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The bulk of the Raiders team will start their big summer break right now. It’s a bit strange for some to go from minicamp, which is meant to be somewhat of a training camp primer, to getting away for six weeks before hitting the field for training camp. But, as Raiders head coach Klint Kubiak sees it as an important time.
“Looking forward to going and being a dad and being around my kids and my wife and my family and rejuvenating that way,” said Kubiak. “It’s really important for myself, for our whole staff, for our players to go recharge. I don’t want our guys to get burnt out. I want our guys to be excited to come to work when training camp starts. I’m not going to talk to a lot of them for a month. As coaches we’ve got to focus up on things getting detailed for camp, but it’s really important for the mental health of the whole team that we get away and be with our families.”
For many of these players it can be tough to switch off. But the season is long and once they get back, for many of them it will be all football, all the time until early next year.
That being said, it’s also important to stay in shape between now and training camp, so they can hit the ground running and make good use of the work they have done so far.
“You can ruin your offseason with 40 days away,” Kubiak added. “You put all that work in this time of year, if you go post up on the couch, all that work is for naught. So, 40 days away you’ve got to really be self-motivated and we’re not going to be with them every day, but we’ll be in contact with them and then that’s where to me Mr Spytek’s job comes into play because he brought in a lot of quality individuals who are self-motivated. If you don’t have self-motivated guys, you have no idea what’s coming once they come into training camp, so I feel really confident that we have a self-motivated group.”
Some of the more established players may have a routine for training away from the Raiders facility. While others would be wise to utilize the state-of-the-art facilities and training staff the team has in place in Las Vegas.
What it comes down to is balancing giving yourself a mental break while not letting slip the physical aspect of it. The veterans will be more experienced at how to manage that. For the young players it could be one of the biggest tests of whether they are cut out to be in the NFL.
"It is a different timing when you look at other sports leagues," said quarterback Kirk Cousins, a 14-year NFL veteran. "Basketball starts their camp in the fall and they go right into the season, and there's been talk about that around the league as to should this schedule be amended? I don't know, but it works for how it's been done. But yes, certainly there's a level of responsibility on the player over the five and a half, six week summer break to be a pro, to understand what that should look like for them, and every guy's different as to what they need to do. But you have your rhythm and your routine, and you want to make sure that -- because we will. We'll hit the ground running come training camp, and so the next six weeks you're kind of on your own to be responsible and be ready to go come training camp."
This team has a whopping 30 rookies on it's offseason roster. That's a full third of the team -- 10 drafted rookies and 20 undrafted. Most of them are coming from college where they saw around 13 games and were split between preparing to play and studying for classes. Now they are competing against players who are all football the better part of the year and play at least 20 games per season (including preseason).
That's a grind. The next few weeks is where they go about preparing themselves mentally and physically for that grind.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Break before training camp a huge test for Raiders young hopefuls
Continue reading...
“Looking forward to going and being a dad and being around my kids and my wife and my family and rejuvenating that way,” said Kubiak. “It’s really important for myself, for our whole staff, for our players to go recharge. I don’t want our guys to get burnt out. I want our guys to be excited to come to work when training camp starts. I’m not going to talk to a lot of them for a month. As coaches we’ve got to focus up on things getting detailed for camp, but it’s really important for the mental health of the whole team that we get away and be with our families.”
For many of these players it can be tough to switch off. But the season is long and once they get back, for many of them it will be all football, all the time until early next year.
That being said, it’s also important to stay in shape between now and training camp, so they can hit the ground running and make good use of the work they have done so far.
“You can ruin your offseason with 40 days away,” Kubiak added. “You put all that work in this time of year, if you go post up on the couch, all that work is for naught. So, 40 days away you’ve got to really be self-motivated and we’re not going to be with them every day, but we’ll be in contact with them and then that’s where to me Mr Spytek’s job comes into play because he brought in a lot of quality individuals who are self-motivated. If you don’t have self-motivated guys, you have no idea what’s coming once they come into training camp, so I feel really confident that we have a self-motivated group.”
Some of the more established players may have a routine for training away from the Raiders facility. While others would be wise to utilize the state-of-the-art facilities and training staff the team has in place in Las Vegas.
What it comes down to is balancing giving yourself a mental break while not letting slip the physical aspect of it. The veterans will be more experienced at how to manage that. For the young players it could be one of the biggest tests of whether they are cut out to be in the NFL.
"It is a different timing when you look at other sports leagues," said quarterback Kirk Cousins, a 14-year NFL veteran. "Basketball starts their camp in the fall and they go right into the season, and there's been talk about that around the league as to should this schedule be amended? I don't know, but it works for how it's been done. But yes, certainly there's a level of responsibility on the player over the five and a half, six week summer break to be a pro, to understand what that should look like for them, and every guy's different as to what they need to do. But you have your rhythm and your routine, and you want to make sure that -- because we will. We'll hit the ground running come training camp, and so the next six weeks you're kind of on your own to be responsible and be ready to go come training camp."
This team has a whopping 30 rookies on it's offseason roster. That's a full third of the team -- 10 drafted rookies and 20 undrafted. Most of them are coming from college where they saw around 13 games and were split between preparing to play and studying for classes. Now they are competing against players who are all football the better part of the year and play at least 20 games per season (including preseason).
That's a grind. The next few weeks is where they go about preparing themselves mentally and physically for that grind.
This article originally appeared on Raiders Wire: Break before training camp a huge test for Raiders young hopefuls
Continue reading...
