My Week

Now that school has started, my schedule has become a little more regular.  I thought I would give you a window into what my week looks like.  Normally, I would just give you a view of one day, but I have no one single day that looks like another.  The majority of my week is spent in ministry to either the students at the sport university or working with and ministering to the Prague Lions.

Our AIA group meets twice a week.  We meet together for prayer on Tuesdays at 9:00am and gather for our weekly staff meeting on Fridays at 10:00am.  About every other week, we have a "family dinner" following our staff meeting.  On Mondays and Wednesdays I have Czech class from 10:15am-11:45am.  Czech is a very hard language to learn and by the time my STINT time is up here, I hope to be able to be able to at least understand the coaches when they are talking.  Currently, I can order food, read most of a menu, shop for groceries (notice the food theme here), as well as a few general pleasantries.  Some of the first words I learned here, even before I started classes, were numbers and directions.  Both very important for playing football. 

The bulk of my afternoon time is spent generally at the university.  Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday afternoons are generally when I spend a ton of time at the university.  My time at the universities is spent meeting with students, hanging out, and just being present at the school.  I usually eat lunch at the school with some students at least twice a week.  I also utilize the weightroom at the university.  I have developed a good relationship with the guys who open the weightroom, so I can usually get in for student price, or even free sometimes.  I try to lift Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday afternoons from 3:00 to 4:00 or 5:00.  Lifting is one of the ways that I am able to engage a different group of students.  Lifting requires interaction and cooperation with spotting, so it is a good way for me to get to know some people.

Athletes in Action teaches a conversational English class that meets at the university at 1:00pm and 7:30pm on Tuesdays.  We each take turns planning a lesson that both classes teach from.  Currently, we are expecting a lot of people to come out for each English class, so I am going to both.  In the future if numbers dwindle, I might have the option to just teach the afternoon class.   The class is purely conversational.  Our lesson plans range from current events to sports to whatever people want to talk about. 

Evening Conversational English Class

I try to spend some time each week devoted to general ministry stuff.  That includes a weekly evaluation sheet, support raising, blogging and writing my prayer letter.  Lately, a lot of that has been happening on Monday afternoon.  Somewhere in there I try to spend some time watching film for the Junior team, preparing a small practice plan for our offensive line. 

The Lions typically had 3 practices per week, on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday nights from 5:50-8:30.  We usually left the practice field by around 9:00 or 9:30 once we have wrapped up all of our meetings and all of the guys have showered and left.  Now that the season is over, I attend our team's Nabor (cross between recruiting and try out).  I sometimes help with conditioning or blocking drills, but mostly I just go to start getting in shape again for our Senior season and to meet and hang out with the few senior players who show up.  These practices are at 6:00pm on Mondays and Wednesdays.  

The pace of life might appear to be slower here to an outsider, but a lot of that is because of public transportation.  I generally allow for an hour to get to practice, 45 minutes to get from my house to Billy's for the staff meeting or to the university.  Public transportation is an awesome thing, but you at times have to realize that you are at the whim of the bus/metro/tram schedule.

I use the word "generally" a lot when I talk and write about my schedule.  Meaning that while my schedule is slowly taking shape and some structure does appear to be forming, it is still fairly varied.  So that is my schedule as of right now. You kind of have a window into the organized chaos that is my life here in Prague.

The Oline

One of the aspects of my job here with AIA is that I get to play offensive line for the Prague Lions Senior Team in the spring and I get to coach the Prague Lions Junior Team offensive line in the fall.  The Junior team is more or less high school aged guys.  Since it is the fall and we are slowly wrapping up our season, I thought I would introduce you the guys I work with on the junior team.

My ministry opportunities with these guys range from very limited to plentiful.  I pray that God puts the right guys into my life for me to influence so they in turn can influence the others.  Often my ministry with the guys consists of the bus or metro rides home, so where guys live can play a large factor into how much time I get to spend with them. 

Our starting line up consists of Michal at left tackle, Olda and Petr at left guard, Robin at center, Tomáš at right guard, and Pepa at right tackle.  Our backups consist of Jakub, Vojtech, Marco, and Mara. 

