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Agents, players create mini-industry with NFL combine preparation
Saturday, April 14, 2007
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=348287&Category=17&subCategoryID=0
EUCLID, Ohio (AP) — Hidden behind a former General Motors plant is the training center where Ted Ginn Jr. developed his blazing speed.
Ginn, a sure first-round pick, is spending the weeks leading up to the NFL draft training alongside Renard Stevens, a wide receiver from a Division II school in West Virginia.
Stevens has 6-foot-4 size and a dream but no guarantee of being drafted. He knows, though, that a strong time in the 40-yard-dash time and impressive vertical jump could raise his stock among pro scouts obsessed with those drills.
Agents and athletes, looking to climb up team’s draft boards and cash in, have created a mini-industry for athletic trainers, spending millions of dollars in the weeks before the NFL draft.
“It’s not an option now,” said Danny Arnold, founder of Plex training center in Stafford, Texas. “Every agent has to send a player to a place like this. You end up spending the same amount of money on a first-round pick as you do a seventh-round pick.”
For players and their families there’s much at stake, particularly in the first round where falling a few spots can mean huge financial losses. Agents, who get part of a player’s earnings, have a lot on the line too, needing a return on their investment.
Speed Strength Systems just east of Cleveland has been preparing athletes for the NFL combine since 2001. When founder Tim Robertson started, he had little competition.
“It’s a hot trend now where everybody thinks that they can train athletes,” Robertson said after spotting Ginn on the bench press.
Agent Eric Metz, who represents quarterback JaMarcus Russell of LSU, widely projected to be the No. 1 pick in April, said his firm, LMM Management, will spend about $300,000 on training and expenses for 10 players in the weeks before the draft.
He said the turning point in training players came in 1992 when John Fina, who was rated as the 33rd offensive tackle in the draft, moved up to be a first-round pick with the Buffalo Bills. Metz credits Fina’s pre-draft training for the dramatic jump. Fina went on to anchor the left side of the Bills’ offensive line for nine seasons.
“The (other) agents criticized us and said there was nothing to it,” Metz said. “Now, they say look how you ruined the business, now we have to spend all this money preparing players.”
It costs $5,000 to $15,000 to train for two months at Arnold’s facility, money that is typically paid by the player’s agent.
Robertson charges $75 a day to prep athletes for the combine and pro days. Athletes put in three to five hours a day, three to six days a week for up to eight weeks.
His star client Ginn has been training at Speed Strength Systems since ninth grade and credits his work there with helping him go from a 40-time over five seconds to 4.22.
“He can push you to be a first-rounder,” Ginn said of Robertson.
Ginn is among 10 players listening to hip hop and working out on an 8-degree February day, far from the comfort of the Ohio State’s workout facilities. The temperature inside is a chilly 60 degrees at the facility, where the padding is torn on some of the weight benches.
“It’s a factory,” Robertson said. “It’s that no frills Rocky mentality.”
Robertson has his athletes work with a dietitian — some need to lose weight and others need to put some on, like Ginn.
“A lot of these guys don’t eat well. It’s a culture shock to them,” Robertson said.
He also provides training techniques geared to improve performance on each of the drills. For the 225-pound bench press — in which players simply lift the bar as many times as possible — Robertson has them train with an elastic band tied to the bar. He promises an average increase of five repetitions.
“It’s fun because everybody gets to motivate everybody, everybody gets to push everybody,” Ginn said. “It wouldn’t be fun if you were just here by yourself, not having the guys around you to help you push. Me being a big name is really nothing because we’re all going for the same goal.”
Stevens, who played at West Liberty State College, traveled about three hours from West Virginia to train at Speed Strength Systems. Although he says the investment has been worth it, he was a little unnerved when he drove past the stacked pallets, trucks and weeds outside.
“When I first got here, I was like where am I going?” Stevens said.
Players like Marques Colston, a seventh-round pick out of Hofstra who surprised everyone with 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns for the New Orleans Saints last season, keep him motivated to stay after his dream.
“I’m going to chase it until my legs fall off,” Stevens said.
He wouldn’t be the first to pursue a pro career long after it became realistic.
Tony Chiaravalle estimates he spent $18,000 and eventually had to file for bankruptcy after trying for years to reach the pros.
The offensive lineman worked out with the expansion Cleveland Browns and started playing with the amateur Cleveland Lions in 1999. He sent out film, got picked up by an agent and traveled the country playing arena ball and pro leagues that would go defunct after a couple games.
“I wouldn’t trade it. It defines me. It’s part of my character,” said Chiaravalle, 32, who teaches special education kids in suburban Cleveland. “It didn’t pan out. I didn’t make the NFL, but I have so much love for the game it didn’t matter.”
Some trainers make promises that give athletes false perceptions about their chances of turning pro or oversell results when at best they can shave only a few tenths of a second off a 40-yard-dash time, Metz said.
“They try to make it into something where if you run fast you get drafted high. That’s not the case,” he said.
While training facilities are expensive, there are cheaper alternatives for those without an agent or still in high school.
An Internet search shows training for as low as $24.95 plus shipping and handling for the Adam Archuleta Workout Video.
Sold by Pro-Tect Management of Pacific Palisades, Calif., the video provides the training program that Archuleta, a Chicago Bears safety, used in “elevating himself from an undersized college walk-on to a first-round draft selection.”
