Departure: the Trip Begins

Final Preparations

            As we prepare for lift off it all of the sudden becomes real: Practices to get our heads right, meetings to fill out some paperwork, the list goes on and on with the necessary t crossing and i doting. But in no less than 8 hours we will be on the road to history.

            Some sad news; in the practices this week 2 of our players got concussions. They will still travel with the team and most likely participate in the game but the task of climbing the mountain leers overhead as something that is too dangerous for the recently concussed.

            Some not so sad news, in fact some amazing news, we were just this last week visited by two very monumental speakers. The first speaker is an advocate for the traveling impact of students. She articulated beautifully the power that every student carries into the international interactions. “Every Citizen a Diplomat” is tabbed onto the pins that she presented us. The representative gave us a presentation on the power of what we were taking, as students and Americans, to Tanzania.

            Which leads me to the next speaker, who, as an athlete has a name loaded with bravado in the sports world. Dr. Lapchick, son of the 3 time NBA hall of famer, advocate of sports power in the world community, contender of racial prejudices including ringleadering the boycott of South Africa that lead to the apartheid against the people of Africa to be abolished. A man whose hand had shaken nearly every sports hero in recent memory including but not limited to Muhammad Ali, and Kareem Abdul Jabir was standing before us; taking a long flight to spend an hour in Des Moines, to tell our team how big of a deal our trip was. He used words like: unprecedented, something that will change every person in this rooms life forever, powerful, and many other extreme ideas to tell us about the way our trip would impact us and those a part of it.

            It is amazing the gains, already that this trip has put into our team. We have learned a lot about the impact of sport, community, and family and leading into the trip I imagine we are going to learn an amazing amount about ourselves through the introduction of these two diverse cultures. We have heard an extraordinary number of jaw dropping speeches about the world we are going to be living in a short time.

            The diary of the trip will begin tomorrow with the departure from Des Moines. I am not finitely sure how much access we will have to internet and computers on the trip but rest assured the trip will be well documented and updated to the best of our ability. And I will be writing no less than daily on each day of our trip and the fruits of that labor will be posted here as soon as possible. Thanks for reading, and until next time tupanda killalani.

Eugene “97” Walter

Finals week, The Story Behind the Story.

The school year is drawing to a close and the trip is coming fast. It is hard to believe in only a matter of weeks I will be on my way to Africa. It seems surreal. The time flew by. I can still remember the feeling of being told of this great experience for the first time.

            When coach Creighton began the story none of us (the players) knew where he was going with it. “ Guys, I have been thinking about something. I have been day-dreaming about it. It has been in my head for a long time. It is huge! And now, we are going to make it happen. I have been on the phone, calling all around the country, and finally got approval from the NCAA and (the athletic department director) Sandy and we are going to play, what I believe is the first football game on the continent of Africa.” The team was fluttering and confused. We were excited but skeptical of such a trip. But when coach told us all the big plans he had; the camps, the service, the climb and the game, we knew it was not just hot air. One major problem, we had to find a team to play and we had to raise the money to get there.

            According to NCAA rules we had to play a team from outside the United States and many of the players (myself included) were ignorant to the existence of competitive American Football leagues outside of the US. 

            Before we left for our summer vacation, Patrick came in, from Global football, and told us the European and Japanese teams were not funded enough to attempt such a trip. Meanwhile, we began our incredulous task of raising $200,000 to fund what many people perceived as a “free vacation”. This task was especially hard because we could not finitely say that the trip was happening. We had to find an opponent before we could collect any real money but if collecting pledges was what we had to do then we'd do our best. 

            It was not long after we returned from summer that we found our opponent, but they were not just interested in a football game. They wanted everything; the trip, the climb, the service, to meet and compete with the Drake football team and share in the experience of something historic. That was when it all became real, and even more so it became about something other than football. We were going to make an impact and be impacted. The trip has become as much about learning as it was about teaching; as much about experiencing as it was about sharing; as much about the world as it was about our small campus in Iowa.

            It has been a long and bumpy road to get us here but it is real, it is unwavering, and it is only 2 weeks from reality.

Check in for frequent updates two weeks from now, while we are there, where I and our other bloggers will give a first hand account of all the things this trip has to offer.

Thank you for reading,

Eugene “EJ” Walter

A Thank you and Looking Past the Peak.

First, I need to thank you to those that have made this trip possible. Our Drake community’s support has been building as we make our final push toward Africa. I have to thank those people from my mother’s work who gave donations for my trip and my mom for covering the expenses of what money we couldn’t raise for me to go on the trip. I need to send thanks to my grandparents and my aunts and uncles for their support, both financial and otherwise.

Coach Creighton has made this trip possible, with the help of Sandy Hatfield Clubb our Athletic director; his vision and her support along with Global Football and ISIS are putting an amazing trip together. I also want to thank you, our blog readers, for being a part of the trip and allowing us to share our experience with you.

Thank you for reading

Eugene “EJ” Walter 97







Raising money for the trip was by far going to be the hardest part of the Africa trip. Four thousand dollars is a ton of money that no college kid has had in his bank account at any time. I'm so blessed to have had some money in my account, and to have my parents giving me money as well. My parents aren't the only ones I can thank. I rallied the troops in my family, and asked for donations for my trip. God has been good to my family, and many people have made generous donations for my cause. Specials thanks to: ISK Industries(Jim and Don Cashmore-UNCLES), Cathy Hemberger(Grandmother), Kim Cashmore(Aunt). I hope I didn't forget anyone!! I'd like to also give all the guys a shout out who didn't have the family support I did. Paddy O'Connell is just one of the many examples who raised more money to help teammates go to Africa. We had so many guys going to churches, schools, neighbors, business, any type of resource we could use. I know put their time and effort to have this time of their life. I'm just so impressed by the effort our team put in for the lift-a-thon and fundraising. Truly awesome! 

I'm a marketing and management major, and have a 3.14 accumulative GPA. Senior year has provided the most projects and papers I have had in my entire college career.

