GET TO WORK     
     During what the coaches call the most important part of off-season, the weight room, we put our bodies through rigorous and gruelingworkouts trying to improve our over all strength. The weight room helps us get stronger so that we may over power the weaker opponents. I for one am not alone when saying that I despise the weight room and everything about it. It's not that I don't like working hard because I've put in my time. Putting in my time possibly is the reason that I don't like the weight room because ever since I have played football I have lifted weights. The weight room does bond the team together when all the players have to go through the same adverisity it just seems to make everyone form as a team. I believe the reasoning for coming together might be that we all hate the coaches during lifting sessions and we all have a common enemy. But the coaches are there to push us and reveal to us the best possible players we can be.

     In the weight room we usually start off by forming lines and stretching out to get the muscles activated so that we don't have an injury. After stretching we go into the weight room and grab our workout sheets that tel us what to do. I usually pick my friends to workout with so that I can get away with not working out as much as possible but also lift enough to get a little stronger. Yes, I may be lazy but I can say what I lack in desire in the weight room I make up for on the field by being a little more talented than most players. In the regular lifting session we start off with bench press or squats and work our way to assistance lifts to work the smaller muscle groups. Sessions aren't long but they require a lot of focus because they are pretty intense for the amount of time that is allowed. After the lifting is said and done it is outside for conditioning were depending on the coaches mood could go really bad or go about as good as running could get. Then we get on the line and wait for the whistle to sound so that we can push throught the 100s 200s or sprints. Once I cross the line for the last time I breath the deepest sign of relief because now I know I wont be begging for air. We then recieve a small talk to motivate us to work hard everyday to get better and that completes the workout for the day. I try to go home and relax the best I can to recover because I know for the next 6 weeks it will be the same unless it is the weekend cause those are the best days, OFF Days.
 

Weight room somewhat similar to the one we use

3-2-1 Two-A-Days

It seems like there isn’t any situation in football that we don’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn to go through hell especially during two-a-days. During two-a-days we wake up early as possible so that our coaches allowed exactly 8 hours of sleep, yea right. But seriously the team goes through it waking up at 6 A.M. every morning for around 2 weeks to go eat the same Hein dining hall breakfast of eggs, sausage, potatoes, biscuits, and the topper of gravy. Yes, that food gets really old after two weeks. After pushing what we can down the food shoot we move reluctantly to the field house to go get dressed and make it to meetings on time. Getting to our meetings the upper classmen learn the same plays we have ran for the past three years while the freshmen frantically take notes so they aren’t behind when we get out to the field. Meetings are the last separation between being OK and going through the next two hours of practice that feels like days. Pushing through drills and plays the wear a player to his breaking point to where they you feel like passing out and when you think it’s all over we end practice with the hardest part. Boot camp and yes, it is as bad as it sounds. In no way am would I compare it to what our armed forces go through but to me a lineman it is the worst thing I could do following practice. Post boot camp though we are done with the hardest part of the day and it’s off to lunch at the dining hall again where it is either a chicken breast and salad or possibly some sort of casserole for yesterday’s supper and salad. The best part of the day is after lunch being our break or NAP TIME. Now days I wonder why I never took a nap in kindergarten when I had the chance but who knew I would’ve been this sleep deprived in college football. Football isn’t all that bad but two-a-days definitely makes you second guess your decision to play division 3 football with no scholarships given that though the best part of being a division 3 football player has yet to come in our day because the team can only have on full padded practice a day. Don’t get me wrong though the second practice our “walk though” isn’t the cake walk it sounds it really is a full padded practice without the presents of the pads. Sometimes I wondered which practice was actually worse because of the shoulder to shoulder contact we had to go through but still this practice meant we didn’t have boot camp. When that practice was over it was clear sailing for the rest of the day. Going back to the dining hall on last time to get complete our eating sessions of the day we go to the team meeting where we have one of our coach’s talks about something inspirational that usually lifted my spirits enough to make me come back for another day. Then one of the position groups introduces themselves by getting a partner and introduces his partner with factual information followed by friendly put downs about his partner that usually gets the whole team laughing. When the team meeting concludes it’s on to our nightly position meeting where we spend around 30 minutes going over practice and cutting up to relieve the stress of the day. After that meeting it’s back to the house to go to sleep and pray I make it through the same thing the next day.

 

  Brad Snowden- Linebacker #42

I'm in this photo to #68 

                                                                                                                                          

