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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (June 24, 2016)
SPORTS THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, JUNE 24, 2016 7A Seahawks give rookies extensive course in transition to NFL career By TIM BOOTH AP Sports Writer RENTON, Wash. — Pete Carroll stood at the front of the auditorium just like he would for any other meeting as the head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. But his words Monday were brief, poignant and directed just at his newest players. And they had nothing to do with what these rookies end up doing on the ield. “It’s so important to us to help you guys igure out what is coming,” Carroll said. When the NFL did away with its rookie symposium in Canton, Ohio, it put the onus back on the teams to organize three days of rookie transition education after the completion of their mini- camps and before players head off on their summer breaks. Seat- tle took it a step further, creating an education program that started following the completion of the Seahawks’ rookie minicamp the second week of May and will conclude with the mandatory three days this week. More formal program The reason for such an extensive program: The Sea- hawks don’t believe three days is enough to adequately pro- vide rookies with the informa- tion they need. It’s education the team provided in the past, but now in a more formal program. “They’ve been with us since May 9 so we had nothing but time,” said Mo Kelly, vice presi- dent of player development. “It’s a redundancy type deal. They can never hear it enough. We’ve talked to them on inances, I don’t know how many meet- ings we’ve had so far, but guess what? They’re still going to AP Photo/Elaine Thompson Former Seattle Seahawks’ Bryce Fisher, right, sits on the stage as he address rookies during a panel discussion at the football team’s training camp Monday in Renton, Wash. The team is holding a rookie symposium for the new players to give them information about the NFL. make mistakes. They’re still young men. They’re still grow- ing up. Imagine if you were 21 years old with a lot of money in your pocket. That’s the thing I keep thinking about it is they’re young individuals, they’re going to make mistakes and we have to be here to help them when they make mistakes.” Seattle’s program was opened to the media Monday and included a history lesson on the franchise and a panel discus- sion with former players Bryce Fisher, Jordan Babineaux, Mar- cus Trufant and Hall of Fame offensive tackle Walter Jones on the lessons learned and pitfalls to avoid as a young player enter- ing the league. PhD in inances Much of the conversation revolved around inances and the circle of friends and family suddenly looking for money. “Nobody thinks they have to worry about managing that. They think they have that under SCOREBOARD SPORTS SCHEDULE SUNDAY TODAY Junior State Baseball — Knappa at Clatskanie (2), 3 p.m. Baseball — Jon Gizdavich Me- morial Alumni Tournament, Broad- way Field, 1 p.m. wraps. They go from the small kid, the young one, to now being the person in their family that everyone turns to and asks questions to,” Kelly said. “Now they have to have a PhD in their inances. Everybody is asking them about spending money or getting money from them. Deal- ing with family and friends is really, really tough because it’s close to the vest. We can talk about it, but until you live it and be put in a situation like that it’s tough to understand.” That’s where the experiences of former players proved import- ant. All four came from differ- ent backgrounds and entered the league with different expecta- tions, but their stories shared a common theme. Yes, mistakes will be made. But the ultimate priority for these rookies is not endangering their future. “You have more to lose now. So what are you will- ing to bargain? That’s the ques- tion,” Babineaux said. “What is this position and this opportu- nity that you guys have in front of you worth to you? That means a change in attitude. It requires a change in lifestyle. And it requires a change in really the way you act. The choices that you now have to make. Because what you are doing now is investing in your future and every choice and decision that you make will be a result of where you end up.” Trufant’s recommendation was to have someone able to delect those requests, an inter- mediary to work through and keep the pressure off the indi- vidual player. Jones, who earned the most of anyone on the panel during his Hall of Fame career, told the rookies to start training their families now on priorities. “It’s going to be tough because you’ve got people tug- ging and pulling, that want something,” Jones said. “But you’ve just got to make sure you’re taking care of the peo- ple that you feel that’s in need or you, say this is the person I want to take care of.” Harber K’s seven in Timber Rattlers’ win The Daily Astorian GRAND CHUTE, Wisc. — Conor Harber earned Player of the Game honors, and the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers started the second half of the Midwest League schedule with a 2-0 win over the Quad Cities River Ban- dits at Fox Cities Stadium Thursday night. A trio of Wisconsin pitch- ers held the River Bandits to one hit. Harber got the start and pitched ive no-hit innings, with seven strike- outs and two walks. The seven strikeouts was a new single-game high as a professional for Har- ber, the Astoria High School graduate. Quad Cities starter Jose Hernandez pitched around three doubles in his ive shut- out innings, with ive strike- outs and no walks for the River Bandits. The Timber Rattlers (35- 36 overall) broke a score- less tie in the seventh inning. Isan Diaz, who had two hits and drew a walk, started the frame with a single against River Bandits reliever Elieser Hernandez. Diaz eventually scored on a sacriice ly by Jake Gate- wood for the only run the N orth w es t H a rdw oods • Lon gview , W A Contact: Steve Axtell • 360-430-0885 or John Anderson • 360-269-2500 Rattlers would need. Wisconsin pitcher Nate Griep entered the game in the top of the ninth and retired the River Bandits in order to close out the victory. Griep has converted his last eleven save opportunities. Jake Drossner tossed three scoreless innings in relief for the Timber Rat- tlers and picked up the win. He allowed a two-out single to Myles Straw in the sixth inning for the only hit given up by the Rattlers. 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