This is the first year that I don't have any tests for my finals week. I have had the busiest week this first week in May though. I had about 11 pages of writing due in poetry, a project in a management class, a paper in another management class, and another paper due in accounting. Now I can finally take a big breath because I'm done with 90% of my classes. I have two papers left in two different classes, and than done for the semester. Finals is such a hectic week, and I can only imagine the stress that is going on for the other guys on the team.

I plan on going into either college football coaching or working with non profit organizations. Things will work their ways out.

Thanks for reading,

Pat Cashmore #30...12 DAYS!!!!



Hello bloggers, Thanks for checking in again! This week I want to talk a little about school and what my plans are for the future. I am currently a double major in Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management. I am almost done so next semester, I only need to take two classes to finish both of my majors. Drake has helped me in so many ways. I think that the majors I have chosen have very concentrated courses but the teachers do an excellent job of helping us be well rounded people. They have taught us to know about all aspects of business instead of just marketing student. Also, what I find unique about Drake is the fact that my teachers know who I am and I can go talk to them personally if I have any questions. I have used them to my advantage quite a few times. I am from the suburbs of Chicago and I plan to move back into the city when I graduate next fall. I have had quite a change of heart and plan on going to graduate school in the city for high school counseling. I have a lot of connections back there and I feel that, like I said earlier, Drake has made me a very well rounded person and prepared me for life after graduation no matter what I do. So that is something that is far in the future but also something that I am very excited about. Anyways, we depart for Africa in 14 days and I could not be more excited. Our team made some huge strides over spring ball and I am looking forward to putting it all together for our game during our trip! Thanks for checking in everyone and as always, GO BULLDOGS!



Jim Nelson, #13



Jim Nelson

Drake University

Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management

Drake Football

Pi Kappa Alpha

Photos: Drake Recap

Leading up to the big trip, alot has happened with our football program these past 2 weeks.

Check out some photos below of the events!! All photos are courtesy of Drake Athletics and Chris Donahue.

Drake Youth Day (4/22/11)

Group Picture - What a day to be a Bulldog!

HAMMER HITS

"Sign us up Coach Creighton!"

Drake Spring Game (4/23/11)

Coach C & the offense came ready to play

B-Seegs (#22) Returned the opening kickoff for 67 yards

This is what I like to see, Defense destroying blocks!

Drake Athletics Award Ceremony (5/2/11)

We were honored with the Director's Award (Team of the Year)

Former player Andrew Asbell was awarded the Comeback Player of the Year

and the Strength and Conditioning Award.

Only TWO WEEKS until Africa!

Hope all is well Bulldog Fans. Keep checking back with us, Tupande!

-Cameron Good, #4? 12?...(TBD in Africa!)

the End of Spring Football and Youth day

What an exciting time for our football program. We just hosted our 4th annual Youth Day Clinic at Drake Stadium. Cam Goode and Anthony Ginaris talked to schools all over the Des Moines about the clinic that the bulldogs were putting on. It was a completely free event, and the players were ecstatic for the day's events. Unfortunately the weather did not corporate with us, but that didn't stop us and the kids from having an absolute blast. Players were so excited about the outcome, and really were enthusiastic about playing with the kids. It was quite an opportunity for the players to teach kids techniques, and more importantly end zone dances. Youth day is a way to get Des Moines interested in the Drake community, but also to consider football the sport that they want to play. All it takes is one camp/player to influence a child's decision.

Saturday's spring game was a hard fought battle, but both teams knew that they needed to do their respected assignments. We met up at the bulldog at 11:15 where we were accompanied by friends, parents,incoming recruits, and future potential recruits. This is the most packed I had seen the Bulldog in my time at Drake. There had to be close to 300 people there. The energy was there, and it was the players job to mentally prepare. I like that we include friends and family in the team walk because it provides them some insight into what players are feeling before game, and what we do to prepare. As we walk down the tunnel onto the field, each player quiets down and listens to his own thoughts, or his iPod. After a quick pep talk, we went into the locker room to get ready for the game.

I felt that the offense had a lot to prove this off-season. The defense has ultimately carried this football team for the time I have been here, and as a unit, we want to prove that we are just as good as them. It helps that there is so much continuity on our offense with only losing one senior. Mike Piatowski understand the offense, and has stepped more into a role of a leader on the field. The offense ended up winning the game, but has much to improve. The defense looks impressive for having its third defensive coordinator in the last three years. The defense did well learning their rules, and I expect they make big leaps in the summer.


Africa is quickly approaching us, and everyone is EXCITED!

Until next time,

Pat Cashmore #30

Academic Standards

As finals week approaches the academic school year is drawing to a close and I am finding myself buried in papers and tests to write and study for. As a student athlete it gets difficult to balance the workloads of the school and the team, especially having taken an extra course to coincide with our Africa trip. But despite the difficulty balancing these things, Drake as a school and football team holds us to a higher academic standard, rather than the NCAA mandated 1.8 average g.p.a. We require a 2.2. We honor each semester’s academic top ten, the kids with the highest g.p.a.’s per their hours being taken. They each get a headshot framed and hung in the players’ lounge where our pioneer league championship trophies sit. I feel this represents the nature of our team, we are student first-athlete second. Even the most basic achievement of good grades is put on par (or above) the greatest achievement our football team can reach.

            I personally have only once had a chance to make the academic wall top ten. Not because I have had a bad college academic career, quite the contrary in fact, but the standards are so high for the players on the team that for a vast majority of the semesters the only way to break the top ten is to score a perfect 4.0 and even then you are not guaranteed to make it. Another aspect of the academic commitment of this team is the committed to excellence awards. Considered a high honor in our football program, it is a series of higher standards that, amongst other things monitors attendance in classes, grades, and progress in the academic realm of our student athlete responsibilities. It is an award I have made my personal goal to win all four years and have succeeded up to this point, although the standards are high and it is continuing to be very hard to accomplish.

