Rod Pedersen
CFL.ca
For the 100 or so fans and those of us in the media who attend Saskatchewan Roughriders’ training camp everyday at Mosaic Stadium, we see the players and coaches assembled on the turf from 8:00am until about 12:30pm each day.
A four hour work day? There’s got to be more to it than this! So I dug a little deeper and found the average work day for CFL types is a tortorous grind. Here’s a day in the life of two key Roughrider figures:
OFFENSIVE COORDINATOR PAUL LAPOLICE
4:05am: I have a rule that I won’t get up before 4:00am so I set the alarm for 4:05.
4:30am: I arrive at the facility, no later than 5:00am. I spend the next two and a half hours scripting together that day’s workouts for training camps.
7:00am: We have a staff meeting with all the coaches and guest coaches.
7:50am: We’re on the field for light stretching to begin the 8:00am practice.
1:00pm: We’ve wrapped up our two-a-day workouts and any media requests, and then have lunch.
1:30pm: Watch as much film of the morning workouts as we can. We’ve already scripted the first nine or 10 days of training camp so we’re ahead of that ball game and we don’t have to script anymore.
4:30pm: The staff drives over to Luther College at the University of Regina.
5:00pm – 6:15pm: We have meetings with the players with each position group.
6:15pm – 7:00pm: Dinner at Luther College.
7:15pm: Special teams meetings with the players. Coach Jamie Barressi and myself meet with the quarterbacks at that time.
8:00pm – 10:00pm: Coaches meet again, then we go home and start over.
“What happens is you’re really trying to find opportunities to steal time. Usually on a game day I don’t come in early. This week I came in at 8:00am to get caught up on other things because you just don’t have time during training camp.”
DEFENSIVE TACKLE SCOTT SCHULTZ
5:30am: Wake up and get into my steam shower, have a 20 minute steam then towel off – aggressively – and make my move to the kitchen.
6:05am: Breakfast consists of whole grain toast, high in fibre, with peanut butter. Eat that on my way to the stadium.
6:30 – 7:00am: Drive to the stadium.
7:00am: Tape my ankles, make a 40 gram protein shake, double chocolate, it’s delicious. Then get dressed, tape my fingers and put my gloves on.
7:50am: On the field for two-a-day workouts.
1:00pm: Finish up the workout, then replenish myself with another protein shake and some delicious canteloup and watermelon. Maybe some honeydew if we’re lucky. Shower off.
2:00pm: Head home and play with my daughter for a half hour before she has her nap, then have one myself.
4:15pm: Alarm clock goes off. Have a Gatorade, then off to meetings at Luther College.
5:00pm – 6:15pm: Meetings with defensive line personnel at Luther.
6:15 – 7:15pm: Dinner. And I take 59 minutes of that because I really like to stretch it out. That’s ME time.
7:15pm – 8:00pm: Special teams meetings.
8:00pm – 9:30pm: More positional meetings, then home.
10:00pm: Watch the last part of I’m A Celebrity Get Me Outta Here with my wife, which we’ve TiVO’d. I make some quips about how stupid the people are on that show, and how much more superior I am than they are. Then it’s off to la-la-land!
