Why stretching is one of the most important keys to football.

"Stretching is by far the most overlooked and essential part of any athlete's life. I firmly believe "quality" stretching is the beginning of success."

Today, I wanted to give some insight and tips on proper stretching. Stretching can assist all athletes. You probably heard that "not all training is equal" and so is "not all stretching isn't equal as well."

In sports, many coaches with little to no experience do not pay much attention to stretching and it can cost your athletes some serious consequences down the road.

Hamstring are by far the most prevalent among football players. With this problem it is usually associated with athletes not drinking enough water  and the lack of stretching.

At PTP (above video) it will take me about 20-30 minutes to get my kids acclimated to the rigors of the workout and the climate. Nemesis is a volatile program and it demands absolute attention in stretching. In between all my sessions I encourage athletes to drink as much water as possible and I would ask for the athletes to think mentally of recovering. I also wanted them to focus on their breathing until the next drill, play or round. These are basic and important components to Nemesis program.

Ok, tip number one. I would gradually get the kids into a Ballistic stretching; is a form of passive stretching or dynamic stretching in a bouncing motion. Ballistic stretches force the limb into an extended range of motion when the muscle has not relaxed enough to enter it. It involves fast "bouncing" movements where a double bounce is performed at the end range of movement. Ballistic stretching should only be used by athletes who know their own limitations and with supervision by their trainer.

Examples of ballistic stretching are high knees, butt kicks, spider mans etc...get the limbs lose and active. its like warming up the car every morning before going to work. Like so, are our bodies.

The second tip for quality stretching is static stretching. Static stretching is used to stretch muscles while the body is at rest. It is composed of various techniques that gradually lengthen a muscle to an elongated position (to the point of discomfort) and hold that position for 30 seconds to two minutes. 30 seconds is the minimum duration to get the benefits of stretching, whereas two minutes is the maximum (if a position can be held for more than two minutes, a farther stretch should be performed). During this holding period or directly afterwards, participants may feel a mild discomfort or warm sensation in the muscles. Static stretching exercises involve specialized tension receptors in our muscles. When done properly, static stretching slightly lessens the sensitivity of tension receptors, which allows the muscle to relax and to be stretched to greater length.

Examples of Static stretching is shown at the above video, I like to use sumo squats and controlled limb stretching. Its vital for athletes to do this stretching for improvement of flexibility. Flexibility is the most left out portion of stretching...teams only begun using the hurdles, but that is not as effective...for most of my sessions in Nemesis, I concentrate 30 minute portion of my workouts for flexibility and yes folks that is very important to gains in muscle building and strength. People have no idea how important flexibility is.

Great gains are in the stretching components. I hate it when coaches B.S. the stretching routine, it like putting water in the gasoline of a car.

Finally repeat stretching routines at the end of each workout. This is known as "Post stretch", this is vital for athletes; through competition and strains during workouts, its very important part to stretch after workouts. Your gains will be high and the benefits that your players will achieve is high. I like to incorporate dancing routines as a form of post stretch because through those movements can loosen up a lot of the lactic acid built up.


Here is health tip for parents to help their kids...If at all possible please, please stay away from all these sports drink, soda, juices and muscle milks after workout. its always a great rule to drink high amout of water prior and after the workouts.

Hopefully that educated you and helped you on your journey to success.

Thanks,
Coach Pen.

The recruiting process and services.

I get asked almost all the time by parents, about the recruiting process? Coach Pen, who do you think can help me get my son or daughter into college? What do you think of the this recruiting company or service provider? What do you think he or she needs to work on? Why aren't coaches calling us or why do you think they hate my kid? Is the coach to blame or the school they went to sucked? My son or daughter is better than the other kid and they did him or her wrong?

 I get it parents, you love your kids and you want the best for them. That is without a doubt a fact. You watched them from little league to high school; you invested countless hours, time and resources to get them far. You dreaded the long drives, waiting at the fence for them to come out of the locker room. You had the heart to heart talks. You lectured them, gave them every opportunity to be successful. I commend you all for that and the sacrifices you made. After all, its your kid!

 I've looked at myself before answering these questions, I've looked at what I went through, people I've meet, and the problems that I've dealt with throughout my career and in my personal life. To answer the questions above is never a clear cut answer. Too many variables to account for? But I'm gonna take a jab at it and answer them anyways.

 The recruiting process is really a coaches point of view and not a parents point of view, but the recruiting companies will say its a parent's role, but what they don't tell you is; it all depends on the college if they like your kid and if your kid meets their needs and expectations. Unless you know a coach in the inside, than your kid has the upper hand. Remember, no one is in those board meetings;breaking your kids film down. The fact is the colleges knows who they want and they already made their minds up. Now, they have to play the recruiting game and get kids to come. So they make calls to secure their wanted kids or have optional kids they want to recruit on standby status. Also colleges are using a lot of recruiting websites to collect their data or information. The University of Oregon has several recruiting companies on payroll in Texas and California. Once they gain the info, they send recruiting coaches or coordinators in the area.

