow as they try to develop a habit of good sportsmanship.
Sportsmanship Checklist for Kids
I abide by the rules of the game.
I try to avoid arguments.
I share in the responsibilities of the team.
I give everyone a chance to play according to the rules.
I always play fair.
I follow the directions of the coach.
I respect the other team's effort.
I offer encouragement to my teammates.
I accept the judgment calls of the game officials.
I end the game smoothly.
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Sportsmanship is the ability to:
- win without gloating
(don't rub it in)
- lose without complaining
(don't make excuses)
- treat your opponent, and the officials, with respect
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Sportsmanship Tips:
- If you make a mistake don't pout or make excuses. Learn from it, and be ready to continue to play.
- If a teammate makes a mistake, encourage, don't criticize.
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Adults Taking Joy out of Youth Sports
November 14, 2003 --
By Cris Collinsworth
Special to NFL.com
(Nov. 13, 2003) -- I read a great article in the New York Times yesterday that got me thinking about youth sports and reinforced my belief that coaches and parents are out of control in their approach to youth athletics.
I don't want to point a finger at anybody involved in youth athletics. But in the legal world, any case involving a child comes down to one thing: "What is in the best interest of the child?" I think we have lost focus of the child's best interest in pursuit of becoming the best athlete and attracting a college scholarship.
When I was a child, I had a chance to fall in love with sports. I didn't fall in love with sports because of a chance at a college scholarship. I was able to fall in love with sports on the playground, with all the games we created in our minds. There's something magical about painting a strike zone on the side of a fence and spending hours perfecting your fastball, knuckleball and "eephus" pitch.
Once I was talking to a soccer coach from Xavier University. I was curious as to why European and South American soccer players always seem superior to players from the United States. He kind of laughed at the question and said in those countries, future soccer players grow up with a ball, a wall and a child's imagination. There are no adults telling them what they should do. He said when left alone, children come up with unimaginable skills.
In the United States, we have children dribbling balls between cones by the time they are 4 years old. The parents in the U.S. are just too involved with these developing players. When it comes to the World Cup years later, the European and South American players are playing with a child's imagination and the U.S. players look like they are dribbling a ball through a set of cones.
I take that thought with me whenever I coach youth sports. I love coaching youth sports. It is my favorite thing to do. I have coached them all -- from baseball, to football, to basketball and even soccer. With each team, I have tried to remember what that coach taught me. I don't set out to train the kids. I roll the ball out on the field or court and let them play. Are there some drills and fundamentals the children should know? Yes. But, at some point I prefer to quit teaching them and let them teach me.
The trend I hate most is forcing a child to choose his lifelong sport at age 10 or 11. Come on! Instead of playing for fun, children are now competing for championships and trophies. I think winning a championship is more important to the parent and coaches. The children just want to have fun.
We got beat in a soccer game once 11-0. It was no contest from the start. When the game was over one of my kids asked me if we had won. I said we sure did because that was the hardest we had played all year. The kid went away beaming.
Regardless of the score, when it is over, there is always a victory to be found in every game. If a kid fumbles the ball three times, I tell him that fumbling is something we can fix in practice, but I was proud of him because he had his best game blocking all year. They don't know which is more important. They just know the coach told him he played well.
 | | | Winning is enjoyable, but parents need to learn that having fun should be the most important thing. | |
That coach from Xavier also asked, "Why do you think that skateboarding, BMX racing and all the X-Games are so en vogue? The reason is simple; there are no adults involved. Parents are incapable of coaching a child in skateboarding. So the kids use it as a way to escape from the pressures of team sports and overbearing coaches. And if you have ever watched an X-Games event, you know that the imagination of a child is alive in those sports."
The truth of that statement went racing through me.
I feel sorry for these children that are under so much pressure to compete at an early age. When I was growing up, I played football for three months, then played basketball for three months, ran track for three months, and played baseball after that.
Was I as good as I could have been if I had chosen only one sport and concentrated on that? Probably not. But I have seen so many great athletes in their prime at age 16 and 17 give up on sports because they have had enough. They tell their parents that they are tired of sports and don't want to pursue sports in college. It's too much for them.
