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Your Two-A-Day Experiences from Yesteryear
Posted on 8/9/13 at 11:45 am
Posted on 8/9/13 at 11:45 am
How did your Two-A-Day practices compare to what the SEC teams are going through now? Judging from the pics, things aren't like what I experienced.
HS ball from 86-88:
Practice Schedule = Two-a-Day
Contact = Helmets only for the first three days and then full pads.
Breaks = ice and water at one break only. No shade, misters or big fans. Coaches would get onto us for filling our helmets with ice and water and drinking from it, but that's all we had.
DII ball from 88-92:
Practice Schedule = Three-a-Days (third practice was skeleton drill)
Contact = Full pads, going to the ground starting with first practice.
Breaks = had a few more water breaks but still no shade, fans or misters. Just a PVC pipe with multiple holes drilled in it as drinking stations.
If your arse had spent the summer under the AC then everyone would know by the second day of practice. There were always about 1 or 2 guys who decided to take the summer off. I never wanted to be in their shoes. Can't tell you how many freshman guys just walked off the field or didn't bother to come to the next practice.
Also, the dryer in the field house wasn't worth a shite so your jock was always wet from the morning's practice!
Anytime I smell cut grass in August, I immediately think of these practices.
HS ball from 86-88:
Practice Schedule = Two-a-Day
Contact = Helmets only for the first three days and then full pads.
Breaks = ice and water at one break only. No shade, misters or big fans. Coaches would get onto us for filling our helmets with ice and water and drinking from it, but that's all we had.
DII ball from 88-92:
Practice Schedule = Three-a-Days (third practice was skeleton drill)
Contact = Full pads, going to the ground starting with first practice.
Breaks = had a few more water breaks but still no shade, fans or misters. Just a PVC pipe with multiple holes drilled in it as drinking stations.
If your arse had spent the summer under the AC then everyone would know by the second day of practice. There were always about 1 or 2 guys who decided to take the summer off. I never wanted to be in their shoes. Can't tell you how many freshman guys just walked off the field or didn't bother to come to the next practice.
Also, the dryer in the field house wasn't worth a shite so your jock was always wet from the morning's practice!
Anytime I smell cut grass in August, I immediately think of these practices.
This post was edited on 8/9/13 at 11:52 am
12
Posted on 8/9/13 at 11:58 am to Stuttgart Tiger
frick morning practices. That's all I'm going to say.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 12:02 pm to Henry Jones Jr
Hated laying down in the dew to stretch.
This post was edited on 8/9/13 at 12:03 pm
Posted on 8/9/13 at 12:20 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
HS 91-94
We had camp for one week where we all bunked in the gymnasium. The first practice was at Midnight on the day the GHSAA allowed full pads. Two hours of tackling drills.
Sleep unitl 6 AM (unless you were a freshman ... you didn't sleep if you were a freshman). Then up for breakfast. After breakfast, two more hours of practice from 6:30 to 8:30.
Position meetings from 8:30-10:30
Weight training from 11:00-12:30.
Lunch
Position practices from 1:00 to 3:00
Break at 4:00
Full scrimmage from 4:30 to 6:30
Dinner at 7:00
Team meeting from 7:30 to 8:30 (film)
Lights out at 9:00
Hazing
Up at 4:00 AM on the second day for conditioning. Lots of running.
Rinse, repeat.
I echo the OP on the jock straps. frickers never got dry.
We had camp for one week where we all bunked in the gymnasium. The first practice was at Midnight on the day the GHSAA allowed full pads. Two hours of tackling drills.
Sleep unitl 6 AM (unless you were a freshman ... you didn't sleep if you were a freshman). Then up for breakfast. After breakfast, two more hours of practice from 6:30 to 8:30.
Position meetings from 8:30-10:30
Weight training from 11:00-12:30.
Lunch
Position practices from 1:00 to 3:00
Break at 4:00
Full scrimmage from 4:30 to 6:30
Dinner at 7:00
Team meeting from 7:30 to 8:30 (film)
Lights out at 9:00
Hazing
Up at 4:00 AM on the second day for conditioning. Lots of running.
