"I had to learn the physical part of the game. I had the mental down. Sustaining that high intensity for a match, I didn't have dips up and down. The physical part is what I had to wok on more. I wasn't the most athletic, never the most physically talented player out there. I don't consider myself a natural athlete. I had to make myself into one through a lot of work."
"I started to learn everything there. Some of the protections in the run game, the blocking schemes, the details. Then, my second year, I went to defense. I was the worst coach. The guys still joke about it. 'Hey, remember when you coached us in that drill?' I had to learn everything about defense- how to tackle, how to beat a block, what swarm was, the angles you want to pursue. That was just the fundamentals, too. Then came actually learning to scheme and strategize. So, yeah, everything."
"You always better be learning. That's something I've learned. You can learn from your teammates, learn from film, learn from who you play against. But the point is you've always got to be doing something to get better or you'll never get where your want. I looked on film at all the tackles in the league (last offseason) to study ways to get better, see what might apply to my game. You're always learning."
Chris Evert had to learn the physical part of tennis through intensive work because her mental concentration came naturally, and she built athleticism through training. Corey Heatherman learned coaching from the ground up, taking on administrative film tasks as an intern, studying run-game protections and blocking schemes, then learning defensive fundamentals like tackling, beating blocks, pursuit angles, and later scheming and strategizing. Patrick Paul stresses constant learning from teammates, film, and opponents, studying other tackles to adopt useful techniques. Continuous practice of fundamentals, physical conditioning, and strategic study enables steady improvement and success.
Read at Sun Sentinel
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