            In total we spend approximately as many hours a day as we do participating in football related events each week. We are in essence playing two sports. We are playing football and we are playing our position in the classroom. The acuteness of the metaphor assimilating the nature of Saturday football games to a test is perfect. Each week we take steps to reaching that next higher standard, to learn something, to practice it, and to implement it.  Just as in football, the classroom requires us to build ourselves up so that eventually we can help our team whether that is through a play on the football field or leading a team of workers to get a big account, you set high goals and you achieve them. It is what Drake football does. 19,400 feet, that is our goal now.

Community Service

Hello bloggers! This week I just want to talk a little about our community service that we do as a team. One of our five team goals is being Impact Men. This is something that we take very serious and it involves us giving back to the community we represent. Every week during winter workouts and the fall season, we have players visiting Blank's Childrens Hospital to try and make a difference in the lives of young children who are not as blessed as we are. Going there has a huge impact in our lives and theirs. We also have players go to different elementary schools around Des Moines and read to kids and stress the importance reading will have in their lives. Other than that, if there is anything we can do just to help people around our community, we are always glad to help. None of this is mandatory, we all do it as strictly volunteer events because we believe we need to give back to our community because of the people with less than us and to show our thanks for their support. Anyways, spring ball is getting ready to end with our spring game next weekend and everyone has improved greatly. Thanks for following and your continued support. As always, GO BULLDOGS!



Jim Nelson

Drake University

Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management

Drake Football

Pi Kappa Alpha

(630)253-8099



Community service is a huge part of our program. I have positive memories of every community service project. It is a way to give our time to help people. Our program focuses on not being selfish, but being selfless. How can we better someone's life? I think its amazing how our football team contributes to local clubs, hospitals, and school. This experience has been positive for me, and has made me very blessed.

I have mainly worked with Boys and Girls Club and the Wilkie House. Both are after school programs to help kids with homework, and to keep them busy. I enjoy learning about the kids, and they do a great job of making me laugh. It is always fun when you return a week later, and a child remembers your name. I always try to beat the kids in basketball and pool. I also have been to the Blank Children's Hospital. We always meet some tough children who are battling for their lives. Africa is going to be a great opportunity to give back to this orphanage. I think this will be a life changing event for the entire team. It may be the first time that our athletes witness poverty. Its important that we enjoy the kids at the orphanage as well. They are going to want to play, and I think our players will have blast with them. I can't imagine what they will do when they see a football.

Football's Impact on My Life: Past, Present, and Future.

            My name is Eugene Walter. I am a Drake University football player, and someday very soon I am going to be a part of a historical moment in football history because the Drake University bulldogs are going to be playing the first American football game on the continent of Africa. I am going to document our team’s journey from the floor of the Killibowl stadium, where our team will compete against an all-star team from Mexico, to the tip of mount Kilimanjaro that we will summit with them.

            Football has been a driving force in my life since I was a child. I can remember when my mother took me to my first football game. My eyes—captivated by the competition and excitement of the game—glued to the action as I watched Marcus Allen dive over a wall of red and gold. At the time I had no idea why the stadium erupted the way it did when he jumped over that pile. But from then on football would always be a part of who I was. I set the goal of playing on weekends for that hometown team in the distant future. I fantasized about myself throwing off tacklers by diving into couch cushions and running through the neighbors’ hedges. It was not until I first started football, around third grade, that I realized that it wasn’t going to be easy. I learned that the people that are fortunate enough to play this great game for millions of fans were not given anything, they had to work for it. And from then on I did whatever I could to be the best. My drive was that I had to be the best at everything. Sprints, I had to be first, class projects had to be A’s, teams for any activity, I had to win. All that work has lead me to here-Drake University, where I have decided to study writing and psychology and where I spend all other energy chasing the hope of playing on a weekend.

            Coming into Drake University I was an undersized defensive lineman. Six feet, Two hundred pounds, as a tackle at the division 1 level, is a difficult obstacle to overcome. I worked hard but still could not get much weight to stick to my body. I got faster, stronger, but still going into my sophomore year is when I heard of the trip to Africa. I was no closer to being the player I needed to be. I remember leaving the meeting, where Coach Creighton announced the trip to Tanzania, thinking that perhaps my dream of playing on that big stage will happen after all. I had been accepting of my role as someone who worked as hard as they could to make the people around them better. I received my recognition for being a hard working and selfless guy by players and coaches alike. But I was never able to give up the hope that someday I would earn my spot on the field.

            I found myself with a new goal. Those distant dreams of NFL glory had been replaced by more idealistic fantasies of being a father and husband. But this trip was real. I was going to be a part of a great moment in football history. Though this trip means a lot more to me than just historic precedence. Tanzania is the culmination of my commitment to this school, this team, this sport, and my family. This trip is in: every morning I wake up before the sun cracks the frostbitten ground of Iowan winter, every time I get hit by an offensive lineman almost twice my size, every time I sneak away from my friends to get an extra workout, each time I sit in my car, listening to the radio on hearing my team play halfway across the United States.

            I suppose what means so much to me about this trip is not the chance that I might play but that it will be something regenerative about it. We are doing far more than just playing a game. We are not just introducing a sport to a country. We are teaching something we love to kids that might forget the rules eventually of American football but the impact of the men teaching, my football family who have been molded by this great game, will leave an impression on those children that will last and affect them and us for the rest of our lives. Some might feel that the manifestation of this trip will be in the orphanage wing we will help build while we are there, or in the climb up the mountain with the Mexican all-star team, or the television special, or the game broadcast, and in part they’d all be right. But I can tell you for us, as the players, our greatest excitement comes from being a part of something greater than ourselves. The initial attraction of the game in: the glory, the competition, the sportsmanship, the selflessness, the parts that make up the greater whole that make us work harder and harder each day.

           

           

Thank you for reading.