It has become very dangerous for children. In our quest to produce great athletes as parents and coaches, we have taken away the joy of youth sports. Instead of allowing them to create games in their minds, we are forcing them to compete for league championships and scholarships.
When I was a child, sports was an escape for me. Now it seems children are trying to escape from sports, and it is our fault.
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Realistic Expectations
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS:
by Pat McInally, Director of PacifiCare's GoodSports Program
Most men, regardless of their professional success, would trade it all for the ability to hit a curve and go to their right, or throw a tight spiral 60 yards, or consistently shoot under par on the toughest courses on the planet.
We would toss out our medical or law licenses if we could only shoot 53 per cent from the field and slam dunk at will. To be sure, we hold out the hope that our sons and daughters can fulfill their – and our -- youthful dreams of achieving the glory and success of professional stardom in one sport or another.
When dreams become expectations, however, parents can turn the youth sports experience into a nightmare without even realizing the pressure they put upon their children and the volunteers who coach, referee, or umpire the games.
Competitive sport does that to us. It is intoxicating. As we wish only the best for our children, and want to defend them when we feel they have been wronged, too often we forget the principle behind youth sports: That our children need to learn about competition and discover the glory of victory and learn to deal with inevitable defeat in a positive way.
As parents, we want our children to excel in school, yet we don't anticipate that they will become Nobel Prize winners – as only about six people per year do. We don't expect that our children will become a CEO of a Fortune 500 company one day, although we encourage them to do well in school.
Yet when it comes to sports, dads, in particular, too often steer and pressure their sons to be the next Barry Bonds or Tom Brady. The fact is, that same son probably has a better chance of becoming a Fortune 500 CEO.
More than 37 million children from ages 6-16 are involved in youth sports each year. At the professional level, there are fewer than 4,000 people enjoying the dream so many of us share. So, the odds of making a living as an athlete aren't very good.
So, then, what's the point of youth sports?
Quite simply, it can provide more positive interaction among families, relatives and friends than almost anything else imaginable.
Our children learn the importance of teamwork, they learn to function in a structured environment, and they learn the importance of good sportsmanship. Equally important, in a society of poor dietary habits and physical fitness practices, we can steer our kids toward a healthier lifestyle.
As parents, we can interact with our children, participate in their growth, teach them valuable lessons that carry over to their scholastic and professional futures, and, yes, we can have fun with them.
But first, we must rein in our own expectations so that we can enhance and not hinder the athletic dreams of our youth.
What should be the expectations?
Parents should expect a quality and safe environment for our kids. We should expect the volunteer coaches to be caring, nurturing and fair-minded. We should also expect them to make mistakes. We should expect the volunteer umpires and referees to do their very best to be fair on every call they make. We should also expect them to make mistakes. We should expect our children to have fun and discover in themselves the desire, drive and ability. We should expect them to make mistakes.
And, finally, we should expect other parents to enjoy the experience and not berate the youngster who hits the home run that beats your team, or boo the kid who trips over second base and is tagged out to end the game.
Youth sports is about having fun with your kids, letting them learn from the experience, and sharing in their moment of glory, or supporting them in their inevitable failure. In professional soccer, one or two goals are scored in most games – by both teams combined. Dozens of scoring opportunities are missed. In baseball, a batter who is successful just one third of the time is an all-star. In football, the top rushers average about four yards a carry and the top quarterbacks miss about 45% of the time.
Should we expect any more results from our kids? The best team in baseball wins fewer than 60% of its games. The last undefeated professional football team was the 1972 Miami Dolphins. Should we expect our kids' teams to be better? We see replays of missed calls by professional umpires and referees. Should we expect more from the volunteers who devote time and energy to youth sports?
Too often, and without realizing it, parents so immerse themselves in the success and failure of their kids' sporting effort, they lose sight of the most important things. Too often, we put All-Star status ahead of Good Sportsmanship. And too often, parents find their children are better at being Good Sports than they are.
Sometimes, we just need to be reminded that the games are for the kids. We're there to share in their dreams not to create them.
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January 7, 2004 --
MAYO CLINIC STUDY CONCLUDES:
FOOTBALL NO MORE DANGEROUS THAN "OTHER RECREATIONAL OR COMPETITIVE
SPORTS"
In a finding of enormous significance for the sport of football,
especially at the youth level, a study of youth football by the
prestigious Mayo Clinic, of Rochester, Minnesota showed that most of
the injuries that occurred were mild, that as players got older the
risk increased slightly, and that there is "no significant
correlation" between body weight and injury.
