By: Marshawn Lynch and Cooper Helfet
Hey its Marshawn. It has been great to help out our former teammate Breno Giacomini (Pictured Above) with his AFWB charity.
Today was the first day of camp and we hosted the University Football Federation and Turkish American Football Federation teams. The morning consisted of non-contact drills and the afternoon was full contact.
Throughout the day I was paired with fellow Carolina Panthers Running Back DeAngelo Williams and Coop was paired with Cleveland Browns Special Teams Ace Johnson Bademosi.
The highlight of day was when a Turkish Reporter asked to have a “Taste” of American Football. We suited him up, had him sign two waivers, and sent him straight into our tackling drill. Of course I wanted to take it easy on the reporter because I usually have so much to say to them. I will let you watch the video to see the results….
Good news is the Reporter is okay; however the bad news I think he may have retired from football after his first day playing. The reporter was a great sport and here is a picture of him after the hit with Will Svitek (Tennessee Titans) and Barkevious Mingo (Cleveland Browns).
Also, after the tackle we made sure we taught the players to tackle correctly. This player led with his head. One thing that is not natural to people that did not grow up playing football is tackling.
On the field we saw a lot of great potential. Of course it helped that I was able to teach the quarterbacks how to throw the ball. Maybe I have a career as Quarterback after my Running Back days are over.
All and all we have been having a great time in Turkey and the Turkish people have been great. Last night we were hosted at a Euro League basketball game and sat front row and were honored at half time. It was a cool experience to take in an international game.
With that let me turn it over to Coop.
What a great time we have had over here. Today was a lot of fun working with the players on different aspects of their game. Many have a great grasp of the fundamentals so we used this time to introduce them to a bunch of the drills we do at practice as well as back to my days at Duke University.
I worked mainly with the defensive backs – no don’t worry I am not switching to the defensive side of the ball they just needed some help – and I was able to show some of my skills throwing the balls during the drills.
It was a lot of fun working with Johnson Bademosi (Cleveland Browns) as he brought a lot of energy to every drill we did.
Tomorrow we have the teenage campers along with a group of women that play football coming, which should be a lot of fun. Also, I cannot wait to explore more of Istanbul. This city is pretty amazing with all the history surrounding the city.
Make sure you connect with us with us social media to follow our travels as well as AFWB on Twitter, Facebook, or Instagram (afwbcamps).
Marshawn and Coop
