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How Are You Showing Up to Camp?

By Phil Eich
When I coached football in Saginaw, I had three kinds of athletes show up to camp.

Athlete 1: This athlete had been dedicated to their training and were chomping at the bit to play their sport. They could do
more drills faster than anyone, it seemed like they were never tired, and when they got on the field, they made their team-
mates look like they were asleep on their feet. These athletes were impressive, and you know from your history as an athlete
that making a good impression is a big part of playing team sports.They started camp in a good rhythm, and that continued
to some big things later on the season.

Athlete 2: I could tell this athlete had been actively training over the summer. Were they in fantastic shape? No, but they
had obviously been in the weight room around three times a week and had done some kind of conditioning work. The other
coaches and I looked at these athletes as “diamonds in the rough” - there was a good athlete somewhere in there, but we
needed to do a lot of work and it would take time. For these athletes, camp started off slowly, but they eventually fell into a
good rhythm and looked like athletes by the time the season came around.

Athlete 3: This athlete hadn’t done anything all summer, or they started too late to make any meaningful improvement. They
could run three 40 yard run tests before they started complaining about wanting to vomit or about some ache, pain or pull.
As a coach, I felt like I had to drag athletes like this through camp and this made me angry (you don’t want to make your
coaches angry). They didn’t get much playtime because those “aches, pains and pulls” continued through most of the season,
they looked like they didn’t want to play, or their performance simply wasn’t good enough to earn them a place on the field.

You want to be Athlete 1. You will stand out, and you will have laid the foundation for a great season.

Being Athlete 2 is ok, but not great. Most of your teammates are probably about an Athlete 2, and if you’re ok with being
about as good as everybody else, go for it.

DO NOT BE ATHLETE 3.

Athlete 1s - Good work. You’ve done what is necessary to get better - hard work performed consistently over a long period of
time. If you can hold onto this kind of discipline and improve it, you are setting yourself up for a life of success.

Athlete 2s -Good work. You’re not WOWing anyone with your dedication and work ethic, but you’ve put in enough work to
be able to say “This sport is important in my life.” Maybe your fall sport is just one of many things you enjoy, and training
three times a week is what you could balance with the rest of your activities. You’ll have fun this season.

Athlete 3s - This is not good. If you’re headed to camp tomorrow and you haven’t trained anything except Call of Duty you’re
going to have a hard time at camp.

“Yeah, but I started working out yesterday and that’ll give me two weeks of training before camp.”

I’m going to be honest with you - if you’re starting any kind of off-season training one to three weeks away from camp, it’s
too late. You should still start training because something is better than nothing, but next year learn from your mistake and
start your training sooner. You might be able to avoid some of the excessive soreness that comes from camp training, but you
will not be the athlete you could have been and your teammates and coaches will all see that. Next year, start your training
sooner and show up a better athlete.
Joe Stewart, MSW, CF-L2, USAW L2
Owner
Mission 1 Fitness LLC
1900A W. Caro Rd.
Caro, MI 48723
(989) 553-1044
www.missiononefitness.com
Mission 1 Apparel
www.mission1apparel.com
KELLY@SPORTSFINESTMAGAZINE.COM 989 672 0799 SPORTSFINESTMAGAZINE.COM August 2017 SPORTS FINEST MAGAZINE • 13 KELLY@SPORTSFINESTMAGAZINE.COM 989 672 0799 SPORTSFINESTMAGAZINE.COM August 2017 SPORTS FINEST MAGAZINE 13