The results of the study appear in the April issue of Mayo Clinic
Proceedings. The conclusion, based on all data available, is that
"the risk of injury in youth football does not appear greater than
the risk associated with other recreational or competitive
sports."
Said Michael J. Stuart, M.D., a Mayo Clinic orthopedic surgeon and
the principal author of the study, "Our analysis showed that youth
football injuries are uncommon."
Dr. Stuart and his colleagues studied 915 players aged 9 to 13
years, who participated on 42 football teams in fall 1997. Injury
incidence, prevalence and severity of injury were calculated for each
grade level, four through eight, and each player position. They
further examined the incidence of injuries according to body
weight.
Defining a "game injury" as any football-related ailment that
occurred on the field during a game that kept a player out of
competition for the remainder of the game, required the attention of
a physician, and included all concussion, lacerations, as well as
dental, eye and nerve injuries, the research team found a total of 55
injuries occured in all games during the season.
According to the researchers, risk increases with level of play
(grade in school) and player age. The risk of injury for an
eighth-grade player was four times greater than that for a
fourth-grade player. Likely reasons given were increased size,
strength, speed and aggressiveness.
Expressed in terms of injuries per 1000 player-plays, the
incidence ranged from .09 per cent for fourth graders to .15 per cent
for seventh graders. There is a significant jump to .33 in eighth
grade, but still nothing to be alarmed about.
Figure it out - with 22 players participating per play, 1,000
player-plays represents nearly 50 plays. An injury to a fourth-grader
occurs roughly every 10,000 player plays (or roughly 500 plays).
Most of the injuries were mild, at that. The most common injury
was a contusion, occuring in 33 players. Only four injuries
(fractures involving the ankle growth plate) were severe enough to
prevent players from returning to play for the rest of the season.
None required hospitalization or surgery.
An analysis of body weight indicated that lighter players were not
at any greater risk for injury; as a matter of fact heavier players
had a slightly but not significantly higher incidence of injury.
Running backs at all levels were at greater risk when compared
with other football positions.
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Beat The Heat
BEATING THE HEAT
By Pat McInally, Director of PacifiCare's GoodSports Program
“If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”
Harry Truman's famous quote was about politics, but a slight revision might be a good motto for young athletes, especially in football:
“If you can't stand the heat, get out of the sun.”
Playing sports – and training – in the heat offers significant dangers and challenges. Players, coaches and parents must be aware of them.
The impact of cramps, dehydration, heat exhaustion and heat stroke can range from pain, to poor performances, to fatigue and, as we have seen, all the way to death in extreme cases.
Here are some facts and suggestions:
Preparation and conditioning
Preparing for heat begins with extra physical training, based on an athlete's conditioning and the difficulty of an activity. Out-of-shape, overweight participants are particularly vulnerable to heat-related physical problems, so they should be cautious with over-exertion.
Coaches must be responsible enough to know how far to push players--individual players--especially those who are ill prepared to take on tough weather conditions. Players must also assess their preparedness and use caution before pushing themselves too hard.
Prevention
Four key elements, each lost in great quantities through heavy perspiration, must be replaced during and after exercising in hot weather: water (which is most important) sodium (salt), potassium and magnesium.
Fluids: Replacing fluids is essential. Pre-hydrating, or drinking before exercise, is important because it is difficult for the body to recover from heavy water loss during an activity, even with drinking on the sideline. Water breaks during play and substantial fluid intake after finishing are vital parts of the over-hydration necessary to combat tough weather conditions. Athletes should drink fluids even when they are not thirsty.
Diet: The right foods replenish the salt, potassium and magnesium lost during exercise in hot, humid conditions. These are normally replaced through diet, but it may be necessary after heavy exercise to season your food a little heavier, particularly if workouts exceed one hour in duration.
Proper salt intake can be tricky. Too much salt can cause nausea, depriving the body of more fluids, and can lead to heat exhaustion or heat stroke. (Again, many physicians recommend adding some extra salt to food when hot weather and heavy exercise are in combination.) Let your taste buds tell you if you need more salt during these circumstances. Avoid salt pills – they'll sit in the stomach and keep fluids from reaching your body, which can lead to dehydration.
