Camp/Combine Info You must know

CAMP AND COMBINE SEASON Spring and summer weekends are filled with tryouts, combines, skills and recruiting camps. Players at camps seem different then your school’s practice. Bigger, Faster, Meaner. If you want to make it to the next level, you’ve got to shine against the best. So we put a listed of things every student-athlete need to know before attending a tryouts, combine, skills and recruiting camps.

DON’T BE INTIMIDATED There will be a lot of great players and a lot of big names here. Don’t be scared because of the hype. Come in with confidence and know you belong. Some players are defeated before the camp even starts. Confidence at camps is HUGE. YOU CAN’T FOOL THE CLOCK The foundation for a good combine performance is determined many weeks before the combine. Not two weeks. Not three weeks. Several weeks, as in at least six. Get in the weight room and get on the track. And learn what your body needs to get a maximum effort.

PLAN TO SUCCEED Carefully plan what you do the week before the combine. 3-4 days out: Do some 100% flying 20-yard sprint, but not to many. 2 days out: Rest. Put your feet up. Get to the next level of a new video game. 1 day out: Do a light, but speedy workout. Work hard to enough to sweat, but quit your workout way before you’re tired. Remember, you cannot make up for work your haven’t done by working harder in the last week. You’ll just use whatever strength you have. DON’T FEAR THE UNKNOWN-LEARN IT A lot players don’t know the drills at the camps, how to do them, or what the coaches are looking for. You’d take SAT or ACT prep course, right? Then do the same things for camp – research the drills work with a coach and repeat them again and again and again. By the time you hit the camp, position drills should be second nature. DAY OF TRUTH The day of the combines, get up early and get moving. Make sure to eat a good breakfast with lots of fruit and whole grains. A good warm-up is in the key to a great performance. Know how many sprints you need to do before your 40. Know how many warm-up sets you need to. Get your legs ready to turn and burn in the shuttle. Don’t go in cold.

BE PREARED Don’t give yourself excuses. Bring extra clothes in the case it’s cold or something to strip down to in case it’s hot. And know your running surface grass, turfs, field turf, track? Come prepared with the right shoes, and a pair of back-ups in case things change. Borrow the right sizes shoes from your buddy if you gotta – just imagine him bragging to the boys about how fast you ran in his shoes. BE A COMPETITOR Who are you competing against in the combine? Yourself. Before you started training you had a 40 time and other baseline test. The you hit the weights and track; you trained hard. At the combine, write those old times down on your wristband, then crush them. If you improved, walk off the field proud. You’ll always have room to improve, but for this day, celebrate how much strong and faster you’ve already become.

GET YOUR REPS IN When the one-on-one drills start, this is where the stars are made. Don’t sit back and let other players take every rep: be aggressive and get out there. There more reps you take, the better chance you have to impress. If you see a guy doing well, don’t be afraid to call him out and try and go up against him to show your talent. HAVE FUN Sometimes guys will get so wrapped up in how they did in an event or drill that they shut down – don’t do that. Learn something at the camp – stay open to coaching, not only from the guys running the camp but from the players you’re competing against. Ask question, try new things, and have a good time.