Eugene “EJ” Walter #97

Drake University

Department of Arts and Sciences

Eugene.walter@drake.edu            

Class on Leadership

Spring ball is halfway done and the spring semester is flying by. The climb is looming and as a team we are doing a lot to prepare. Most of the guys who are going on the trip are taking a class about leadership qualities and emotional awareness with emphasis on the activities that we will be doing in Africa. In the class we have heard from speakers, most of which who have climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro, who shared any number of things dealing with the obstacles of our trip. From breaching a communication gap to attempting to teach a very complicated sport to kids who have never seen it before, and pushing a group of 100 or so people, some very large, up a very tall mountain.

Something that really stuck with me from our course was when a Peaks 4 Poverty representative, Native of Tanzania, from our own Drake Campus, came in to tell us both about the climb, which he had done twice to raise money and draw attention to the struggle of the poverty stricken in the world, and about the people and culture of Tanzania. In hearing about the people that the football teams would be experiencing I became overwhelmed with the awareness of just how big of a deal this trip was. We are going to be making lifetime memories and impressions on these kids, some of whom will not have shoes or access to clean water. I realized that all the people who came into the classroom to tell me how this trip would change me forever weren’t just talking about the accomplishment of the first game in Africa or climbing a mountain, they were talking about the people.



Eugene “EJ” Walter



There are many things that each individual is doing to prepare for Africa. I'm making sure that I have all the necessary gear that will allow me to climb the mountain. I got my hiking boots in January and have been breaking them in ever since. Now I'm just trying to utilize friends and family friends who have hiking experience, and that might provide some gear for me. I'm very fortunate to have an Uncle who has climbed to over 19,000 feet on Mount Everest. He has provided some good insight about what to expect from climbing, and how I should prepare. I have been walking daily, and just trying to do the movements that I will be doing on the mountain. Along with the gear, I have had to make sure that I have all the proper shots. I received for shots over spring break, and I think I have two left to receive. Two documentaries that I have watched are making me intimidated by this mountain. I just don't know how my body is going to react to the elevation change. The anticipation keeps building the closer we get to this trip.



Thanks for reading,

Pat Cashmore #30

Spring Football Season Begins

Spring football is in full swing and our team is looking great! The defense is adjusting nicely to a new scheme, the offense is perfecting and building on what they already have in place and new faces are starting to make themselves known. Personally, after surgery and learning a new position, my efforts have been geared towards learning the offense and understanding what coverage the defense is giving us. I have finally been cleared to catch and I owe that to our physical therapist, Brant, who has worked with me ever since my surgery. Anyways, the Africa trip is coming like a freight train and players are doing everything we can to prepare properly. Although it is not very fashionable, we have been wearing hiking boots all around campus in order to break in our hiking boots. This is actually a great strategy because our campus is not big enough to drive everywhere so we do a lot of walking. We are all also still gathering gear for the trip. You don't realize how much equipment you need until you actually sit down and make a list of it all for every possible situation. We need warm weather gear, cold weather gear and rain gear. What other trip would you need sun screen, a hat for shade and a 0 degree sleeping bag and two pairs of gloves? This is going to be an amazing opportunity. Something we haven't really addressed or maybe thought about very much that we will be meeting the team from Mexico that we just played days before when we reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Anyways, we will continue to prepare for this trip but will stay focused on spring ball and not lose sight of our main goal which is another Pioneer Football League Championship! Thanks for reading again and as always, GO BULLDOGS!

Jim Nelson, #13

Jim Nelson
Drake University
Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management
Drake Football
Pi Kappa Alpha



To say that the first week of spring football has been crazy for me would be putting it rather mildly. I have made the move from defensive tackle to linebacker and it has been quite the adventure: with a new coach, a new system, and a whole lot of new things to screw up. Showing up to the first spring practice on Wednesday I fully expected to be lining up in the same place I had been for the past 3 years and run the few plays I had learned in the new system against the same offensive line I had played scout team for in the previous season. But 20 minutes before practice started I became a linebacker. And I went out to the first practice with nothing but enthusiasm, with my head spinning with words I had never heard, trying to piece together anything I could to make sense of 20 minutes worth of learning. Today, a week superseded from the shift and I am not sure if everything is going smoothly but I am making progress. It helps to have the experience and leadership of the people in my position group, although we are a very young linebacking core. But I cannot say that I have enjoyed my springballs up to this point more, I just can’t wait till I can get past the mental spin and move into the “just play it” mode but I can feel that it is only right around the corner for all of us. As the group learns a little more each day we get further and further up our metaphorical mountain that we have pinned to our bulliten board in the locker room. Each step we take, each meeting we have is inching up closer and closer to the summit-that is all of our dreams, and vision for this team. We set our sights and goals high and the excitement in this group of young men is building into something special and the momentum is carrying us right through to and past the point where are legs feel heavy and hurt. When the weather is biting and fierce. This moved us into the classroom for our all football team class on leadership and emotional intelligence. Where we were given a photographic tour of our mountain, and discussed how we are going to develop and change to become the best group of leaders and the best team we can be by what we have set our goals on this trip and season. We are flying through this semester and our trip, that at one time felt so distant is now only a couple short months away.



Eugene “EJ” Walter 97



Spring ball has started off well with high intensity and lots of learning. This will be my last spring ball experience as a player, so I'm not going to let practices slip away and am going to enjoy the moment. The defense has been learning a new defense, and is picking it up quickly. It is always a challenge to learn a new system, and the defensive upperclass men have done well leading the under class men. The offense is trying to perfect our system, and the freshmen our improving everyday. The atmosphere has been upbeat. Last Sunday we were fortunate to have Dr.Clubb come talk to all the players. He talked about his climbing experience on Mt. Kilimanjaro, and provided us with a lot of information. It was good to hear from someone about climbing gear, climbing experience, and how your body feels. I'm getting so excited for our trip to Africa, and am so blessed to be able to go on this trip. I think this will be a life changing experience.