Low blood potassium levels can leave athletes feeling tired, weak and irritable. Good sources for replenishment are all fruits, especially bananas, and juices, vegetables, molasses and wheat germ.
Low blood magnesium levels can lead to chronic fatigue and muscle cramps. Look to dairy products, oatmeal, meats, peanuts, peas and rice for your needs.
Athletes must eat properly, even when fatigue robs them of an appetite. Eating the right foods consistently plays a large role in avoiding fatigue, loss of strength and endurance as well as cramps, muscle strains and other heat-related conditions.
Activity time
Workouts should be planned intelligently, during the coolest parts of the day whenever possible. On particularly hot and humid days, cancellation or shortening the duration and intensity of exercise should be considered. Practices, games or exercise should be scheduled for early morning and evening periods.
Clothing
Dress lightly, with light colors, with as little equipment as possible. The body needs to breathe, so mesh jerseys and cotton clothing can help in cooling down body temperature. This can make a big difference in recovery time and handling lengthy exertion.
Substitution
In team sports, coaches should substitute freely in games and rotate players constantly during practices. Athletes should participate in lighter drills or regimens until cooler weather prevails.
Sideline aids
Have plenty of fluids available. These are best if cold, because the body absorbs them quickest.
Also, towels soaked in ice water can be placed on heads and exposed skin for cooling. Fresh fruit, such as oranges, can be taken in conjunction with fluids.
Heat exhaustion
This condition is caused by excessive loss of body fluids. Some of its symptoms are dizziness, feeling weak, unusually heavy sweating, headaches and a rapid-but-weak pulse, similar to flu-like symptoms.
Immediate treatment involves removing any excess clothing, lying down in a cool place, rubbing a wet, dampened towel over exposed skin and drinking cold liquids. Using mist spray can also assist in cooling. Get the athlete to a doctor as soon as possible.
Heat Stroke
This condition involves a complete shutdown of the thermo-regulatory system. Body temperature is the most obvious indication.
If the skin feels hot to the touch, even with sweating, call for immediate medical help and move the athlete to a cool spot. Begin applying cool, wet towels and fanning. Heat stroke is a true medical emergency. If you suspect it, get immediate medical attention.
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Tate gets his opportunity at AUBURN
No Irons, no problem for Auburn against Buffalo
SportsTicker
College Football News Wire
AUBURN, Alabama -- Coming off an emotional win and
with a short turnaround before another conference clash, No. 2
Auburn did just what it had to Saturday.
Brad Lester and Ben Tate each ran for a pair of touchdowns as
the Tigers rolled to a methodical 38-7 victory over Buffalo in a
non-conference matchup.
Last week, Auburn (4-0) took early control of the Southeastern
Conference West Division with a critical 7-3 victory over
then-No. 6 Louisiana State.
The Tigers will not have long to celebrate this win as they
travel to South Carolina for an SEC clash Thursday.
"It's like I just told the team, you can't play with it every
week," Auburn coach Tommy Tuberville said. "We had a tough one
last week. I could even tell it with the crowd. Everyone was
still thinking about last week, but we got the job done."
Without star running back Kenny Irons, who suffered a sprained
foot and toe against LSU, Lester got the start and ran for 83
yards on 18 carries.
Lester opened the scoring with a two-yard TD run in the first
quarter. He added a score from four yards out in the third
quarter to make it 17-0.
Buffalo (1-3) made it 17-7 with 6:30 to play in the third
quarter on a five-yard TD pass from Drew Willy to Evan Wallace.
Auburn responded with a 71-yard TD march, capped by a two-yard
run by Tre Smith that made it 24-7.
"Tre Smith, Ben Tate and Brad Lester. This was a day for
everybody," Tuberville said. "This was one where we wanted to
get as many people into the game as we could and we did."
A freshman, Tate ran for 114 yards on only seven carries and
capped the scoring with TD runs of 42 and 28 yards in the fourth
quarter.
"It felt good to get out there and get a feel for the game,"
Tate said. "Being a freshman, I was a little nervous on the
first few plays. I got a lot more comfortable once I go in the
flow of the offense."
