Stefan Pflug: Day 8

Today I don't really know where to start with the blog. To follow a chronological order, I should be telling you guys about day 8. Obviously, time doesn't stop flying by, so we are actually on day 17. So much has happened since day 8, but let's call that 'water under the bridge'.

Instead, I will start where I am at now – Anxious, nervous, uneasy and so on. I run out of words, but I'm sure you guys catch my drift. Here's why...

We had cuts a few days ago. Good news is I'm still playing football. Bad news, I'm not really on the team. All grey shirts have left the team leaving behind the team. That leaves about 105 guys or so. Tonight is Monday and final roster is set on Wednesday. As it looks right now, I am not on it.
Don't get me wrong, I am enjoying every second, competing and making the most of my time with the team, but it just hit me tonight that my dream of playing football here is coming to a fast end. It is not only about football anymore though. I really enjoy the company of these guys. From the second I cracked some Danish humor at them, they have made me feel right at home. As I'm writing this, I have a hard time picturing life over here without football practice. I mean, we spend 6 hours together every day.

Haha... You guys would much rather be reading about football related stuff, than listen to my sob story, so here we go...

School is starting in a week and so practice has been cut down to once a day Monday through Thursday for only a little over two hours. Then we have meetings at night with video session. We watch everything from one on ones, skelly and team. This week, we'll be watching a lot of scout video on East Texas Baptist, the team we are playing on Saturday. Doing scout team over here is very different from Denmark – At least what I have been used to. Of course coaches in Denmark do not have 4 video sessions at week, so I mean absolutely no disrespect. Anyways, over here we bundle pass and run packages to every single defensive look and break-down is very thorough. Wide outs receive questionnaires asking us to identify the following:

Cover vs. Pro, 2 by 2, 3 by 1 and Double tight
Best coverage man
Worst cover man
Safeties style of playing run and pass
How they blitz vs. run and pass – Area of field, don and situation
Clues for coverage (alignment and positioning)

Then we are asked to answer the following questions:

How can we use formations to our advantage?
What are the best routes vs. their defense?
Summarize their strengths and weaknesses.
How can we defeat their coverage?

The saying ”luck follows the well-prepared” just found an entire new meaning. I am really looking forward to seeing the results on the field. I guess that bring me back to the whole roster status. I will not be suiting up for that game. For now I am practicing with the team and will be on the sideline with them for the game, but not in pads. The HC here, Larry Terry, has written the head of conference to ask him if they will allowed for an extra roster spot for me, since this is a very unique situation. In that case, I will be waiving my rights to play in games, but just practicing with the team would be huge for me. The chances or slim, but I'm hoping for the best. I will get back to you guys with more information.

On another note, a few things over here are not taking lightly:

Water bottle etiquette
Yes, that is correct water bottle etiquette, something that I have never spend a second thinking about.
Athletic trainers, about 12 of them, walk around the practice field to ensure that the players are well hydrated. Over here there is no such thing as withholding water to punish or ensure stamina or whatever. They take hydrations very seriously. In addition, the players are asked to act with proper water bottle etiquette meaning that a water bottle may not tip over or ever touch your lips – Now you know Denmark, now you know.

Concussions
Not uncommon in football, concussions are taking serious – very serious. All players in collegial football in the US must take a concussion test, which is a computer based test which deals with memory and the ability to recognize size and shapes. They showed us this short documentary about Preston Pleveretes, former high school linebacker, made by ESPN. It was quite uncomfortable to watch this, but I would still encourage you guys to spend a few minutes on this informative doc (http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/e60/news/story?id=5162747).