Thanks for reading
Pat Cashmore #30

Test Week: Success and Failure

Test week has came and passed. The Drake bulldogs have finally had a chance to see what a year, a month, all those six a.m. workouts have manifested into. And unlike years previous our whole team got to be a part of the successes, and failures, of the final test week before spring break. Our team set the ambitious goal of 210 personal records in seven testable areas. Long jump, vertical jump, 40 yard dash, 5-10-5, Squat, Bench, and Hang clean. We rallied around the atmosphere we created and reached many new personal records. My own experience is something of an emotional thing. In the weeks preceding max week I was going through either the onsets of Chrone's disease, ulcerative colitis or an infection that kept me exhausted. But I was not willing to sacrifice the perfect PR record I had brought into this year. Every test week, every winter, I found it in me to reach or pass every one of my goals. But this week would be different. In speed work outs I got exponentially better in my 5-10-5 but my forty, while it was faster, was not where I wanted it. Jumps went okay, I saw an inch more height from just a couple weeks making me more than happy with what I had reached in my vertical. My broad jump made 4/4 in the personal records. Going into wednesday I was feeling better but my body was still a little drained as I rolled into the weight room. I took my grips at the hang clean bar and proceeded to get the bar to my chest seven times, but not get my chest under it a single time. I came back at the same weight and eventually got to match my previous PR but matching isn't beating and this got into my head. My streak had been broken, I was psyched out, and not five minutes later I could not get my forearms extended to break my PR in bench press. I left the Gym feeling a foot tall. But when squat time came, with some of my friends struggling, I could not help but get pessimistic. There would be no way to get this bar up the four times I needed too. But when my teammates and coaches got behind me I just kept going and when my body finally gave out I had met my PR and then some. Five times at a weight I could not have imagined attempting a year ago. Finally a part of this week didn't seem to be a disappointment for me personally. So in the end the successes and failures of the week leave us with hope for the upcoming season and the progress our team has made. But the week also leaves us with the reminder of how we still need to keep pushing to get better. It is a reminder of how we are capable of falling short of our goals, and we can't allow that to happen. Max week is important not just because it shows our progress but reminds us that we have far to come.

19,000 feet.

Eugene "EJ" Walter 97

It was a long two days coming back to school from Spring Break. Walking around the gloomy streets of Des Moines make you really appreciate your Spring Break destination! Along with seeing family, I got to enjoy my trip with some friends. Our winter workouts have now ended and we absolutely crushed our max week! It's now March and Spring Football practice have started, and our team is pretty pumped up. Our theme for the 2011 season was revealed Sunday night and it makes perfect sense to be associated with our team – “Climb to the Top”. Along with climbing that Mountain in May, we need to climb to the top as a team to win a championship. This is a theme that our team will focus on each and every day and take it one step at a time. As for our trip, it has been reported that our Global Kilimanjaro Bowl game on May 21st will have a Live TV Broadcast! Keep checking out the blog, my website-www.camgoodvideo.com and www.kilibowl.com for more updates!

-Cameron Good

Max week was a huge evaluation for our winter conditioning. Our team had set a goal of 210 personal records that were to be achieved. That meant that each athlete had to complete 3 pr’s. I thought the team did an excellent job of staying motivated throughout the week. I felt the energy was upbeat, and support was coming form all of the team. I know personally that I was worried about getting 3 personal records because of how high my prs have been in the past and soreness in my legs. My teammates help keep me focused, and I think I achieved 3 prs. The support and motivation from my teammates was outstanding. After max week, I head home to Kansas City, Missouri, for some much needed rest and relaxation. Nothing compares to going home and being pampered by your parents. Since we will be going to Africa I will not be able to come home for an extended period, so I took advantage of spending this time with my parents. We returned from spring break and had a team meeting before spring ball would start. Coach motivated us for spring, and made us realize that spring practices were just another step in our pursuit of the PFL championship.

Thanks for reading.
Pat Cashmore #30

Hello again Bulldog fans! I just want to talk a little about our max week as a football team and then touch on some of the things we have coming up in the spring. Max week for me did not show the typical progress one would make during winter workouts. After having surgery, I could not do any physical activity for at least 6 weeks and was not able to run until over 2 months. That being said, I was not able to work out as much as I typically would. The results showed. I did not beat any of my personal records which was tough for me because we had set a goal of 210 PR's for the entire team. 210 PR's equates to three per player on the team. We can earn PR's in eight events and I had gotten zero. Even though I was not able to work out in preparation for max week as much as I would have and even though surgery is a big set back, it still ate away at me. After the week was over, Coach Creighton calculated how many PR's our team got and the total was 304!!! This was amazing for our team to beat our goal by such a large margin.
Moving on into spring ball. This is always a time for great improvement and lots of fun. On top of perfecting form and understanding our assignments on the field, we also get to beat up on each other for 5 weeks. Spring ball is a lot of fun and it will be interesting to see who can prove themselves to his teammates. The defense needs to know and understand a new scheme and the time has come for the offense to really start shining. Anyways, thanks for reading again and as always, GO BULLDOGS!

Jim Nelson #13

Jim Nelson
Drake University
Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management
Drake Football

Proud to Be A Bulldog

One specific time I can remember how being a Drake football was important came last spring. I went on my spring break to San Diego, CA to visit a friend. He was still in school and had a field trip to Dreamworks Studios in Los Angeles. Well knowing that I was coming to visit, he asked his professor if I could come along since we study the same fields. Professor said yes, and we were off to Dreamworks! During our visit there, we were in a "resume-building" session with Dreamworks' recruiters. Giving tips on how we can improve our resume and job interviews. The main recruiter was impressed that I actually came out there but what he was more impressed with was my resume he glanced at. It wasn't the under the video production experience or awards category. He just simply pointed at how I wrote that I am a Drake Football player and said, "That is going to help you...A lot". Just to hear that from a person who looks at hundreds of resume's each day made me realize how important it is to be a student-athlete. We deal with so many activities with playing our sport and then succeeding in school, that it will eventually give us the advantage in the long run! That's my story when I realized how important it is to be a Drake Football Player.

