By Jens Rørbye
The Towers’ 2018 Rookie Day showed experience levels at the opposite ends of the scale. On one hand we had 23 true rookies, who wore football equipment for the very first time. On the other hand we have a man, whose football career ended a decade ago and who is now in the Pro Football Hall of Fame; Morten Andersen.
The Towers have opened our doors to an organized Rookie Day once a year for the better part of 15 years. However, this year was different, not just because of the number of potential new Towers, but also because of few very special guests: Hall of Famer Morten Andersen and veteran NFL commentator Jimmy Bøjgaard.
Our 23 rookies were divided up into a group of adults and U19 players and another of U16 and below. All were given a two hour introduction to football by our coaches. The youngest did not yet have two digits in their ages, while the oldest had kids who also took part in Rookie Day.
The Towers’ youth consultant, Kasper Skyum, was in charge of organizing and carrying out the event and he was tired, but excited afterwards: “It was awesome to see so many people make an effort for the Towers. Parents, rookies, volunteers and coaches all gave a hand. And it was fantastic that Morten Andersen came out to see us on a cold day like this. The future is definitely bright for the Towers.”
The rookies were dressed in helmets, pads and Towers jerseys and run through drills that gave them a taste of all aspects of football. They caught passes, covered receivers, blocked linemen, ran the ball, tackled and kicked field goals. The latter under expert guidance from Morten Andersen.
Morten Andersen also huddled the rookies up and gave them a talk on what it takes to make it in football. He emphasized the importance of asking a lot of oneself, but also of one’s teammates. “But never point fingers”, Morten stressed “because when you point a finger at someone, three fingers point back to yourself”.
The rookies and about 15 Towers youth players, who came out to help give the rookies a good day, all listened to the words of the 25-year NFL veteran.
And being a humble and down-to-earth person, Morten spent a lot of time talking to players of all ages, lining up for photos and signing jackets, helmets, jerseys, footballs, magazines and much more.
It was a very cold day, with temperatures below freezing all day, but spirits were high and the hotdogs that the Towers offered the rookies afterwards were popular. Especially as snow starting falling and quickly covering the turf field that just a half hour earlier had been buzzing with activity.
We were very happy with this year’s Rookie Day and look very much forward to welcoming a lot of new players to our purple family.
Stay tuned as a video from this wonderful day is on the way!
[embedyt] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDhItkVed1I[/embedyt]