Rinse, repeat.
I echo the OP on the jock straps. frickers never got dry.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 12:29 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
quote:
If your arse had spent the summer under the AC then everyone would know by the second day of practice. There were always about 1 or 2 guys who decided to take the summer off. I never wanted to be in their shoes. Can't tell you how many freshman guys just walked off the field or didn't bother to come to the next practice.
You are exactly right. This is why heat related illness is more common now. Kids spend the summer inside and aren't acclimated. What's even worse is the morons that go take a cold shower or sit in the AC between two-a-days. That makes it worse. Even with water breaks every 20-30 minutes, they drop like flies the first few days of practice.
When we were kids, we didn't spend all summer inside playing video games. Mom made our asses play outside all day. And I'm not old, it's just that staying inside all day was not an option for us. I never had a heat stroke.
Now, it's a different story. My arse would die if I had to be outside in the heat all day.
Eta: And every locker room I have ever been in has "that smell". The smell of wet, partially moldy jock straps and practice jerseys. It is a smell like no other.
This post was edited on 8/9/13 at 12:32 pm
Posted on 8/9/13 at 12:37 pm to Southern Living
During offseason for college, I'd always spend more time running outside than I did in the weight room.
I'd do the work I had to do in there and then I'd get outside and run my sprints and some short distance work.
I did love the AC in between morning and afternoon practices.
I'd do the work I had to do in there and then I'd get outside and run my sprints and some short distance work.
I did love the AC in between morning and afternoon practices.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 12:52 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
Sounds like you were smart enough to know that you would be puking your guts up the first few days of practice. 
Posted on 8/9/13 at 12:55 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
2006-2010
We went to camp for a week at Georgia Military College. 3- days with lifting after lunch. No A/C in the dorms, first week of August.
Full pads practice from 8-11 am. Lunch at noon. Special teams walk through and lifting from 1-3. Full pads practice from 6- whenever coach decided we were done that night. Most of the time around 11.
If you didn't make the required minimum summer conditioning workouts (I believe it was 25) you had to get up at 5 am and run 4 miles every morning until the number was met.
It was so hot in the dorms the only way to sleep at night was to fake a rolled ankle, get a bag of ice for it, and sleep with it on your chest.
I lost twenty pounds at that hell-hole one year. Hated every second of it.
We went to camp for a week at Georgia Military College. 3- days with lifting after lunch. No A/C in the dorms, first week of August.
Full pads practice from 8-11 am. Lunch at noon. Special teams walk through and lifting from 1-3. Full pads practice from 6- whenever coach decided we were done that night. Most of the time around 11.
If you didn't make the required minimum summer conditioning workouts (I believe it was 25) you had to get up at 5 am and run 4 miles every morning until the number was met.
It was so hot in the dorms the only way to sleep at night was to fake a rolled ankle, get a bag of ice for it, and sleep with it on your chest.
I lost twenty pounds at that hell-hole one year. Hated every second of it.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 12:55 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
Saw a guy get part of his ear torn off during a practice in August of 2006. Got his helmet turned around violently.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 12:57 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
On mobile so not typing everything out.
But I played baseball, football and basketball in high school. So summers were awful. Not to mention AAU and travel baseball.
College basketball schedule was brutal. 5 am weights, running and agility usually. Then of course practice for anywhere between 3-5 hours. Total about 8 hours a day usually.
During school was brutal too because my schedule didn't match up with the rest of the team so I had 1 on 1 weights and running with our strength coach.
But I played baseball, football and basketball in high school. So summers were awful. Not to mention AAU and travel baseball.
College basketball schedule was brutal. 5 am weights, running and agility usually. Then of course practice for anywhere between 3-5 hours. Total about 8 hours a day usually.
During school was brutal too because my schedule didn't match up with the rest of the team so I had 1 on 1 weights and running with our strength coach.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 1:14 pm to Henry Jones Jr
quote:
frick morning practices. That's all I'm going to say.
