Second annual Lynn Road football tryouts

After the first annual Lynn Road football tryouts last June (can only do this during these longest days, as too much gloom has the potential for a PAX taking a football to the face), I was looking forward to bringing the footballs out again this year.  This year we even had a couple of age-appropriate PAX who could play should Lynn Road Elementary (which borders Williams Park and is part of Crucible’s AO) actually decide to field a team — Spud and Thriller (FNG, 9-year-old Michael Jackson fan – welcome!)  After a quick survey to make sure we had enough footballs and then a disclaimer, we went right into the …

Warmup

Quick jog most of the way around the big track and then headed in to the tennis courts and circled up for …

• Good mornings x 15
• Merkins x 20 (first 10 with right leg in the air, second 10 with left leg up)
• Imperial Walkers x 20
• Mountain Climbers x 25

The Thang

1. Split up into four groups (each group took one end of a tennis court), with each rotating several times through:
   • 5-cone drill, repeatedly running to a corner and back to the center, then to the next corner and back; switch to go in opposite direction after a few circuits
   • 3-cone “L” drill — run from first “cone” (actually just used spots where the lines on the tennis courts intersect today) to second and put hand down, back to first cone and hand down, then around the corner past the second cone and loop around the third cone before running back around the L; switch the L after a few circuits, so we’re cutting the opposite way
2. Mosey over to the soccer field and everyone line up on the sideline for a “gasser” —  run hard across field and back twice in a row, with no break in between (always YHC’s favorite in August three-a-days)
3. Now actively using those footballs, we had 3 different teams (one team of four worked in a fourth guy to what I describe below) each using a 5-cone formation to focus some more on speed and agility (and passing and catching!):
   • 2 men (one with a football) start about 5 yards beyond one end of the staggered cones, with the third about 5 yards past the other end of the cones
   • 1 of the 2 takes off and runs two diagonal lines with relatively quick turns, then two longer diagonal lines, then two more shorter diagonal lines with quick turns again — during either of the two longer stretches, the “QB” throws a pass to the man running the zig-zag route, receiver hauls it in and completes the route, ending up next to the third man; at that point, the third man starts running the route in the other direction, the prior receiver becomes the QB and so on in a continuous cycle
     
   • Every time a ball hits the ground, all the men on that team drop and do 5 merkins (uncharacteristically took a little while for YHC to get my throwing timing down today; sorry team!), then the receiver picks the ball up and continues on
   • All the PAX stopped where they were in place a couple of times to complete 50 LBCs and 20 sumo jump squats, respectively, OYO then jumped right back into routes
4. Then we consolidated so we had two teams of 5 PAX each
   • 3 men started at one end of the cones (one with a football), and 2 at the other end
   • The QB (man with the football) called out which of the two on his end would be the receiver and which would be the defender, then “go”. Staying within the width of the cones and ultimately reaching the far end, the receiver tried to evade the defender and catch a pass from the QB then run it to the guys at the other end
   • Receiver then became the QB and had the two guys at the other end run it back as receiver and defender (we had a few impressive QBs completing some long throws)

Mary

Running low on time and as YHC isn’t a huge fan of traditional “Mary” anyway, we finished by having the two 5-man teams line up next to each other for a relay race; each man runs across the soccer field and back, then hands the football to the next man on his team who runs across and back as well; everyone on each team runs across and back once and the PAX who are not actively running are planking (YHC called out variations along the way).  After a close initial race, we ran it back again and the other team won a close one that time.  Unfortunately, we were already just past our usual ending time, so no time for a tiebreaker today.

COT

Announcements:  The Forum continues Mondays at noon at Panera on Six Forks (near Whole Foods)

Prayer Requests:

• Dingo’s friend Joe, who fell from a golf cart, suffered a head injury and is in a coma
• Overdraft’s colleague/friend’s child, who was shot in a robbery at Wake Forest University and is recovering in the hospital
• All those who died and were injured in Orlando this weekend, and their loved ones

Thanks to Beaver for taking us out with some strong words!  I appreciate the opportunity to lead you fine men and your flexibility in trying some different things in this workout.