Aug. 1
Summer workouts for football players should not be voluntary. They should be mandatory, supervised and coached four days a week -- high school, college and pro alike.

Why do I give a flip? I'm a dad. My son, Alex, plays high school football at Landmark Christian School in Fairburn, Ga., a suburb of Atlanta. He's a junior quarterback, and a handful of college coaches tell me he is good enough to play at the next level.

That's why I'm paying attention to this latest debate about voluntary summer workouts. See, I love my son dearly. There is nothing I would not do to protect him from harm's way. So if I have been gifted with some dogged investigative skills, you can bet I have put them to work on behalf of my son, not to mention all of his teammates, who are an extension of our family.

	I don't believe for one second that there's a coach or trainer anywhere on today's football landscape who takes lightly the need for a parched player to hydrate himself with water and/or a sports drink before, during and after a practice.

If the NCAA wants to do something positive for the student-athlete, it will take every necessary step to ensure that he gets proper, supervised, regimented training, especially during the summer.

I was almost shocked to find out recently that the college football scholarship does not enable schools to house and feed incoming freshmen during the summer. That's absurd.

I was absolutely disgusted when I heard that one working NCAA committee is contemplating more restrictions on summer workouts, especially in the area of "supervision." I want my son supervised. I want him coached. Most athletes are competitive by nature, and they are dangerously competitive when unchecked or unsupervised (talk about a legal risk).

There is also a strong case to be made that the football player's ability to handle his academic load in the fall will be enhanced by mandatory summer workouts. A well-conditioned player will recover in time to focus on his classroom tasks. A poorly conditioned player who is trying to "catch up" may be too exhausted to give his best effort in the academic theater. (Oh, have I forgotten to mention that nobody is forcing these guys to play football? They can also go the intramural route).

Bottom line: The society that today's football player lives in has poorly acclimated him to heat. We are living in an air-conditioned nation. Our homes, apartments, offices and cars are basically air-conditioned. Even most weight-training rooms are air-conditioned. Young men need to be forced outside for training purposes.

I observed an interesting but understandable phenomenon this summer on my son's team. Two of his teammates were fairly inconsistent in their summer football workouts. They were inconsistent because they were doing manual-labor construction work for their fathers. They arose early and worked late to take advantage of daylight-savings time, which gave their construction crews extra time to get a job done.

Now that two-a-day football practices are under way in the intense summer heat, these two players have had little trouble making the transition to the football field. Unfortunately, very few young men are doing the sort of hard, outdoor labor that was often the norm. Thus, another reason to make summer workouts mandatory.

There is another myth I'd like to attack -- that coaches cannot see past their own ambitions to put their players first. Football coaches and trainers do care about their players at the pro, college and high school levels. Almost all coaches I know got into the business because they love the game and love young people. I don't think this basic core value ever leaves them, even when they rise to the level of big-time, money-driven football programs.

For example, I don't believe for one second that there's a coach or trainer anywhere on today's football landscape who takes lightly the need for a parched player to hydrate himself with water and/or a sports drink before, during and after a practice.

Education and information for player development in the summer heat has never been better. Players get more instruction on proper fluid intake, rest, nutrition, etc., than in any previous era. Are there some danger zones? Obviously, yes. Players who desire that "edge" still reach for the wrong shelf of supplements. Overweight players are at real risk if they cut corners in offseason workouts only to try diet supplements as a means to get to their desired playing weight.

Most of the deaths linked to football can be tied to an existing medical condition. That does not make the deaths any less tragic, but it cannot be ignored.

I would agree that players should communicate with their coaches and trainers when they feel under duress. These coaches and trainers should have a proper response and be vigilant on the abuse of supplements. If a coach isn't responsive, get rid of him.

Do coaches want to win? Tell me about somebody who desires to lose -- personally, I don't want to know him. Don't be a hypocrite. Don't be a fan or media member who rips a coach for working his players too hard, only to rip him for failing to produce a winning program.

I can think of almost no more noble cause than a bunch of young athletes making personal sacrifices side-by-side in order to build trust, discipline, perseverance, excellence, et al, to reach a lofty goal. Is there something wrong with wanting to be the best?

A dear friend of mine, John Maxwell, is one of America's leading motivational speakers and an author of several best-selling "success" books. A couple of years ago, we had an in-depth discussion about the importance of academics and so-called extracurricular activities, such as athletics and fine arts.

Maxwell noted that many of America's current and historical success stories were developed in many places other than the academic theater. I determined that schools should never use the term "extracurricular" but rather "co-curricular."

There is nothing wrong with seeking excellence in both arenas. There are gifted academicians and gifted athletes, but most of us fall somewhere in-between. You bridge the gap by how hard you work.