Michal is a huge man.  His first season of football was actually last senior season.  He is probably 6'5" 300lbs.  He is a very good offensive lineman.  If I get him to show up to the weightroom consistently, he could be dominant.  He has a real chance to become the next elite offensive lineman from the Prague Lions.  He could probably play low to mid level NCAA Division I if he were American or he applied himself to the goal of playing University level ball in America.  He is a very quiet kid who only speaks when he absolutely has to.  He is extremely coachable.  Just from the time I have been here, he has improved so much.  He has been having some shoulder problems and has finally sought counsel of a doctor here.  He is having surgery at the end of the month.  My prayer is that the surgery is successful and the recovery time short. 

Olda is one of the newest members of our team, having joined us for only one or two spring practices.  He worked his way almost immediately into the starting lineup.  He and Michal have an interesting dynamic on the left side of the line.  Olda is one of the goofiest kids I have ever worked with.  He is always trying to crack a joke or twist something you say into something that makes you look foolish.  Petr has started a game at left guard and is giving Olda a run for his money for the permanent starting spot.  Petr is a big smiley kid who, given a few more game reps, will also be an excellent offensive lineman.  He is always in a good mood.  His technique has gotten a lot better, but it still has a way to go.

Robin is our center.  Robin is a guy who I spend a lot of time with both on and off the football field.  He is a very talented and smart football player.  He knows a lot about the game.  He was the starting center for the senior team for a couple of games, as well.  Robin is very chatty.  He and his friend Marek (a wide receiver for us) were the first two Lions football players I met when I landed here in May.  They come to our AIA Conversational English classes.  Throw Michal, the left tackle, in with Robin and Marek and I refer to them as the three stooges.

Tomáš is currently our right guard.  I say currently because he can and has played every position on the offensive line.  After three days of football camp in August, he had played every offensive and defensive line position (9 different positions in our system) and played them well.  Tomáš gets very little attention from me simply because he does things right.  He is always looking to improve and is one of the very few guys who is not afraid to ask a question.  I think he even turned a corner in our last game against the Bobcats.  He has gone from blocking guys to dominating them.  He had 3 pancake blocks in the second half against the Bobcats.  He is not a huge guy (around 6'), but his technique is better than most and that puts him in a position to dominate guys twice his size.  He is one guy with whom I wish I could spend more time. 

Pepa is our right tackle.  I spend most of my time trying to get Pepa to be angry and aggressive, to no avail mostly.  Pepa is a good friend who attended the Multikemp over the summer and provided me with a bunch of help.  He is very patient.  Football wise he is getting a lot better.  He still has a ways to go, but he has a lot of upside potential.  He is one guy who I wish I could get more time to hang out with.  He lives outside of Prague, so that makes it very hard to work with him outside of football and follow up things like the Multikemp.  Pepa is one of those guys who seems so open at times and so closed off at others. 

Vojtech is also a new lineman.  He came to us late, so he was only eligible for one season of Junior ball.  He is a guy that I do not know well on a personal level.  I pray for continued meetings with him because he is unsure if he will continue his football career at the senior level.  Technique wise I think he has improved the most, especially considering that he had played no football before this season.  He is a rare guy who can set to a perfect pass set and keep his feet wide enough to keep the defensive lineman in front of him.  We tried him at tackle this year, although if he continues to play for us, I could see him working in at guard. 

Jakub is a guy who got a lot of time on offense and defense this year.  He is one of the few people who tries to help the team by finding sponsors, as well as recruit other people to come out and play.  He is a big kid who needs to be a little more aggressive.  He is one guy that I do not know very well outside of a football context.  I think he could be a leader.  He has the heart and determination to help and lead people. 

Petr is a big, smiley kid who is a lot of fun to hang around.  He was one of the first Lions guy that I met when I arrived.  He likes to have fun.  He is a young guy who still has another year or two of junior football left, which is good because he has a lot of potential.  Petr comes to almost all of our events, both football and AIA related, so I have gotten to know him pretty well.  He is well liked by a lot of people, so I hope that by influencing him, I may be able to influence more through him. 

Well that is a brief overview of the nine guys that I work with the most with the Prague Lions Junior team.  The season is over and I hope and pray that many of them will decide to continue to play for us at the senior level.  All of these guys are a lot of fun to coach and hang out with.  Please pray that I am able to keep in contact with them over the offseason.