Better than the Afternoon ones with 100 degree heat in the delta humidity.
At least in the morning it was cool out and usually wasn't full pads.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 1:27 pm to GeorgiaTide
quote:
2006-2010
We went to camp for a week at Georgia Military College. 3- days with lifting after lunch. No A/C in the dorms, first week of August.
Full pads practice from 8-11 am. Lunch at noon. Special teams walk through and lifting from 1-3. Full pads practice from 6- whenever coach decided we were done that night. Most of the time around 11.
If you didn't make the required minimum summer conditioning workouts (I believe it was 25) you had to get up at 5 am and run 4 miles every morning until the number was met.
It was so hot in the dorms the only way to sleep at night was to fake a rolled ankle, get a bag of ice for it, and sleep with it on your chest.
I lost twenty pounds at that hell-hole one year. Hated every second of it.
Sounds like my HS experience.
Coaches took us to a 1 week "voluntary camp" for the first week in pads. Slept in dorms with no A/C. Four a days, with 3 practices in pads. No film room stuff, everything on the field though pratices were video taped for the coaches to review at night.
6am-7:30am: Special teams, started practice with kickoff/kickoff coverage, then punt/punt returns. Full speed, full pads. Great way to start the day. Full on hitting.
9:30-11:30am: Offense practice.
3pm-6pm: Deffensive practice/scrimmage.
7pm: Conditioning (sometimes including puking dinner back up).
The 7pm conditioning was pretty dumb and resulted in a team revolt by most of the upperclassmen on day 4 of camp. This was followed by the coaches waking everyone up at 4am the next morning for an extra conditioning practice to remind us they were still in charge. This was followed by the entire team having to stay in "LSU" position for 20 minutes after conditioning to be lectured about the previous evening's "uprising".
Literally the worst week of my life I think.
This post was edited on 8/9/13 at 1:29 pm
Posted on 8/9/13 at 1:29 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
quote:
Hated laying down in the dew to stretch.
There was stuff far worse than this. I'm just happy that I will never have to do another updown.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 1:35 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
I did 2 a days 3, 4 times a week for 50 out of 52 weeks of the year from 13-20ish. Only day we had off was Sundays... most of those years were under the repressive, ball busting 2012 Olympic head coach. Some days we swam north of 15 miles on top of dry land or weights. I will say in July-Sep I'd much rather be in the pool... but getting out of an outdoor pool next to a river in Dec/ Jan was straight terrible even in FL.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 1:37 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
quote:
During offseason for college, I'd always spend more time running outside than I did in the weight room.
This too. I did extra conditioning in the middle of the afternoon by doing sprints on a dirt road in the woods behind my house.
It paid off as well. I was the best conditioned player on the team (5A) and it wasn't debateable.
We ran timed 440's at the end of our "voluntary" summer workouts and I won every one of them, the entire summer.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 2:15 pm to deltaland
quote:
At least in the morning it was cool out and usually wasn't full pads.
Herbert Davis didn't share that sentiment. We were in full pads and did conditioning in the morning.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 2:35 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
Morning Practice was insane. After we put the pads on it was pads in the morning and late afternoon, helmet and shorts mid day for what was essentially three a days.
And we still fricking sucked.
Or our line did.
And we still fricking sucked.
Or our line did.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 2:43 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
I have vomited through a facemask at the end of a snake drill.
Posted on 8/9/13 at 3:12 pm to Tiger n Miami AU83
quote:
This too. I did extra conditioning in the middle of the afternoon by doing sprints on a dirt road in the woods behind my house
Exact same shite that I did. I'd run about a half mile down Highway 71 to our neighbors' dirt road, it was straight, and I'd run all my sprints down there away from the highway traffic.
I'd run 5 extra sprints and those were always for Leon. That was the name of our 2nd string Strong Safety. I wasn't planning on losing my spot as 1st string!
This post was edited on 8/9/13 at 3:14 pm
Posted on 8/9/13 at 3:19 pm to Stuttgart Tiger
Damn no other basketball players in here
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