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Yoga

Everyone has regrets about high school. Maybe they should have studied harder. Maybe they should have spent more (or less) time with their friends. Maybe they passed up an opportunity they never got again. 

I wish I had done yoga.

I played football in high school. I lifted weights. I was in great shape, except I had lower back pain. It was most severe during football season, but hurt pretty much year round. 

I didn’t think much of it. It wasn’t severe and I really loved playing football. I thought back pain was just part of being a linebacker. 

People told me to stretch. I stretched with the team before practice, so I thought I was following this advice.

Some people told me to do yoga. I laughed at them. Me, do yoga? Isn’t that for girls? Don’t you have to convert to Buddhism? 

When I graduated high school and hung up my shoulder pads for the last time, the back pain softened. But it never went away. Throughout most of college I was still active, mostly playing basketball. While not as bad as football season, my back pain would flare up the day after a game of basketball. 

Three years ago I found something that really helps. Yoga. 

My wife Kelly was going to yoga classes here and there. While I had ignored previous suggestions to do yoga, the continued back pain five years after my last football game pushed me to consider joining her. And so I did.

The first class was exactly what I expected. I was really bad, inflexible and with poor balance. We had a moment of meditation at the end (which I hated at the time, but like yoga, I now have a more positive attitude). The class was nearly all female.

And yet, after about four classes, my back felt better! 

Personal experience combined with Googling showed me what I would have already known had I paid attention in my high school anatomy class. My back pain wasn’t really the result of trauma to my back and it couldn’t be relieved with lower back stretches. It is largely caused by tight hamstrings. I have really tight hamstrings.

A yoga class does wonders for getting me to stretch my hamstrings and other tight spots, like my hips. I try to go once a week. Doing yoga regularly doesn’t necessarily make me feel better, it just makes my body not feel tight.  That’s a little frustrating. But it’s worth it. And I wish I could go back in time to convince my high school self of it. 

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3-3-5 Defense

My high school football team ran a 3-3-5 defense. This means that there were three down linemen, three linebackers directly behind the linemen, and five defensive backs (two cornerbacks, one free safety, and two “spurs” or strong safeties). Your typical football defense is a 4-3 or 3-4, which will have four linemen and three linebackers or vice versa. This leaves four defensive backs, two cornerbacks and two safeties.

What makes the 3-3-5 defense unique is there are only six players lined up in the box and only three on the line of scrimmage. However, there are five defensive backs to cover the pass or blitz, which is one more than a 4-3 or 3-4 scheme. This means the 3-3-5 is suited to defend against offenses that pass more than they run.

Running a 3-3-5 defense in high school was really unwise. Generally high school offenses will be either run-heavy or balanced with play action and short passes making up a majority of the passing game. High school offenses with a quarterback who can throw the deep ball accurately, and talented wide receivers who run good routes and catch the ball well, are rare. At least, a lot more rare than teams with what you need to run the ball: a competent offensive line and a running back who can power ahead for at least four yards a carry.

Stopping the run in a 3-3-5 was difficult. Five offensive linemen faced off against our three down linemen. By the time linebackers came up to stop the run, the offense usually had a solid hole and momentum. In hindsight, I think the 3-3-5 places a high priority on linebackers filling their gaps based on their read of the guard. I was taught to read my keys and react but I don’t think this was emphasized enough by our coaches.

Unsurprisingly, we had a decent pass defense but we were pretty poor at stopping the run. I would be interested to see our past statistics against run and pass players. I also wonder if my coaches ever did that. Each offseason we had the opportunity to switch to a new defensive system, such as the standard 4-3 and 3-4 or even a 4-4 scheme. We switched from the Wing T offense to a Spread offense during my time playing football at Saline High School. I have mixed feelings about that switch (I think it worked out the first year, but we should have switched back to the Wing T or something similar for my Senior year due to personal) which I may write about some other time.