Tate's exploits helped the Tigers roll up a 261-87 advantage in
rushing yards and a 414-198 edge in total offense.
"Auburn is solid offensively and defensively," Buffalo coach
Turner Gill said. "We played hard and it was a great experience
for our football team to come to a great venue here."
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Ben Tate's Auburn Profile
Ben
TATE
5-11 / 204 / Fr. / HS
Newark, Md.
Stephen Decatur
Criminology
2005 — Graduated from high school early in time to participate in spring drills.
HIGH SCHOOL—Set Maryland state records for yards rushing in a career (5,920)
and a season (2,886) … In 37 career games played, rushed 542 times for 5,920 yards and 78 touchdowns, averaging 10.9 yards per carry and 160 yards per game … Also added 210 career receiving yards … Set the state single-season rushing record as a junior, totaling 2,886 yards and 41 touchdowns, averaging 221.4 yards per game … Ran for 2,069 yards and 21 touchdowns as a senior, averaging 12.9 yards per carry, while leading
his team to a state runner-up finish … Also set the Maryland record for total offensive yards in a career with 6,123 … Gatorade State Player of the Year as a senior and a consensus all-state pick … Also earned first-team all-state honors as a junior … Baystate Conference Offensive Player of the Year in 2005 … Ranked No. 6 nationally
among running backs and the No. 5 player from the state of Maryland by Rivals.com … Ranked No. 41 in the Rivals.com Rivals 100 … Rivals.com Rivals 250 … Ranked No. 9 nationally among running backs by PrepStar … Ranked No. 12 nationally at the running back position by ESPN.com … Ranked No. 78 overall on ESPN.com’s ESPN 150 … Ranked as the No. 22 running back nationally by Scout.com … Ranked as the No. 57 overall player in the country and No. 8 in the Mid-Atlantic Coast by Tom Lemming’s Prep Football Report … Ranked No. 98 on collegefootballnews.com’s CFN Top 150 … Ranked 15th on CFN’s Top 30 Running Backs list … Graduated high school a semester early and is currently enrolled at Auburn.
PERSONAL — Born Aug. 21, 1988 … Son of Ben Tate, Jr., and Charlotte Green.
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2006 Auburn Tigers ready to get started
There's a lot of anticipation in the air as Auburn is set to open practice Wednesday afternoon on the intramural fields. The Tigers return 11 starters and 59 letterman from last season including quarterback Brandon Cox, tailback Kenny Irons and wide receiver Courtney Taylor.
"It's time to get started," said Auburn head coach Tommy Tuberville. "We have a lot of bright-eyed players, especially the younger guys. They're anxious to get out there and put a helmet on and start understanding what Auburn football is all about and the SEC."
Several key players will miss the first couple of practices including offensive tackle King Dunlap and kicker John Vaughn who recently suffered deaths in their families. The returning players are also dealing with finals this week.
"I think we missed 12 players today (in meetings) because of finals," said Tuberville. "There will be a little bit more than that tomorrow. Most of them are upperclassmen and that's the reason we're going to spend more time with our younger players the next three days."
Nineteen true freshmen scholarship players plus six invited walk-ons officially reported Tuesday but two of the freshmen won't be on the field this afternoon when practice begins at 4:30 p.m. CT. Defensive tackle Jermarcus Ricks and defensive end Darrell Roseman were both late being approved by the NCAA Clearinghouse and cannot practice until their paperwork is approved by the Auburn President's office and the SEC office.
"We have a new rule in the SEC," said Tuberville. "Anybody that is late getting in has to clear the President's office and go through the SEC office."
The Tigers, who were picked to win the 2006 SEC Championship at SEC Media Days last week, begin fall drills with several key question marks including a defense that must find new starters at the safety position.
"There's going to be a sense of urgency at the safety position," said Tuberville. "Knowing that Washington State is going to throw a lot, we've got to find some guys we're confident with. That's a major question mark for us."
There is also uncertainty surrounding the linebacker position after two projected starters were suspended, prompting the move of Steve Gandy from strong safety to outside linebacker.
While Tuberville has not announced the length of suspensions for Kevin Sears and Tray Blackmon, both will be able to practice with their teammates starting Wednesday.
