Since taking over the team three training camps ago, head coach Mike Nolan has probably scheduled hundreds of meetings for his players, but in addition to the daily meetings to review practice or game tape, Nolan incorporates a few motivational speakers to his camp agenda.Linebackers and assistant head coach Mike Singletary works with Coach Nolan on the theme and then goes out and tracks down impressionable speakers to address the team. With this being a year of high expectations, Singletary sought speakers who understood the concepts and importance of team and hard work.“Mike Nolan and I will talk and I’ll say, ‘Mike this is the theme of what I’d like to do. I want it to be about team,’†said Singletary. “This year has to be about team, the coaches and the players coming together and making it happen.â€
Curt Menefee, the new anchor for Fox’s NFL pregame show also featuring Terry Bradshow, Howie Long and Jimmy Johnson, was the first to take center stage during the opening week of camp. Menefee had an hour to share his life experiences, and used it to stress the necessity of taking advantage when an opportunity lands in your lap.
“”He talked about how he was always ahead of the curve, he was always ready when the opportunity called for him to step in and do the job that he was asked,†said wide receiver Brandon Williams. “I just look at that and take it right to the field. As a two guy or a three guy, if a one guy goes down, you have to be ready for your opportunity. Your opportunity can either shine a positive light on you or it cans shine a negative light on you and you obviously want the positive.â€
Menefee also gave the team some pointers when it comes to dealing with the media.
“It’s really important that you learn that you’re in control of the questions,†said veteran quarterback Trent Dilfer. “Your attitude and how you handle questions really is what the public knows you as. We wear these helmets so they don’t get to know us as people. They only get to know us through the media. It’s a great opportunity to show your personality, show who you are to the masses, the people paying our salaries and the people supporting us on Sundays. It’s a message that young guys can’t hear enough.”
Next up was Rocky Blier, a four-time Super Bowl Champion with the Pittsburgh Steelers who overcame a war injury and returned to the NFL when all odds were against him.
“He was a very inspirational talker,†said wide receiver Arnaz Battle, a graduate of Notre Dame, also Blier’s alma mater. “When he came in, I didn’t know much about him because he was before my time. It was good to see a Notre Dame alum give courage and an inspirational talk to younger guys who are going through similar things, playing in professional football. It’s a tough task, but he’s a guy who overcame a lot of adversity and still made it.”
Aside from taking a gun shot and suffering badly burned legs from a grenade that exploded under his foot while fighting in Vietnam, Blier never met with the NFL standards when it came to size or speed.
“It was wonderful to be among greatness, just to hear his experience in the NFL, his story of how he overcame adversity in his life and his belief and hope that he had,†said defensive end Bryant Young, another Notre Dame alum. “He knew he belonged and it was just a matter of working hard to achieve his goal.â€
Like Blier, Young can relate to overcoming a devastating injury that most people expect you not to come back for. Back in 1998, Young suffered a career-threatening broken leg, but determination and will power kept the defensive end on a sure track to come back from the injury.
“You just have to know that there’s light at the end of the tunnel,†said Young. “If I see just a sliver of light, I know that there’s promise. For me, it was just those little baby steps and just being patient which allowed me to continue to move forward, knowing it would be better.”
Singletary hopes that the story that Blier shared with the 49ers might one day serve as that sliver of light when the going gets tough.
“I think as a player sometimes, everybody is in their own world,†said Singletary. “For me, when you have someone in like Rocky, some of the things he said and talked about really spoke to a lot of the players in terms of the habits that they develop, in terms of him only having half a foot. Guys if you want it, it’s there. It really is. When you hear that it’s sort of like, ‘Wait a minute, what the heck am I talking about? I have two good feet and two good legs. I can do this.’ It’s just the encouragement like that that makes all the difference in the world.”
Closing out the camp guest speakers was another former NFL player, Joe Ehrman, who played 13 years for the Colts. Ehrman shared the death of his younger brother to cancer, an experience that forever changed his outlook on life.
Since ending his playing career, Ehrman has worked as a pastor with the lifelong mission of helping teach youth what it means to be a man. He also talked about what a man shouldn’t be measured by, and the myths that real manhood is defined or measured by athletic ability, wealth or sexual conquests.
“Being the role models that we are, we have an influence that we can show or portray to the youth, particularly the male youth of the generations to come,†said linebacker Manny Lawson. “We want to help them and make them grow up to be men. He was talking about what we can do in our NFL careers, but also life in general. I think with the story of his brother the message was really what kind of legacy do you want to leave? How do you want to be remembered?”
Ehrman also believes that the best way to secure a championship is by chemistry and working towards a collective cause – exactly the theme Singletary aimed for when he helped put together this year’s speakers.
“I think that really hit home with a lot of guys on this team because we define our success by the chemistry we have on this team,†said center Eric Heitmann. “We use that chemistry to fight for winning a championship. No matter how many times you hear an inspirational speaker or something that’s motivating, it keeps registering home with you and you just keep building on that motivation. It makes you want to change your life every time you hear it. It’s really beneficial for us and it can really help you out in the long run if you apply that message in your life.”
And as much as the 49ers care about winning, they also care about what these players do with their lives.
Fall is a great time to regroup your team whatever it is and give them some inspiration. If your organization can’t afford to hire a speaker, use a movie clip or bring a local celebrity. When people are serving either as volunteers or as employees of an organization, sometimes just a little inspiration can go a long way to help the group function better. I’d welcome some input both inspirational movie suggestions as well as other ideas on how you and your group are conducting “training camp”.
Tim Richardson is an inspirational speaker who speaks about how giving increases employee morale, lowers employee turnover, increases customer loyalty and creates higher profits for Fortune 500 companies, associations, and national conventions. He is the founder of the The Worlds Biggest Blog Party an event which will connect bloggers from all over the world to raise money for charity. He is also founder and president of the Bill Walter Melanoma Research Fund. For more information on Tim, go to www.TimRichardson.com
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