Can't Lock Us Out!

"To say football is the local religion isn't quite right, because I've met a lot of à la carte Catholics and drifting Episcopalians. But I've never known a lapsed Steelers fan." - Johnette Howard

Last weekend I was very to lucky to attend the 2011 Women’s Steeler Training Camp held at Heinz field. Basically, if I didn’t love the Steeler organization prior to Saturday, I would have been in love with them after the day was through. The day started at 8:30 and ran until about 5:00. We started with a breakfast in the reception room on the east side of the field. Upon arrival you were greeted with the video from last years training camp playing. It didn’t take long for you to get to know the other ladies at your table. We sat there sharing memories of previous trips (if you were so lucky), the Steelers, and everything in between. Luckily, for my Aunt (who was kind enough to let me tag along) and me, we sat with a group of ladies who had been to one of the camps before and gave us a little heads up on what to expect. They also had a connection inside the room and a Super Bowl ring ended up at our table! Yes, fun pictures were taken. How often do you get this chance? The size of these rings always astounds me.

Once breakfast was finished, the day was about to begin. We got a brief talk about the days events and the coaches for the day were introduced.  I was highly impressed that all the alumni that were there were still residing in the Pittsburgh area. After the intro’s (which I’ll get to later) we were off to the field to begin our day of training camp!

We started the day off with 15 minute intro into stretching and warming up which was instructed by the Steelers’ strength and conditioning coach, Garrett Giemont. After we performed most of the notable stretches, which included the always-filmed twisting of the upper torso, we were ready to start our training drills.

My group started with Craig Bingham and his linebacker drills. He had us run through some agility drills over and around the bags. Then came the hitting drills. Needless to say, some of the women just touched the bag, some of them destroyed it. I’ll let you guess which one I was! After 45 minutes of linebacker drills we were off to learn about the secondary, and I’m sure Craig was glad to have some of the ladies move to the next station.

So why does Troy Polamalu always look like he’s running all over the place? Mike Wagner answered that question by basically saying that's Troy's job! Mike taught us about man-to-man and zone defenses and the differences between them. We ran a lot of coverage drills practicing both man-to-man and zone. It was very interesting to actually understand why our secondary plays the way they do. I really saw in this drill the trust you must have in your teammates. I vowed to be a little less hard on our secondary after getting a better understanding of their responsibilities.

We were taught a little bit about receiving from Randy Grossman.  Randy went through tips on how to be a good receiver and some of the difficulties of being a receiver; all while taking jabs at the defensive back position. He described the importance of running angles and why receivers cut back the way they do. We did a few drills, some involved sprinting straight and making a sharp cut back towards the quarterback to catch the ball. I loved this drill, as a goal keeper, the one thing I know how to do well is to catch a ball. After we ran through this drill we were then given a square route to run in which an intern and a Pittsburgh Passion player were standing waving their arms to try to distract the receiver. It was a little different drill, but the value was clearly understood from my point of view. I’m just glad I’ve had all the years of catching the ball; I was one of the few that didn’t worry about breaking a nail (and I didn't drop a catch!)

After receiving came my second favorite part, punting! Being a keeper for so long I’ve learned how to punt. It is true that there is a difference between a soccer punt and a football punt, most notably the ball. My group received a great introduction into punting from JOSH MILLER! So Josh went through the mechanics and did a little demonstration. Nothing like seeing him up close and personal, right? Naturally we were given the opportunity to try this out. I’m not going to lie, I was a little nervous as I should have been good based off my history, but you can never be sure. Well, let’s just say I was pretty darn successful. There is nothing better than being called out from JOSH MILLER to be used as a demonstration AND he made sure the cameras were ready to film me. It was for sure a proud moment for me.

After we left Josh’s punting instruction we went over to learn about the O-Line and how to be a center from Justin Hartwig. He went through the stance that he would get in for each snap. We were instructed on how to snap the ball. Get low, keep your butt in the air, look forward and with one hand, hike it back, and get ready to block. Now we were doing more of a shot gun snap in this drill. So let’s just say "just hike it back" isn’t as easy as it sounds, especially with one hand. My snaps were all over the place. I will admit, this was my weakness. I gained a lot of respect for centers having to get low, snap the ball, and then immediately block. That’s a lot of responsibility in a short amount of time with a 300-pound fella wanting to destroy you. 

Once we were done with these drills we went back up to the reception room and lunch was served. During lunch the Lombardi trophy from Super Bowl XLIII was on display and you could get a professional picture taken with it. Ummm, Yes PLEASE! Lunch was good. What Pittsburgh woman wouldn’t love pierogi lasagna?  It was nice to get out of the sun, as it was probably close to 90 on the turf.

Now, for the best part of the day. To repay the ladies back that we ate breakfast with and let us take pictures with the Super bowl ring, I asked Justin if he’d like to sit with us while he was looking for a spot to sit. He accepted and then was stuck with seven women, some of who desperately wanted to find information out about the upcoming wedding of Ben Roethlisberger and other players who have decided to make waves in the media recently. I was very impressed. How often to you have a chance to talk to a member of a Super Bowl team?! He was not my idea of the typical football player either. You know what I mean. You've seen interviews with some of them. He dealt with the ladies coming on to him quiet graciously. And no, I did not ask what he was thinking with the holding call in the Super Bowl, but I wanted too.

After the lunch, we had the chance to get autographs from all the alumni players that were there. Then we were off to tour Heinz Field.

As I reflect on my day, I can't help it but have ‘perma grin’ on my face. It was such an awesome day. While on the field, I often stopped and just looked around, and I tried to IMAGINE the feeling it would have been to stand there with the Terrible Towels waving the fans cheering and the game day atmosphere. During the tour we got to walk out on the field through the tunnel the players use. Just knowing the great men that have walked through the tunnel, what a rush. Josh Miller said it best when we told us that coming out to the fans was the second-greatest moment of his life, it is distant (he stressed) to having children, but still second nonetheless. I’d have to agree. 

The bigger picture for me was how great of an organization do we have that puts something like this on for their women fans. How incredible is it that 300 women attend coming from California, Texas, and even Canada! The fact that alumni players come back to coach, come on! The organization even includes the Passion players for instruction. I don’t think that the day could have gotten any better. This must be why we are the only ones to have Six Super Bowl trophies. OK, there is one thing that would have made the experience the single greatest moment of my life if "Renegade" by Styx would have been played. That would have been absolutely epic. However, there are no complaints from this girl.

I am so proud to be from Pittsburgh and to be a Steeler Fan. 

Now let's sign the deal and get this lock out over with. I'm ready for some football! 

P.S. A huge Thank you to my aunt for this opportunity. I'll be forever grateful!