- Cameron Good, #4

P.S. - I currently have a website up right now for my journalism class. I created a blog/vlog that will focus on our upcoming trip!

So now you got 2 blogs to check out and get the latest info on our experience!

http://www.camgoodvideo.com/

Hey Bulldog Fans, this week I want to talk about a time when Drake Football has been important to me.  When we played Jacksonville during the 2009 season, our team was losing pretty badly at half time. The JU team had basically packed their bags and was ready to get on the long flight back to Florida. But our team has too much pride to just roll over and die. We made a conscious decision to stick our foot in the ground and change the momentum of the game. They were in our town and on our home field. When the second half started, we came out with a new fire and passion for the game. We fought and fought and squeezed the life out of that

Jacksonville team until they had nothing left. We clawed our way back into the game and finally finished out the game with a victory against an incredible opponent. The feeling I had after that game is almost impossible to describe. Every player on our squad contributed to that victory and we all learned something that day. We learned that no matter what, you can never quit. Even when the odds are stacked against you because the odds aren't always right. We came out to play that day and showed the perseverance our team has. Since that time, our team has learned from more obstacles we have encountered and we are better for it. There will come a time next year when we are losing a game but if you take a look at the faces of the players on our team, you will see calmness about us. We play Drake Football for all four quarters. The strong overcome diversity and you can count on us to do just that this coming fall! Thanks for checking in again and as always, GO BULLDOGS!

Jim Nelson #13

Jim Nelson

Drake University

Marketing and Entrepreneurial Management

Drake Football

The time I was proudest of being a Drake Bulldog was my freshman year in light of a tragedy for our team. Before I came to Drake the senior leader, the captain, and one of the more passionate players I have ever had the privilege of playing with had his season ended his junior season due to breaking two bones in his arm. Now fast forward to early in the next season, I am watching and cheering when the other team breaks off a long run, and my eyes follow the football. But then I here a scream from the field “No, not again!” I turn my eyes in time to see Cale Hunt, our leader, falling to his knees clenching his arm. He is facing our sideline, which has been sucked into the silence of a vacuum. I can’t remember the final score; I just remember the sideline being broken with Cale’s arm and then, when he was carted off the field in the ambulance our game reaching a new level. We became better in spite of loosing our best player because we became something more than a team. We played harder, we cheered harder, we erupted forward into a passion for our football family, and it was this feeling that has driven me through all the hard times my three years since. Cale Hunt rehabbed and returned after his arm had broken twice. He gave everything he had for this team, and the team reciprocated, and experiencing something like that is what makes pride in being a Drake Bulldog something truly amazing to be a part of.

-Eugene "EJ" Walter 97

Thanks for reading.

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths. When you go through hardships and decide not to surrender, that is strength.” -Arnold Schwartzenegger

What motivates a Drake Bulldog to climb Kilimanjaro?

What motivates a Drake Bulldog to climb Kilimanjaro?

It is a grueling test of endurance and will to climb a mountain. The landscape might be scenic and the gesture may be grand but the harsh reality of climbing such a distance is a scary thing. I can’t say that I have felt, or will feel anything like I am going to experience climbing Killi but I can imagine that I will need some extremely powerful motivators to get me through to the top. At first I imagine that I, being one for enjoying the artistic natural world in all its glory will try to take in as much of this jungle as I can. But when my boots get heavy, I will probably drift into thoughts of things here, in Des Moines. Working harder toward next year and my future, setting goals and trying to envision what the path before me might hold. When the mountain starts to get a little cold I will probably drift into my book idea, my life in Kansas, something to distract me from the world around me. I will try to excite myself with ideas and fantasies of what life would be like if a book I wrote was a success. When my feet get a little red and wet. I will probably begin to wonder if it is all worth it. If getting to the top is such a big deal. I will try to calculate how many more steps/miles/minutes I will be marching up this mountain. But when all is said and done, I am thinking that my main motivators are going to be the people who mean most to me. The thought of doing all of this is amazing, but it is really special for me to do it for my family. My mother who worked really hard to get me into better schools, a good college, on a football team, and onto this plane to Africa will be with me every dreary step of the way. I will breath in the sacrifices she has made for me and drip them, as sweat, onto the soil. She will be as much a part of this trip for me as anyone physically there. And when my mind and body have decided they want to quit I will be reminded of what is perhaps the greatest thing about being a bulldog. Companionship, when the bitter winds really do hit my face, and all the other places in the world seem better then here, I am sure that my teammates will push to get me through. They will drive me and motivate me because that’s just what we do. We strive to get the best out of one another and we as a team will not consider the trip a success if we do not get our teammates up that mountain. We are Drake Bulldogs and this is what we do.

-Eugene "EJ" Walter 97

When I think about the driving factor that will force me to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro, it will be just the happiness of what has been given in my life. Despite the sacrifices we've made, we are all very fortunate to be apart of this trip. We do not take life for granted and I think once we are climbing this mountain, we will realize how great this experience is. It is a life-changing experience for us. I will also think of my friends and family back home as motivation. I want them to know that I did it! I will also realize without them in my life, I probably wouldn't be where I'm at now. The last motivation force for me will be the soldiers and veterans in our country. Recently, I've been doing community service at Des moines' VA (Veterans' Administration) Hospital. Just meeting the veterans and hearing their stories they went through makes this climb seem as if it is a tiny feat. I will think of all the troubles they went through, all of the  mountains and slopes they climbed and of course the sacrifices they made.  

This will motivate me to defeat this mountain!