Parents, we need to be realistic and not dwell in denial. I meet some great parents who believe in every fiber of their being that their kid is a college D1 material. The fact is; sometimes that is not true. What ever the level they're going to start and progress is based on their development, training and natural abilities. When I was invited to the NFL Combine in Indianapolis, they put is in a room while one of the coaches made a speech prior to doing the workouts. I'll never forget what he said to us in that room. he said, "Gentleman, good luck, for some of you your career ended in college, but the NFL is not for everybody...You have a better chance of being doctor, a lawyer or business man".

The true essence of football is life. Developing them into becoming better young people. Football is truly the game of life. Football serves up all of life core values, defeats, struggles and success.

Finally, the recruiting companies, what they guarantee and the services they provide. Some of these companies are really good and are connected, but the rest are in it for themselves, with flashy websites with little to no hook-ups or connection. They demand you to pay monthly or flat rate fees. These are usually people that think they can make your highlight and put your game film and send it to colleges, and than they lie to you about why they're not calling or talking to your kid; although they ran the bill up on you. With social media, youtube and huddle you have a better chance of sending your own film to schools. Your high school coach are also a good source, but it depends if the coach likes your kid or not, if the coach holds a grudge, it may not be a good idea. *Also, college coaches want full game films, highlights are okay. Remember college coaches; they're going through thousands of film from other kids. When I was an intern-coach in college, coaches watch film for about 3 minutes looking at stance, positioning, skills,and movement. If your kid does not meet the requirements, his game film becomes just part of practice. What does this mean? It's simple, his game film is erased; to tape over one-on-ones or 7-on-7! True story. I know, because I used someone highlight to film one-on-ones. It wasn't my fault, I was told to do it!

 So parents, perfect their skill-set and teach them the overall knowledge of the game. Get to know every position in the game. When I watch football, I don't watch from the fan perspective (looking for the big hits etc). I watch from a coach's stand point, looking at the overall scheme, positioning, and methods. When you can see it from that perspective its easier to play the game.

Tips for OL, DL, LB, TE and FB

If your a offensive lineman, defensive lineman, line backer, or tight end your hands are everything. Just making a move doesn't always make you a good player. But your hands are very important in any level of football, whether it's in little league, pop Warner, high school, college and definitely in the professional level.

I'm a hand's expert and I totally believe the positioning of your hands is key to winning battles, earning a position or being an all-star football player.

The discipline of controlling and teaching of the use of your hands is by far crucial or fundamentally part of the game.

So here are some tips to help you prepare!

•  (1.) No palms up, always have thumbs up. By having thumbs up, helps the athlete control. No control is a synonym for operate...you can't operate you don't produce the outcome of control. 

•   (2.) Strike is crucial for the thumbs to be up. By striking your opponent from the ground up can assist with the thumbs up punch.         

Cameron Hunt is an athlete with God-given Talents

Cameron Hunt is an athlete, with God given talents. What I really like about Cameron is his "will power". Going after it. I never meet a more determine young man on the gridiron until now.

Cameron and I have been training for two years. His ability to adapt and get the techniques down is unbelievable. As you can tell from our personal training session.

I get a phone call from Cameron, "Coach, I want get ready for the Oakland Nike camp, and I'm ready  to work". I suggested that we get down to it immediately and prepare for some serious killer training.

Without a doubt, Cameron was beating me to the gym, calling me every 5 minutes if I was there already. We pounded out every workout at the gym, parks, pool and everywhere else under the sun. We were re-checking and reworking troubled areas. Cameron going hard on each designed drill. Cameron's punches were improving, feet is solid. He was molding into solid offensive lineman.

The big week came and off he went. I didn't hear back from him on his progress. Until I got a phone call from his father, "Hey coach pen, are you sitting down, I got some news for you". I thought Cameron got hurt. But, his father voice was filled with excitement, so I didn't understand what was happening, "Cameron won the MVP for the Oakland Nike Football camp" his father said over the phone. I was floored and excited, one month of killer workouts and Nemesis Elite Training has won another one for the books. According to his father Cameron out performed all the Offensive lineman at the combine.

All the credit goes to Cameron work ethic and his abilities. Great parents who supports hm and quality of the Nemesis Elite Program.

The truth behind Viane Talamaivao and winning Nike MVP

I get a call from my brother that Viane (nephew) was invited to the NFTC (Nike Football Training Combine) for all the elite lineman in Southern California. He said, that Viane was healing up from a bruise knee and that he missed 1 1/2 months due to injuries and  he's been a couch potato at home. Naturally, I said okay we can get it done, whats my time-line and my brother said, "3 days", I laughed but very excited, because I know Viane can do it. He's been doing the program for 4 years.

So I said, bring him over and we can work on getting him to do the basics and re-touch on areas that he is rusty at. We trained for three days working on the basic movements.

Viane (above) trained for only three days walks into the combine and wins MVP for best offensive lineman; Nike Football Training Camp. I don't know who does that, but credit goes to him for getting it done in a short time.

Also some of the credit goes to his parents for pushing him and the God-given abilities that he was given.

Nemesis Elite football welcomes Ray Feinga St. Louis Rams (ex BYU cougar standout)

Nemesis Elite football training is excited to add Big Ray to its list of athletes joining our program. Ray a standout, OG for the Brigham Young University. Ray will be join the nemesis program in preparation to NFL training camp.

"I'm excited to finally get a"BYU guy" to join the nemesis program, Ray is awesome player and I think we can help him get ready for the season in the NFL". Coach Pen.