Game Day: Week 5

The alarm clock screaming at me to wake up at 8 A.M. and telling me that I should’ve went to bed a lot sooner than I did. That seems like it happens a lot through my football career. I get out of the shower like I always do to wake up for football. I start making my way to campus for devotional and rubbing my eyes trying to focus on the road also pondering why I put myself through this were every other college student is sleeping as late as they want on a Saturday morning. But in a few hours it will be all worth it when the ball is kicked off.  We all pile into the chapel on campus for our devotional from Pastor Greg who always reads scriptures that relate to everyday life and how it will help motivate us throughout our game that day. After singing our signature song “I Believe I Believe” we head to Hein dining hall where we are served the usual average breakfast that I try to eat as little as possible so I’m not still full during the game.  Putting up my dishes it’s time to go to the field house and start mentally preparing for the game today. As I get to the locker room I put all my gear together and lounge around watching other college football games that are on TV. The worst thing about playing college football is that you don’t get to see all the big games that happen in division 1 football because we usually play. During this time the team messes around making jokes and pulling little pranks that won’t attract too much attention from the coaches but enough to have a good time. But sooner than later it is time to go to position meetings to make sure that everyone knows what team they are on and where they are supposed to be. Then the coaches and captains try their best to pump up the team the best they can before the “battle”. When the meetings end it is time to load the trusty Yellow dogs (buses) and go to the field. Arriving at the field it is our first time seeing a little bit of the other team that we will be going head to head against for the next 60 minutes. While we are sitting in our other locker room it is pretty much silent just guys mentally getting ready mostly listening to music or just sitting quietly. The loudest thing is one player who thinks he could pursue a rapping career but he doesn’t sound as good as the professional quality that he hears through his ear phones which is pretty distracting. The coaches come in periodically to yell how much time each group has until they need to go out while we are all putting on our gear. Finally we are all out on the field for stretch and warm up and this is when we all start getting hyped up and feeling the butterflies in your stomach. We do the usual drills to get loosened up and get the head thinking about football. When stretch is over we head in to get a little water and pray together just to head back out to line up for the national anthem. “O say can you see ……” and soon enough after the coin toss we are lined up getting ready to kick the ball off. The nerves pulse through everyone’s veins until you hear the first thud of the kick then the fight begins. It is a pretty jumbled up time coaches yelling and people going on and off the field waiting for the coach to yell for you to go in. When you’re on the field everything is so fast you line up across from a guy about your size and react when the center snaps the ball. You work across the guys face and all you see is blurred until out of nowhere you see the ball and make a break for it to wrap up the running back and drag him to the ground. Then the buzzer sounds and we head into the locker room for half time. The next half is the same thing except even more intense when we are battling for the win right down to the very last second. Buzzzzzzzz!!!!!!!!!! Everyone is smiling patting each other on the back and coaches telling the players good game. Then the whole team gathering together on the 50 yard line to thank God for allowing us to play the game and come out victorious this time. Then we make our why back to campus to ring the victory bell to signal our victory and let everyone know that the Texas Lutheran Bulldogs won their game that Saturday.

Quarterback- Brent Peavy 

 

 

Road Trippin’

The alarm clock screaming at me to wake up at 6 A.M. and telling me that I should’ve went to bed a lot sooner than I did. I knew I would be going through it in the morning of our 12 hour bus ride but who cares I’ll have that time to sleep on the bus. Crawling out of bed thinking to myself “No I won’t have the time to nap the whole trip because I have a big paper due that night at 12. Yay! I can’t sleep on the bus anyway what am I talking about. “Anyway I shuffled to the shower so that I may wake myself up to make it to the bus. After the shower scrambling to find my travel suit that also could’ve been found the night before thinking again to myself “I need to quit being so lazy.” But looking around the baskets of clean clothes that have gone unfolded for weeks I struck oil finding the suit. Throwing it on I hurry to my truck because I took a little too long in the shower so now I’m rushing out the door to make it just in time, but forgetting my computer that I will need for that paper I run back in to grab it and head off to the school. Getting the locker room I’m running early enough to be late I start packing my travel bag with all my gear that I will need to play my football game. I just scoop my whole locker into the bag so I don’t forget anything then throw my bag under the bus to go claim my seat.  I’ve sat in the same seat for three years and still a first time traveler tries putting their carry-on bag in my seat but I politely relocated it in another seat I always get the seat that is just the right distance from the TV. Yes, this may be rude but I have earned my stripes through my years of hard work and effort through the program. So now we are departing and I get ready for the cinematic adventure that the student coaches have chosen appropriate for us. I should get cracking on finishing my paper but aaaaaaahh it can wait. This is the best time passer for us football players on these long bus trips just relaxing until we stop for lunch. When the first movie ends we are still a couple hours from our lunch stop so I get out the old computer and start working on my paper. With papers and my computer spread out across my two seats flipping back and forth looking through it all to find enough information to pack into my paper so that I can make the grade. Teachers should commend us student athletes because it is something difficult to ride a bus full of guys making noise and trying to write a paper. Taking breaks in between the paragraphs to watch the next movie and listening to the funny guys on the team just talk about guy stuff to put it lightly I try to enjoy to bus ride and actually get stuff done at the same time. Finally we get to the restaurant for lunch and I’m starving. Waddling on the bus after eating too much I decide to enjoy the ride until we get to the hotel. Several hours later getting to the hotel the whole team is trying to make it to get their cards at the same time (Gosh I hate that). When I slide the door my roommate and I look through the room and compare it to the rooms that we’ve had weeks before then settling down on the bed and wait for supper that night. The best part about the trips are going to the movies and seeing a free movie but the trip to and from the movie theater the upper classmen harass the freshmen about the “experiences” they’ve had in college already it is all in good fun yet very funny. But after the movie and good times it is time to get serious because we have a meetings that are intense times talking about what is needed to happen during the game to come out successful. Getting back to the room it’s back to work on my paper until 12 A.M. then after struggling down to the last minute I finished it and it’s time for the Domino’s pizza ritual that  we have every time we travel. Eating the pizza we call the girlfriends then turn out the lights and prepare for the game. Once again the alarm clock, shuffling to the shower and getting out we head down to breakfast then to a meeting. Getting back to the room we throw on our uniforms and make our way to the buses to go to the stadium. When the game is over we throw our bags back on the bus and climb on the bus and get ready for the long ride home and it will be a long one after losing a close on in overtime to an opponent we were beating for majority of the game. I am worn out from the game and after eating my food I crawl onto the floor and try to get some sleep. Yea the floor is nasty but after 3 hours of a football game you don’t really care. I wake up for every bump the bus hits but for the most part I think I got 3 hours of sleep over the course of a 8 hour straight shot home. Waking up from the worst sleep ever I get my things together and grab my bag from under the bus. I get into the locker room and pour my bag out, turn in my gear I checked out and hurry to my truck to get home. When I get home I fall into my bed and wait for the alarm clock again.