My NFL Draft Experience

Whew! What a weekend that was! Last Wednesday my wife and I travelled to New York City for the 2009 NFL Draft. This year was a special year for me as my client Eugene Monroe was invited by the NFL to be there. Eugene and his agent Sunny Shah of 320 Sports invited my wife and I up to take it all in.

We arrived Wednesday in the afternoon, settled into the hotel then went downstairs to see Eugene, and another one of my clients Josh Vaughn, a RB from Richmond. We met up with them later at a nightclub called TAJ where 320 Sports was having a pre draft party. It was a fun night and a pleasure to meet Eugene, family and friends.

Thursday and Friday we poked around NYC taking int he sights which was highlighted by a dinner at TAO. If you have never been to TAO you need to go there at least once, it is awesome.

Before I knew it the big day was here, we all met down in the lobby at 11am to get our credentials and tickets for the draft, then went to the westin to have a family and friends lunch with Eugene and all the other invited players put on by the NFL. After lunch we were shuttle to the Radio City Music hall for the draft to begin.

The atmosphere at the hall was awesome. There were crazy fans yelling running around with their teams jerseys on. It was cool to see ESPN's Mel Kiper, Todd McShay, Chris Berman, Chris Mortensen along with NFL Network's Mike Mayock, Jon Gruden, and other tv personalities. we found our seats and the draft started.

There was not much suspense for the first pick Matthew Stafford, as he had already reached a deal with the Lions. The 2nd pick was St.Louis whom I thought might take Eugene, but they passed and selected Jason Smith of Baylor. Then came the out of the sky picks of Tyson Jackson (Chiefs) and Heyward-Bey(Raiders) which threw a wrench into things. Then the Jets moved up for Mark Sanchez, and finally with the 8th pick Eugene was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

When the Commissioner made the selection and said Eugene's name I was very happy, excited and proud. He had worked so hard to make this happen, I was happy he had his family and friends there to share it with. He was speechless, excited and emotional. His journey for now is over. He has a new home in Jacksonville.

A new chapter begins this Thursday, when he has mini camp. Knowing Eugene, nothing will change he will still be the hard working, grinding athlete he has always been.

Later that night I was at dinner and I got a text that my other OT prospect Sebastian Vollmer was selected in the 2nd round by the New England Patriots. This is another great story as he was born and raised in Germany, and started this season as a Free Agent rated prospect. In my next post I will tell Sebastian's story.

Got to run, that's all for now.

Whew! What a weekend that was! Last Wednesday my wife and I travelled to New York City for the 2009 NFL Draft. This year was a special year for me as my client Eugene Monroe was invited by the NFL to be there. Eugene and his agent Sunny Shah of 320 Sports invited my wife and I up to take it all in.

We arrived Wednesday in the afternoon, settled into the hotel then went downstairs to see Eugene, and another one of my clients Josh Vaughn, a RB from Richmond. We met up with them later at a nightclub called TAJ where 320 Sports was having a pre draft party. It was a fun night and a pleasure to meet Eugene, family and friends.

Thursday and Friday we poked around NYC taking int he sights which was highlighted by a dinner at TAO. If you have never been to TAO you need to go there at least once, it is awesome.

Before I knew it the big day was here, we all met down in the lobby at 11am to get our credentials and tickets for the draft, then went to the westin to have a family and friends lunch with Eugene and all the other invited players put on by the NFL. After lunch we were shuttle to the Radio City Music hall for the draft to begin.

The atmosphere at the hall was awesome. There were crazy fans yelling running around with their teams jerseys on. It was cool to see ESPN's Mel Kiper, Todd McShay, Chris Berman, Chris Mortensen along with NFL Network's Mike Mayock, Jon Gruden, and other tv personalities. we found our seats and the draft started.

There was not much suspense for the first pick Matthew Stafford, as he had already reached a deal with the Lions. The 2nd pick was St.Louis whom I thought might take Eugene, but they passed and selected Jason Smith of Baylor. Then came the out of the sky picks of Tyson Jackson (Chiefs) and Heyward-Bey(Raiders) which threw a wrench into things. Then the Jets moved up for Mark Sanchez, and finally with the 8th pick Eugene was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars.

When the Commissioner made the selection and said Eugene's name I was very happy, excited and proud. He had worked so hard to make this happen, I was happy he had his family and friends there to share it with. He was speechless, excited and emotional. His journey for now is over. He has a new home in Jacksonville.

A new chapter begins this Thursday, when he has mini camp. Knowing Eugene, nothing will change he will still be the hard working, grinding athlete he has always been.

Later that night I was at dinner and I got a text that my other OT prospect Sebastian Vollmer was selected in the 2nd round by the New England Patriots. This is another great story as he was born and raised in Germany, and started this season as a Free Agent rated prospect. In my next post I will tell Sebastian's story.

Got to run, that's all for now.

How to run a faster 40 yard dash

The past couple of weeks I have been working with some athletes that are having trouble with the back end of their 40 yard dash. When analyzing their 40 yard dash their 10 and 20 yard time were right in line with running a good 40 yard dash time, but the final result was not what I had expected. The 40 yard dash time was just too slow.

So with a good 10 and 20 yard split time, I watched video of them running to see what I could find that was holding them back. What I found with both athletes was their stride length was short for their top speed phase, and when watching the video the problem was existing from their arm action.

There arms were short and quick, causing their legs to be the same... Not good if you are looking for stride length during the last 15 yards. So we went to work, I told them to exaggerate the arms in the final 15 yards, creating a longer swing of the arms, to focus on pulling the arm back while the other fires forward, and the result was astonishing.... A faster 40 yard dash!

Both athletes applied this technique in training and on testing day with great success. If you are having issues similar to them you should try this technique.For more tips like this get my Combine Freak DVD where I teach you all the compnents to running a fast 40 yard dash!

Train Hard!
Mike Gough BSc, CSCS

http://www.procombinetraining.com/
http://www.combinefreak.com/
http://www.speedtoolsusa.com/

PS. Check out our speed sleds, if you are up to the challenge! Get the Sled to lower your 40 yard dash

Biggest Speed Training Mistakes

Last week I had the honor of speaking to the football players at a local high school. There coach called me and asked me if I could come in and talk to the athletes before they were about to time some 40 yard dashes.

I went through a quick tutorial on the 40 yard dash start position trying to give these young atheltes some technical cues they could put to work right then and there to run a faster time. It was a cliff notes version of what I cover in my Combine DVD but I hit on the major tips.

The coach then asked me what were the biggest problems that hindered speed development in athletes. I responded with a lack of flexibility and arm mechanics...

Athletes as a whole don't stretch enough or not at all, they are tight and stiff, and especially high school athletes whom are going through growth spurts tend to be very inflexible. I told the athletes that flexibility training is THE most overlooked component of speed training. So if you want to get fast... Get flexible!

Arm mechanics especially in the top speed phase of the 40 yard dash can either make or break your time. I see too many athletes running with a short choppy arm swing. This short arm movement shortens your stride length, so at top speed when you want to open your stride up, you are shortening it and losing speed. Next time you run when you reach full speed exaggerate your arm swing to run a faster time.

Summer football training is just starting, if you need a surefire program to make the most of your training and train like an NFLer get my Training For The NFL Program.

Speed Sleds

Check out our speed sleds, if you are up to the challenge! We use these sleds daily to increase acceleration off the start. Get the Sled to lower your 40 yard dash