"They will practice like normal," he said. "They probably won't get as many reps with the first team but they will alternate some and work with the second-team and third-team quite a bit."
Auburn must also replace both starters on the interior defensive line and could look at some new schemes to overcome a lack of experience at that position.
"There's a lot of different scenarios we could look at," said Tuberville. "We could do a little more 3-man front if we're short on tackles inside. We've got a few more ends than we've normally had. We'll look a little bit different this year on defense. Probably the defensive line situation will determine how much four-man front and three-man front we play."
Most of the early focus on offense will be finding another wide receiver opposite Taylor and a new starter at fullback or the 'F' position.
Two true freshmen could factor into the playing rotation at both positions in wide receiver Tim Hawthorne and tailback Ben Tate. Tate joined the team in January and has impressed the coaching staff enough to compete for an important spot in the playing rotation at fullback or tailback. Tate will get reps with the first and second-team offense this fall.
"(Tate) did so well in the spring, that we're going to give him an opportunity," said Tuberville. "We're going to put him in there with the first and second-team and see what happens. He's worked very hard this summer. He knows the offense. I think Ben could be a factor for us."
Auburn has scheduled four practices the opening week. The first three will be in shells before Auburn dons full pads for the first time Sunday. The first two-a-day practice is scheduled for Aug. 8 while Auburn will hold a major scrimmage on Aug. 12.
Tuberville is also hoping to hold an earlier scrimmage next week.
"We want to get a scrimmage in sometime next week around Wednesday or Thursday," he said. "We want to have some kind of scrimmage on film by the middle of next week."
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13 steps to become a winning parent
Making the Best Out of Youth Sports: 13 Steps to Being a Winning Parent
INTRODUCTION
If you want your child to come out of his youth sports experience a winner (feeling good about himself and having a healthy attitude towards sports), then he needs your help! You are a vital and important part of the coach-athlete-parent team. If you do your job correctly and play your position well, then your child will learn the sport faster, perform better, really have fun and have his self-esteem enhanced as a result. His sport experience will serve as a positive model for him to follow as he approaches other challenges and obstacles throughout life. If you "drop the ball" or run the wrong way with it, your child will stop learning, experience performance difficulties and blocks, and begin to really hate the sport. And that's the good news! Further, your relationship with him will probably suffer significantly. As a result, he will come out of this experience burdened with feelings of failure, inadequacy and low self-esteem, feelings that will generalize to other areas in his life. Your child and his coach need you on the team. They can't win without you! The following are a list of useful facts, guidelines and strategies for you to use to make you more skilled in the youth sport game. Remember, no wins unless everyone wins. We need you on the team!
STEP ONE
When defined the right way, competition in youth sports is both good and healthy and teaches children a variety of important life skills. The word "compete" comes from the Latin words "com" and "petere" which mean together and seeking respectively. The true definition of competition is a seeking together where your opponent is your partner, not the enemy! The better he performs, the more chance you have of having a peak performance. Sports is about learning to deal with challenges and obstacles. Without a worthy opponent, without any challenges sports is not so much fun. The more the challenge the better the opportunity you have to go beyond your limits. World records are consistently broken and set at the Olympics because the best athletes in the world are "seeking together", challenging each other to enhanced performance. Your child should never be taught to view his opponent as the "bad guy", the enemy or someone to be hated and "destroyed". Do not model this attitude! Instead, talk to/make friends with parents of your child's opponent. Root for great performances, good plays, not just for the winner!
STEP TWO
ENCOURAGE YOUR CHILD TO COMPETE AGAINST HIMSELF
The ultimate goal of the sport experience is to challenge oneself and continually improve. Unfortunately, judging improvement by winning and losing is both an unfair and inaccurate measure. Winning in sports is about doing the best you can do, seperate from the outcome or the play of your opponent. Children should be encouraged to compete against their own potential (i.e., Peter and Patty Potential). That is, the boys should focus on beating "Peter", competing against themselves, while the girls challenge "Patty". When your child has this focus and plays to better himself instead of beating someone else, he will be more relaxed, have more fun and therefore perform better.