Cam Good, #4

 I don't know what to expect from Mt.Kilimanjaro.  I'm excited to say that I will be climbing the prestigious mountain.  What a memory our football team will have when we come back for a reunion?  We climbed one of the tallest mountains in the world!!!! Gosh that's so exciting and awesome.  I will admit that I'm a little worried of how my body will react to the elevation.  I've heard some scary stories of people not reacting well, but I can't let that stop me from climbing that mountain.  The opportunity of climbing this mountain is what motivates me.  Some people will never have a chance like this, and this is why I can't let this slip away. This will be a check off my list of things to do.  The mountain journey will provide some comedy, life stories, and football talk. I imagine I will get to become better friends/teammates with the guys.  We will be hiking for 6/7 days, so it will be good to mingle with everyone.  This adventure will bring different motivation from each individual and I hope to hear about them. This will be a once and lifetime adventure, and I can't wait.

Pat Cashmore #30

Drake Fans! This week I want to talk about what will be driving me up Mount Kilimanjaro. As I said last week, I had a major shoulder surgery on the 8th of December. Getting to the top of this mountain will be an absolutely huge accomplishment for me after this surgery. Doctors kept saying how tough it would be to come back from a surgery like this but I pray about it every day and stay consistent with my physical therapy. Yes, surgery is a tough opponent but it is just one more thing that I will not be defeated by and it is standing between me and a PFL Championship ring. Also, I think about how close our team was last year to winning the PFL. Jacksonville and Dayton thought we had no business being close with them in a football game. They are good teams but it would be a huge mistake to underestimate us. I know how tough we were last year and we are going to be even more dangerous this year. They have a target on their backs and climbing this mountain will start a great series of victories for the Bulldog Nation. Thanks for reading again this week and as always, GO DAWGS!

Jim Nelson, #13

A day in the life of a Drake Bulldog

 My day this semester usually starts with a morning lift/ or run depending on what day of the week it is.  It is nice to start the day like that, but I can't lie can be very hard to roll out of bed every morning.  After I finish my workout, I head to 2,3 classes during the day.  My classes have been interesting this year.  I don't have exams, but have multiple projects and papers due.  This has been quite the work load this year.  When I get done with my class at 3:15 I end up doing two things.  The first one would be heading to work at the event staff(Drake University) or at Brenton Skating Plaza(Downtown Des Moines).  I usually work about 4-6 hours a night.  The second option I might do is head to the training room for some therapy.  This is a great time to let my body recover by using electric stim and ice.  It's key to keep your body healthy to prevail during the winter workouts.  After work or therapy, I usually have one or two homework assignments due the next day.  Time management is key to being a student-athlete.  You have to be prepared before the week starts.  

Thanks for reading,

Pat cashmore #30

Hello again, we are now in another week of Drake football off-season training. I want to talk a little about what my daily struggle is like as it may be a little bit different than most of the other players.  On December 8th, I had a major shoulder surgery and every day, I have to take steps towards getting 100% healthy again. I have gotten almost all of my range of motion in my arm which is a great feeling but I still have to keep working hard. As of last week, I was cleared to do all the running our team has been doing which was the best news I had in a long time. You don't really realize how much of a privilege it is to be able to run until you can't do it. So three times every week, I spend an hour in the training room stretching my shoulder and building muscle. On top of physical therapy, I am taking 15 credit hours in the school of business and public administration. Mondays and Wednesdays I have 4 classes. Tuesdays and Thursdays I have 1 class which is nice but I spend most of my free time doing work for my other classes. I am also working 17 hours every week at Office Max. I am obviously not trying to make a career out of my job there but it is really nice to have a few extra dollars in my pocket. Every Thursday, I attend a Bible study group with a couple of the other guys on the team and Coach Nicolet and I really enjoy the things we talk about. Coach Nicolet is my new position coach and it is nice to get to know him on a more personal level. So I do have a pretty busy schedule but it forces me to be on top of everything which will help me out later on down the road.

  I truly appreciate everyone reading this blog and hope our insight is something that people enjoy. Every day we get closer to our trip to Africa and winning another Pioneer Football League Championship for the Bulldog nation!

Thanks,

Jim Nelson #13

Depending on the day of the week I am either up in the early morning for one of our winter workouts at 6am or I am up early and getting ready for class. Tuesdays and Thursdays, our running days, always seem to get me revved up for the day. Even if I am up before the sun and striking out into the bitter Des Moines winter, wind biting my face as I make the spurt between the locker rooms (Bell Center) and Gym building (Knapp Center). Our team laces up their shoes and lines up into our groups and works from the low intensity walking stretch to a couple of accelerations before we move to speed and agility work. Which would usually consist of quick foot-latters and hurdles of some kind. This is where I would break off from the group with the defensive line and linebacker groups and we progress through sprint cycles across the indoor track and then move to “sled-pulls” to further work our running strength and form. But we have been known to work in the occasional plate cycle, beat tractor tires with sledgehammers, or cone drills. From here our positions meet to practice position specific work, for me it will probably involve hand movements, steps and install with our new defensive coordinator’s system. After all of this is done for the week we typically close out the week with a little team competition. Last Thursdays big competition was dodge ball. With football workouts over for the day, I get home quickly to shower, my roommate, another football player makes about a dozen eggs tossing in some ham and onion and I am off to class. I will go and hear lectures about statistics and drift off and doodle in my notebook from time to time but my teacher cracks the corny jokes that match my sense of humor so he maintains my attention enough for me to learn a bit about psychology before I move to the lab, for that same psych class. A weekly quiz and some homework review later I am home. Just off campus with my roommates watching TV and eating. I scarf down a quick lunch and go to position meetings for more install. Then find my way back home for some reading for class until our house’s favorite night of TV hits the screen. (Thursday) New episodes on NBC, from 30 Rock, to the Office, to Parks and Rec, and topping off the night with Outsourced about a fellow Kansas native. It can get crowded with friends and girlfriends piling in to watch but this is my favorite night of the week. We take a couple perverbial jabs at each other during commercials, I receive the brunt of the jokes as I am the least capable of defending myself with quick whit or snappy comebacks but it is all in good fun. The night closes with many of us going back to out rooms for homework or to spend time with our significant others but some of us remain to close the night with some sports center or another couple sitcom episodes of other various guilty pleasures. I will retire, usually last, having gone through an eighteen hour day, and I will linger, grab a snack and head to bed. Contemplate the greater meanings to life or more likely dwell on why I didn’t go to bed sooner but I every time I wake up the next day and want to go back to sleep, I still smile and think, “ it was definitely worth it.”

