Andreas Pröller poses for a photo with Raiders Head Coach Hue Jackson. Photo by Tony Gonzales.
Servus Raiders fans,
Our time here at The Oakland Raiders training camp in Napa, California, is coming to an end. I can say that I have enjoyed every single day. It truly is something special and I try to gather as much information, advice and ideas as possible.
Every day I sit down with one of the many strength and conditioning assistants working here at camp, trying to learn something new. Not all coaches I speak to work for The Oakland Raiders. Some come here during camp as interns from universities to learn from the best and to help in camp.
One of them is Kareem Young, assistant strength and conditioning coach at Appalachian State University. Just yesterday I had a long conversation with him. We talked about workout schedules and periodization of practices.
He gave me lots of good advice I can use to improve our workouts with the SWARCO Raiders, despite all the limitations we have to deal with. You have to understand that almost all of our players are true amateurs when it comes to football. They have a fulltime job or go to university or school during the day and come to practice in the evening. Obviously I can't force them to work out on an NFL schedule. The guys just don't have the time.
But I'm looking for ways to combine these things: I want the workouts to be more intense, but at the same time I have to make sure the players don't have to invest much more time. See, I can only ask them to do the workouts.
But I have a very good feeling about this. I think my players will be in even better shape next season. And that's exactly what I'm here for, to help my team improve.
I'm looking forward to the next days already. Thanks for reading my blog.
Yours,
Andreas Pröller
August 15, 2011
Servus Raiders fans,
Since I'm the last one of us three guests from Tyrol to write his blog for Raiders.com, I will not bother you again with the story of our long flight. And I won't tell you about the Raiders preseason game against Arizona, either. I bet Shuan Fatah and Lee Rowland already have told about it. But yes, it's been an amazing experience.
Actually, for me it was the second Raiders game I was able to watch from the sidelines. I was here in 2008 when the SWARCO Raiders were invited to The Oakland Raiders training camp for the very first time. Since then a lot has changed. I ended my active career a few weeks ago. And now I can fully concentrate on my job as the team's strength and conditioning coach.
Therefore I'm very thankful for being invited a second time. Because from who else could I learn more about getting players in shape than from coach Brad Roll. He's in the business for more than 30 years. And he is one of the best and highly respected strength and conditioning coaches in the NFL.
But before coach Roll was willing to talk and listen to me, he sent me through a brutal workout. For 22 minutes I had to go through the same drill all of his players have to go through while in camp. This drill was anything but a walk in the park. But I fought through it and afterwards had the chance to talk to him.
We went through the practice routines I created for the SWARCO Raiders players last winter. We also analyzed the results together. I'm very proud that coach Roll likes what I have done. But at the same time he asked me to push the guys even more.
Every day coach Roll has some advice for me and I watch all the drills very closely. I always run around with my notepad and today I even filmed the exercises with my video camera, because I want to make sure our team gets even stronger, faster and persistent.
I'm looking forward to the next days, already. Thanks for reading my blog.
Yours,
Andreas Pröller