———
On the Net:
http://www.speedstrength.com
Saturday, April 14, 2007
http://www.cantonrep.com/index.php?ID=348287&Category=17&subCategoryID=0
EUCLID, Ohio (AP) — Hidden behind a former General Motors plant is the training center where Ted Ginn Jr. developed his blazing speed.
Ginn, a sure first-round pick, is spending the weeks leading up to the NFL draft training alongside Renard Stevens, a wide receiver from a Division II school in West Virginia.
Stevens has 6-foot-4 size and a dream but no guarantee of being drafted. He knows, though, that a strong time in the 40-yard-dash time and impressive vertical jump could raise his stock among pro scouts obsessed with those drills.
Agents and athletes, looking to climb up team’s draft boards and cash in, have created a mini-industry for athletic trainers, spending millions of dollars in the weeks before the NFL draft.
“It’s not an option now,” said Danny Arnold, founder of Plex training center in Stafford, Texas. “Every agent has to send a player to a place like this. You end up spending the same amount of money on a first-round pick as you do a seventh-round pick.”
For players and their families there’s much at stake, particularly in the first round where falling a few spots can mean huge financial losses. Agents, who get part of a player’s earnings, have a lot on the line too, needing a return on their investment.
Speed Strength Systems just east of Cleveland has been preparing athletes for the NFL combine since 2001. When founder Tim Robertson started, he had little competition.
“It’s a hot trend now where everybody thinks that they can train athletes,” Robertson said after spotting Ginn on the bench press.
Agent Eric Metz, who represents quarterback JaMarcus Russell of LSU, widely projected to be the No. 1 pick in April, said his firm, LMM Management, will spend about $300,000 on training and expenses for 10 players in the weeks before the draft.
He said the turning point in training players came in 1992 when John Fina, who was rated as the 33rd offensive tackle in the draft, moved up to be a first-round pick with the Buffalo Bills. Metz credits Fina’s pre-draft training for the dramatic jump. Fina went on to anchor the left side of the Bills’ offensive line for nine seasons.
“The (other) agents criticized us and said there was nothing to it,” Metz said. “Now, they say look how you ruined the business, now we have to spend all this money preparing players.”
It costs $5,000 to $15,000 to train for two months at Arnold’s facility, money that is typically paid by the player’s agent.
Robertson charges $75 a day to prep athletes for the combine and pro days. Athletes put in three to five hours a day, three to six days a week for up to eight weeks.
His star client Ginn has been training at Speed Strength Systems since ninth grade and credits his work there with helping him go from a 40-time over five seconds to 4.22.
“He can push you to be a first-rounder,” Ginn said of Robertson.
Ginn is among 10 players listening to hip hop and working out on an 8-degree February day, far from the comfort of the Ohio State’s workout facilities. The temperature inside is a chilly 60 degrees at the facility, where the padding is torn on some of the weight benches.
“It’s a factory,” Robertson said. “It’s that no frills Rocky mentality.”
Robertson has his athletes work with a dietitian — some need to lose weight and others need to put some on, like Ginn.
“A lot of these guys don’t eat well. It’s a culture shock to them,” Robertson said.
He also provides training techniques geared to improve performance on each of the drills. For the 225-pound bench press — in which players simply lift the bar as many times as possible — Robertson has them train with an elastic band tied to the bar. He promises an average increase of five repetitions.
“It’s fun because everybody gets to motivate everybody, everybody gets to push everybody,” Ginn said. “It wouldn’t be fun if you were just here by yourself, not having the guys around you to help you push. Me being a big name is really nothing because we’re all going for the same goal.”
Stevens, who played at West Liberty State College, traveled about three hours from West Virginia to train at Speed Strength Systems. Although he says the investment has been worth it, he was a little unnerved when he drove past the stacked pallets, trucks and weeds outside.
“When I first got here, I was like where am I going?” Stevens said.
Players like Marques Colston, a seventh-round pick out of Hofstra who surprised everyone with 1,038 yards and eight touchdowns for the New Orleans Saints last season, keep him motivated to stay after his dream.
“I’m going to chase it until my legs fall off,” Stevens said.
He wouldn’t be the first to pursue a pro career long after it became realistic.
Tony Chiaravalle estimates he spent $18,000 and eventually had to file for bankruptcy after trying for years to reach the pros.
The offensive lineman worked out with the expansion Cleveland Browns and started playing with the amateur Cleveland Lions in 1999. He sent out film, got picked up by an agent and traveled the country playing arena ball and pro leagues that would go defunct after a couple games.
“I wouldn’t trade it. It defines me. It’s part of my character,” said Chiaravalle, 32, who teaches special education kids in suburban Cleveland. “It didn’t pan out. I didn’t make the NFL, but I have so much love for the game it didn’t matter.”
Some trainers make promises that give athletes false perceptions about their chances of turning pro or oversell results when at best they can shave only a few tenths of a second off a 40-yard-dash time, Metz said.
“They try to make it into something where if you run fast you get drafted high. That’s not the case,” he said.
While training facilities are expensive, there are cheaper alternatives for those without an agent or still in high school.
An Internet search shows training for as low as $24.95 plus shipping and handling for the Adam Archuleta Workout Video.
Sold by Pro-Tect Management of Pacific Palisades, Calif., the video provides the training program that Archuleta, a Chicago Bears safety, used in “elevating himself from an undersized college walk-on to a first-round draft selection.”
———
On the Net:
http://www.speedstrength.com
