4 ms·

The key point I took from the article (and to prevent a possible 'Is this HN?' comment) was this (my emphasis): "The players who end up making the team and hav

The key point I took from the article (and to prevent a possible 'Is this HN?' comment) was this (my emphasis): "The players who end up making the team and having a sustained career in the N.F.L. are the ones who can process these details and apply them quickly." So very relevant to any pursuit. If you can learn and change with agility (pun somewhat intended) you have a much greater chance of success.

philwelch 16y ago
It's surprising how much technique is emphasized. I had no idea these guys actually spend more time with a projector reviewing technique than they do training. Aside from perhaps the boot-camp aspects, the rest seemed vaguely familiar to how other ambitious, high-performance groups work--constantly pushing to improve, an emphasis on getting it right to the expense of protecting anyone's pride, and often very long hours of very hard work.
- gaius 16y ago
  I've heard that Navy pilots do this; every carrier landing is reviewed. I wonder how the NFL players would fare at elite military training; P Company or All Arms here in the UK, Ranger School in the US, etc.
  - dhyasama 16y ago
    Pat Tillman gave up his NFL career to become an Army Ranger. He was KIA in 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman
  - balding_n_tired 16y ago
    Probably it was more common in the days of the peacetime drive (1953-1965?) but various NFL players had been in the Rangers (Grabowski) or had been jet jockeys (Max McGee). Rocky Bleier was not in an elite formation, but did have to recover from wounds received in Vietnam.
    - gaius 16y ago
      I'm thinking specifically about how the physical and mental demands of NFL training camp compare. F'rinstnace I was reading on Wikipedia just now that at Ranger School soldiers are fed a very restricted diet that results in weight loss of 20-40lbs, I imagine the NFL guys would consider that counter productive.
      - philwelch 16y ago
        You can definitely push military personnel harder--NFL players are unionized, service members aren't, and law and society wouldn't look very kindly on any private enterprise doing some of the harsher things seen in military training. For an extreme example, consider SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training. This is an extensive course intended to prepare personnel for everything that can go wrong behind enemy lines--how to survive off the land when separated from friendly forces (downed aircrews, for instance), how to evade capture, and what to do when one is actually captured (the "resistance" and "escape" portions). While the early portions of the course cover comparatively "fun" subjects, the later portions involve being subjected to captivity and abuse. The intent is to train people to resist torture and escape from enemy POW camps.

philwelch 16y ago

It's surprising how much technique is emphasized. I had no idea these guys actually spend more time with a projector reviewing technique than they do training. Aside from perhaps the boot-camp aspects, the rest seemed vaguely familiar to how other ambitious, high-performance groups work--constantly pushing to improve, an emphasis on getting it right to the expense of protecting anyone's pride, and often very long hours of very hard work.

gaius 16y ago
I've heard that Navy pilots do this; every carrier landing is reviewed. I wonder how the NFL players would fare at elite military training; P Company or All Arms here in the UK, Ranger School in the US, etc.
- dhyasama 16y ago
  Pat Tillman gave up his NFL career to become an Army Ranger. He was KIA in 2004. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pat_Tillman
- balding_n_tired 16y ago
  Probably it was more common in the days of the peacetime drive (1953-1965?) but various NFL players had been in the Rangers (Grabowski) or had been jet jockeys (Max McGee). Rocky Bleier was not in an elite formation, but did have to recover from wounds received in Vietnam.
  - gaius 16y ago
    I'm thinking specifically about how the physical and mental demands of NFL training camp compare. F'rinstnace I was reading on Wikipedia just now that at Ranger School soldiers are fed a very restricted diet that results in weight loss of 20-40lbs, I imagine the NFL guys would consider that counter productive.
    - philwelch 16y ago
      You can definitely push military personnel harder--NFL players are unionized, service members aren't, and law and society wouldn't look very kindly on any private enterprise doing some of the harsher things seen in military training. For an extreme example, consider SERE (Survival, Evasion, Resistance, and Escape) training. This is an extensive course intended to prepare personnel for everything that can go wrong behind enemy lines--how to survive off the land when separated from friendly forces (downed aircrews, for instance), how to evade capture, and what to do when one is actually captured (the "resistance" and "escape" portions). While the early portions of the course cover comparatively "fun" subjects, the later portions involve being subjected to captivity and abuse. The intent is to train people to resist torture and escape from enemy POW camps.