The Cambridgeshire Cats American Football Club are preparing in earnest for the 2007 season starting Sunday January 7; however, many of the players have been benefiting from nearly three months of fitness work already.
The Cats have also conducted two testing days with encouraging results from both established Cats players as well as some strong rookie prospects, affording the coaching staff the opportunity to assess the prospects that have joined the organisation recently. With several established players away on College duty, as well as others resting up from the past season, these sessions have been a great chance to get noticed and established within the squad at this early stage. A handful of rookies in particular have stood-out and will certainly compete for starting spots come the season opener.
The testing days themselves allowed for the coaches to record measurable stats for each participant. These focused on speed, agility and explosive power. The first session was well received by the coaching staff, observing some standout performances in all positions.
Coach Bice has been impressed with the early performances: “These two testing days, along with the three months of fitness training has paid off already. We have already identified four or five rookies with great potential as well as finding that our veterans have worked hard during the off-season to get ready for 2007! The whole organisation is looking forward to the upcoming season considering the talent we are assembling here!”
Coach Gray furthered the testing system, started last year, and introduced the players’ handbook along with Coach Bice. “It was a great start to early winter training and testing days. There are a few young players with us that have caught our eye and with hard work and solid coaching they can become great players with a good starting platform for GB and possibly NFLE ! It is awesome that we have a young hungry team that the coaching staff can teach and train; and with the continuously evolving players’ book, it helps give a professional structure to the team”.
The Combine-style testing is by no means a definitive measure of a player’s football ability, but it does serve the dual purpose of highlighting individuals strengths/weaknesses as well as giving empirical data to assess fitness improvements against. It has the further benefit of giving existing players the opportunity to bump themselves up in the pecking order by providing indisputable evidence of their hard-work and personal improvements. They are also regarded by position, and can be correlated directly to similar tests the NFL run for its players and draftees.
Repeat sessions are scheduled throughout the pre-season as this is an on-going process, so by no means has anyone “missed the boat” by missing the initial test days.
Any prospective players will be welcomed to any of these sessions, and should either visit the Cats website at www.CambridgeshireCats.com or stop by Coldhams Common on Sunday’s from 12:00 onwards.