How to become an NFL Player,
Part 1
by Cecil Martin
Chase
Becoming an NFL player was my dream since I was in junior
high school, and I was one of the lucky few who actually
made it all the way to the NFL. I have played for the New
York Giants, the New Orleans Saints, the Washington
Redskins, the Baltimore Ravens, and the Jacksonville
Jaguars.
My life in the NFL was a remarkable experience. However,
getting to the NFL was very difficult. In this article I
want to discuss a few of the mental hurdles a young athlete
will go through if they want to make it all the way to the
NFL.
My preparation for the NFL began in high school when I
realized that I had a chance to play Division One football.
I attended an outstanding high school program at Eisenhower
High School in Lawton, OK where I played against a rival
school (Lawton High School) that has produced NFL talent
including Michael Minter of the Carolina Panthers, Will
Shields of the Kansas City Chiefs, Daly Gardner of the Miami
Dolphins, James Trapp of the Oakland Raiders, and Jamal
Brown of the New Orleans Saints.
Playing against the top athletes in high school really
helped to raise my game to be the best it could be. As an
athlete, your preparation for the pros starts when you
decide you want to be the best athlete you can be for
you—not for your parents, not for your girlfriend, and not
for your friends. To be an NFL player you must have a
burning desire to play with the best and you must do
everything you can physically and mentally to make yourself
able to compete with the best.
But being a great athlete is only half of what it takes to
make it to the pros. Developing your mental skills is just
as important as developing your physical skills.
First, you cannot play football if you have bad grades. The
real work for becoming an NFL player starts in the
classroom. For me, the class room was difficult and I had to
work very hard to keep my grades up. But I understood that
if my grades were bad, I would be kicked off the high school
team. And, if I was kicked off the high school team, I would
not be able to play college football, and college football
is a requirement for becoming a pro player. Because of that,
I worked very hard to keep my grades up.
If you want to become an NFL player, you must take your
class work seriously to give yourself an opportunity to play
college football. Here is a secret most student athletes
don’t know. Colleges love smart athletes. By being both a
great student and a great athlete, you greatly increase your
chances of being recruited by a scout for a major college
football team. Why you ask? Smart players make smart
decisions on the football field and help win games. If you
look at many of the greatest NFL players, many of them are
not the best athletes. What they are, are the smartest
athletes. When you play in the pros, the plays are very
complex and you need to think very quickly. That is why it
is so important to build your brain power just as much as
your athletic skills. Accomplishing this is one of the first
big steps towards becoming a pro player.
Another important part of being a pro player is how you
present yourself as a person. Do you get along well with
your fellow athletes and coaches? Are you a good member of
your community? College and pro teams want cooperative team
members, not spoiled athletes that cause problems, get into
trouble, and are an embarrassment to the organization. An
athlete that causes problems with his team members and gets
into trouble with the law hurts a team. Problem players are
quickly removed from competitive sports teams. Therefore, if
you want to make it to the NFL, keep yourself out of trouble
and be a model person.
In conclusion, being a great athlete is not enough to make
it to the pros. You must work hard both on and off the
field. Be a person that your team can count on and be proud
of. If you do this, you will increase your chances of being
recruited by a college scout and making it to the pros.
Read how to become an NFL Player part 2
Read how to become an NFL Player part 3
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