STEP THREE
DO NOT DEFINE SUCCESS AND FAILURE IN TERMS OF WINNING AND LOSING A corollary to TWO, one of the main purposes of the youth sports experience is skill acquisition and mastery. When a child performs to his potential and loses it is criminal to focus on the outcome and become critical. If a child plays his very best and loses, you need to help him feel like a winner! Similarly, when a child or team performs far below their potential but wins, this is not cause to feel like a winner. Help your child make this important separation between success and failure and winning and losing. Remember, if you define success and failure in terms of winning and losing, you're playing a losing game with your child!
STEP FOUR
BE SUPPORTIVE, DO NOT COACH!
Your role on the parent-coach-athlete team is as a Support player with a capital S! You need to be your child's best fan. unconditionally! Leave the coaching and instruction to the coach. Provide encouragement, support, empathy, transportation, money, help with fund-raisers, etc., but... do not coach! Most parents that get into trouble with their children do so because they forget to remember the important position that they play. Coaching interferes with your role as supporter and fan. The last thing your child needs and wants to hear from you after a disappointing performance or loss is what they did technically or strategically wrong. Keep your role as a parent on the team separate from that as coach, and, if by necessity you actually get stuck in the almost no-win position of having to coach your child, try to maintain this separation of roles (i.e. on the deck, field or court say, "Now I'm talking to you as a coach", at home say, "Now I'm talking to you as a parent"). Don't parent when you coach and don't coach at home when you're supposed to be parenting.
STEP FIVE
HELP MAKE THE SPORT FUN FOR YOUR CHILD
It's a time proven principle of peak performance that the more fun an athlete is having, the more they will learn and the better they will perform. Fun must be present for peak performance to happen at every level of sports from youth to world class competitor! When a child stops having fun and begins to dread practice or competition, it's time for you as a parent to become concerned! When the sport or game becomes too serious, athletes have a tendency to burn out and become susceptible to repetitive performance problems. An easy rule of thumb: If your child is not enjoying what they are doing, nor loving the heck out of it, investigate! What is going on that's preventing them from having fun? Is it the coaching? The pressure? Is it you?! Keep in mind that being in a highly competitive program does not mean that there is no room for fun. The child that continues to play long after the fun is going will soon become a drop out statistic.
STEP SIX
WHOSE GOAL IS IT? FIVE
leads us to a very important question! Why is your child participating in the sport? Are they doing it because they want to, for them, or because of you. When they have problems in their sport do you talk about them as "our" problems, "our jump isn't high enough", "we're having trouble with our flip turn" , etc. Are they playing because they don't want to disappoint you, because they know how important the sport is to you? Are they playing for rewards and "bonuses" that you give out? Are their goals and aspirations yours or theirs? How invested are you in their success and failure? If they are competing to please you or for your vicarious glory they are in it for the wrong reasons! Further, if they stay involved for you, ultimately everyone will lose. It is quite normal and healthy to want your child to excel and be as successful as possible. But, you cannot make this happen by pressuring them with your expectations or by using guilt or bribery to keep them involved. If they have their own reasons and own goals for participating, they will be far more motivated to excel and therefore far more successful.
STEP SEVEN
YOUR CHILD IS NOT HIS PERFORMANCE-LOVE HIM UNCONDITIONALLY
Do not equate your child's self-worth and lovability with his performance. The most tragic and damaging mistake I see parents continually make is punishing a child for a bad performance by withdrawing emotionally from him. A child loses a race, strikes out or misses and easy shot on goal and the parent responds with disgust, anger and withdrawal of love and approval. CAUTION: Only use this strategy if you want to damage your child emotionally and ruin your relationship with him. In the 1988 Olympics, when Greg Louganis needed and got a perfect 10 on his last dive to overtake the Chinese diver for the gold medal, his last thought before he went was, "If I don't make it, my mother will still love me".
STEP EIGHT
REMEMBER THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-ESTEEM IN ALL OF YOUR INTERACTIONS WITH YOUR CHILD-ATHLETE
Athletes of all ages and levels perform in direct relationship to how they feel about themselves. When your child is in an athletic environment that boosts his self-esteem, he will learn faster, enjoy himself more and perform better under competitive pressure. One thing we all want as children and never stop wanting is to be loved and accepted, and to have our parents feel good about what we do. This is how self-esteem gets established. When your interactions with your child make him feel good about himself, he will, in turn, learn to treat himself this very same way. This does not mean that you have to incongruently compliment your child for a great effort after they have just performed miserably. In this situation being empathic and sensitive to his feelings is what's called for. Self esteem makes the world go round. Make your child feel good about himself and you've given him a gift that lasts a lifetime. Do not interact with your child in a way that assaults his self-esteem by degrading, embarrassing or humiliating him. If you continually put your child down or minimize his accomplishments not only will he learn to do this to himself throughout his life, but he will also repeat your mistake with his children!
