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Sometimes when a mixture of people from different countries, states and cultures come together, great things can happen. Not that everything is perfect, yes we fight, and argue at times. But with the mixture of these people, that I've had the pleasure of meeting and getting to play football with, the results can only be amazing. To win games you can't just have the best players, but the best team. This means that you can have a bunch of great athletes, but if they don't know how to cooperate, then they will eventually lose. But the way we're together 24 hours a day for so long, build an amazing bond between each and every one of us. As said before, it doesn't mean that everything is harmony and flowers. There are difficulties that we have to deal with, but it just makes us even stronger when we solve the problem. I can honestly say that I've never been more excited to enter a football training camp than I am for this one, which starts on Monday. We have all the people and sources to complete our task which is to become the best team in the nation. Now it's just up to us to execute.
So Monday august 4th, we'll enter training camp, which goes on for 2 weeks, and then we have 1 more week afterwards to do the last preparation to play Godby High School on august 23rd. So there is not a lot of time to prepare, but I think we got the skill set and the chemistry to do it. Training camp will be tough, I know that much. We'll be entering the scorching heat of august, which many people have told me about, and we'll go through hours of practice, meetings, mental preparation, and a lot more. The whole staff of the IMG football program has really set up a great schedule for the upcoming weeks. There will not be much time to our selves, but I still can't wait. I (and all of my teammates) have been working so hard these past few weeks to get ready now. I can honestly say that Strength Coach Eric has really done an awesome job of putting together, a conditioning and strength program. So now we're ready to go out there and compete at our highest level.
There will be a lot of competition during the camp, especially between the offensive and defensive linemen. The offensive line consists of four division 1 commits (Miami, Cincinnati, Nebraska and Oregon State) and a bunch of other great linemen who will probably get scholarships. It'll be a clash between the d-line and o-line. People are already talking a little smack to each other. It's all in a friendly demeanor though, like we're all friends and cool during and afterwards. That's the kind of connection us linemen have. It's only competition, which will only make us all better players and competitors on the next level and during games.
We also just got our playbooks for the upcoming year which gave a little reality check that camp is just around the corner, and that everything is about to go down. I can't wait!!
So we've had it easy this past week. Monday we did a short movement session and then a light lift. Tuesday morning we ran our conditioning test, where all the linemen passed, and afterwards we had a light lift again. Then Wednesday morning we had a short pool workout, and then we were off the rest of the week. Our coaches wanted us to recover for camp, especially for the guys who have been here 4-6 weeks.
Before my visa would be valid, I had to enter the states 30 days before school starts. So since I came in late July I had to exit and then reenter the country before my visa would be valid. So I went to Canada with my friend and teammate Joe Carbone. He lives in Ontario in Canada which is right across the border. So we flew up to Buffalo and drove across the border. Then I spent the weekend at his house and then we returned to IMG Sunday. I got to meet his parents and his funny grandma. I really liked Canada (the small part I was in). Mostly because of the amazing weather, that was mid 70's with a light breeze. Compared to the scorching weather of Florida, so it was amazing just standing outside! It was nice to be off-campus for a little while. Even though it's awesome with all these boys, it's still restricted what we can do. So it was nice to just be able to get out and be somewhere else.
I'm about to enter my 6th week at IMG. It's hard to believe it's already been so long since I left Denmark. And the rest of the time here will probably go twice as fast. So it's about enjoying it now, while I still can. Since I've been an exchange student before, I know the feeling of something like this being over in the split of a second. Even though that it'll be tough and it requires a lot of work ahead, I still can't wait to begin all of it.
I still try to stay in touch with my family back home as much as possible. Sometimes the hours just fly by, and I forget that their 6 hours ahead of me. But I talk to them at least 2-3 times a week. I still miss them a lot, and I can't wait to see them again. It's nice to hear what's going on back home, and just try to talk to them as you usually would do during a normal day. Since my parents have started watching Game of Thrones (GoT) I also want to hear their reaction to some of the crazy stuff going on in the show. But it doesn't change the fact that I still miss them a whole lot. If I could give one advice to people, it would be to enjoy as much time with your family as possible! Even though I'm only about to turn 18, and there's probably going to be longer periods of time where I won't see them as I get older, I would still say that I know what I'm talking about.
HF, over and out
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