Eugene “EJ” Walter 97

A day in the life of me is boring. Mostly it consist of class, workout, homework, repeat. No real struggle besides getting work handed in on time, unless of course if you count as reaching new levels on video games with my roommates. That's why this trip is a much needed one. One a mental level it can add some excitement to life of us average college student/athletes.

Denzel Ray

Day in the life 


When you think of college kids, you always think of them sleeping in, skipping class, playing video games and eating junk food. However...When you live a day in the life of a Bulldog, things are quite a bit different! Everyday I am waking up no later than 7am. Whether it's for our 6am workouts or an 8am class, I am seen as an early bird flying around campus. The day continues on with going to classes, football lifting, work and eating my 3 core meals. So what's so different from being a college student and being a Bulldog Fball player?...Sacrifice! We all as a team make certain sacrifices in our social or school lives for one thing only- that Championship Ring. "Want to skip class and sleep in?" "Why you studying 3 days before your test? Screw that, come over and game" "Books? Let's have some beers". We hear these things every day. It comes down to what matters more for me and my team? Eating junk food, oversleeping and alchol would hurt my body. Skipping class and homework assignments hurt my grades. All of this adds up to not only affecting me, but it affects our team. Which is one little thing that would hurt our chances to become champions. We make little sacrifices each and every day because we have one goal in mind...It doesn't bother me, because I enjoy it and the real joy is going to come at the end. When all of those little things actually meant something. Is it worth it to have one night of fun?...Or to have a memory that lasts a LIFETIME? That's a day in a life for a Bulldog. 



Cameron Good, #4

Hello everyone, I trust that all is well. We are in the middle of our fifth week of the 2011 winter workouts and we have come up with the theme "Finish." In the past few seasons, we have come really close to winning a PFL Championship but we need to Finish the job. We wanted to set an challenging and measurable goal for the winter and we came up with 210 team personal records in the weight room. This is not an easy task as we are all getting a lot stronger which will make max week very trying. But I trust our team will rise to the occasion and really embrace the Finish theme by reaching our goal.
In regards to the Africa trip, we are continuing to fund raise and get money in. The departure date is getting closer and I can tell the team is getting anxious. Earlier this week, coaches sent out email addresses of Conadeip players to us so we can start communicating with players in another part of the world. This is exciting to me because these are men our age that share the same love for the game as we do but in a totally different culture and language! I am excited to start getting to know some of these players as we will eventually be playing them and reaching the top of Mount Kilimanjaro with them.

Thanks for reading, more blogs will come soon!

Jim Nelson #13

We are all looking forward to the Africa trip, but many of us are looking forward to different experiences more than others. I doubt too many of us are looking forward to mile 10 of our climb but that summit is going to carry with it a bond stronger than any we have experienced before. The experience of a lifetime is in the near future for the men on this football team. I personally cannot think of something that has made me more excited about being a Drake football player than the ideas of what might come from this trip. I imagine in the thrill of teaching the kids who have never seen the game of American football. They are confused at a football’s shape, want to dribble the football with their feet and refuse to pick it up with their hands (which will likely bring a lot of inaudible laughter). I can’t even anticipate the sense of accomplishment that I will have having finished a wing to the children’s orphanage and in summating the tallest mountain in Africa. The thrill of competition between two teams, two countries, on National television will probably make the fall in Drake Stadium seem dull.  But I, if I am truly honest with myself, imagine the most exciting promise of the trip lies in the Safari. I have always been someone fascinated by nature, by animals, by African culture as a whole. The freedom and naturalistic world on the plains of Africa, in the removal from humanity, will hold with it a beauty that will captivate me, and many of my other teammates, and forever give us a hunger for a more natural world.

            Eugene “EJ” Walter 97

The thing I'm looking forward to most about Africa is helping the orphanage out and putting on the football clinics for the children of Moshi. I have been very fortunate and very blessed by the Lord, and can't wait to give back to the children at the orphanage. Although I might not be the most handy person in the world, I believe we will have a blast on any of the projects that we will complete in Moshi. I think both of these projects will provide some humbling experiences in which each football player will not forget. We have such an opportunity to learn about the city of Moshi, and I hope to learn as much about the Tanzanian culture as I can. It will be very interesting to see how the kids of Moshi will respond to seeing an American football. The children of Moshi are only familiar with soccer, so it will be quite interesting seeing what they make of it. I'm hoping that we have over a 1,000 kids for each clinic. I think the kids will have one of the best days ever with our team. Helping out another culture has been my number one goal about this trip, and this goal will achieved in May. I'm so pumped for the adventure that we will embark on.

Thanks,

Pat Cashmore #30

The event I'm most looking forward to on this trip is football game against the All-Star Mexico team. As a competitor what better competition is there than an all-star team from another country? In a way it is a way to test our skill level against other nations, even if it's only one team. And if that's not enough, this game will be played in the motherland of Africa. Not many professional players can say that they had played a football game in Africa. And if I still need more to look forward to this game might be televised on ESPN and the Discovery Channel meaning everyone in this country will be watching. It's hard to look forward to anything else after considering these facts.

Denzel Ray

Pictures!! Drake Fans in Tanzania

Children at Orphanage. They could play for us, look at the intimidation!

New Stadium for Kili Bowl - Arusha Stadium

"Who needs a Super Bowl? We must battle for the Kili Bowl!"

"That is true my friend, but let's team up and root for Drake!"

"It is settled then. Go Drake!"

Patrick Steenberge, President of Global Football, with Children

Practice Stadium.

Some new Drake fans posing outside of the Training Facility.

More Photos coming soon, Hope you enjoyed these!

Cameron Good, #4