As head coach Mike Tomlin explained yesterday, the Pittsburgh Steelers switched up their training camp practice schedule for good reason. This year, most of their public practice sessions will take place in the morning rather than in the afternoon. He took time to address that during mandatory minicamp.
“Our day was pressed on the other side of the practice, and I just want to give them an opportunity to do a better job of accommodating the fans while taking care of their bodies”, Tomlin said about the Steelers’ training camp practices, via the team’s website. “A lot of times they’re working to rehydrate, but dinner was running up on them, and so they didn’t have the appetite to eat. And so, we just feel like with the early practice schedule, it just creates an opportunity for better wellness and keeping guys upright and rolling”.
As the days remain hotter later and later into the day, it makes sense to take advantage of the time. Get the practice sessions in early and keep everybody—including the fans—cooler for longer. Perhaps for some, the earlier time will be an adjustment, even an impediment to their attendance. On the other hand, it likely also opens the door for other people to attend who might not have otherwise.
With the players practicing in the middle of the day, at the hottest portions of the day, they are spending more and more time just replenishing themselves to stay on the field. Even Mike Tomlin, who loves to wear black long sleeves at Latrobe, I’m sure will appreciate the cooler morning hours.
The Steelers are keeping the weekend practices in the afternoon, however, while moving the weekday practices up. In terms of attendance, 10:30 versus 1:55, they figure, won’t make a huge difference during that time. And perhaps it helps the campus out as well to get the practices out of the way earlier during the week.
But as Tomlin said, it’s also about the simple timeline of the day. When the Steelers are practicing at around two in the afternoon, they are eating dinner not long after practice ends. There would be no sense in them making this change if the body of evidence didn’t suggest its benefits.
Perhaps of note is the fact that Tomlin and the Steelers replaced their strength and conditioning staff this offseason. That included the hiring of Roderick Moore as their sports science coordinator, so perhaps he played some role.
That is pure speculation on my part, I admit, though perhaps not without reason. Still, Tomlin did not mention that changes in the strength and conditioning staff had anything to do with this change. But the fact remains that both elements changed in the same offseason, whether by coincidence or not.