STEP NINE
GIVE YOUR CHILD THE GIFT OF FAILURE
If you really want your child to be as happy and as successful as possible in everything that he does, teach him how to fail! The most successful people in and out of sports do two things differently than everyone else. First,, they are more willing to take risks and therefore fail more frequently. Second, they use their failures in a positive way as a source of motivation and feedback to improve. Our society is generally negative and teaches us that failure is bad, a cause for humiliation and embarrassment, and something to be avoided at all costs. Fear of failure or humiliation causes one to be tentative and non-active. In fact, most performance blocks and poor performances are a direct result of the athlete being preoccupied with failing or messing up. You can't learn to walk without falling enough times. Each time that you fall your body gets valuable information on how to do it better. You can't be successful or have peak performances if you are concerned with losing or failing. Teach your child how to view setbacks, mistakes and risk-taking positively and you'll have given him the key to a lifetime of success. Failure is the perfect stepping stone to success.
STEP TEN
CHALLENGE, DON'T THREATEN
Many parents directly or indirectly use guilt and threats as a way to "motivate" their child to perform better. Performance studies clearly indicate that while threats may provide short term results, the long term costs in terms of psychological health and performance are devastating. Using fear as a motivator is probably one of the worst dynamics you could set up with your child. Threats take the fun out of performance and directly lead to your child performing terribly. implicit in a threat, (do this or else!) is your own anxiety that you do not believe the child is capable. Communicating this lack of belief, even indirectly is further devastating to the child's performance. A challenge does not entail loss or negative consequences should the athlete fail. Further, implicit in a challenge is the empowering belief, "I think that you can do it".
STEP ELEVEN
STRESS PROCESS, NOT OUTCOME
When athletes choke under pressure and perform far below their potential, a very common cause of this is a focus on the outcome of the performance (i.e., win/lose, instead of the process). In any peak performance, the athlete is totally oblivious to the outcome and instead is completely absorbed in the here and now of the actual performance. An outcome focus will almost always distract and tighten up the athlete insuring a bad performance. Furthermore focusing on the outcome, which is completely out of the athlete's control will raise his anxiety to a performance inhibiting level. So if you truly want your child to win, help get his focus away from how important the contest is and have them focus on the task at hand. Supportive parents de-emphasize winning and instead stress learning the skills and playing the game.
STEP TWELVE
AVOID COMPARISONS AND RESPECT DEVELOPMENTAL DIFFERENCES Supportive parents do not use other athletes that their child competes against to compare and thus evaluate their child's progress. Comparisons are useless, inaccurate and destructive. Each child matures differently and the process of comparison ignores significant distorting effects of developmental differences. For example, two 12 year old boys may only have their age in common! One may physically have the build and perform like a 16 year old while the other, a late developer, may have the physical size and attribute of a 9 year old. Performance comparisons can prematurely turn off otherwise talented athletes on their sport. The only value of comparisons is in teaching. If one child demonstrates proper technique, that child can be used comparatively as a model only! For your child to do his very best he needs to learn to stay within himself. Worrying about how another athlete is doing interferes with him doing this.
STEP THIRTEEN
TEACH YOUR CHILD TO HAVE A PERSPECTIVE ON THE SPORTS EXPERIENCE The sports media in this country would like you to believe that sports and winning/losing is larger than life. The fact that it is just a game frequently gets lost in translation. This lack of perspective frequently trickles down to the youth sport level and young athletes often come away from competition with a distorted view of themselves and how they performed. Parents need to help their children develop realistic expectations about themselves, their abilities and how they played, without robbing the child of his dreams. Swimming a lifetime best time and coming in dead last is a cause for celebration, not depression. Similarly, losing the conference championships does not mean that the sun will not rise tomorrow.
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