You Don’t Know Jack…

Mention students to the greater UK population and they will most likely have the opinion that they stay in bed until lunch time, have some beans on toast or a pot noodle for lunch, rock up late for a lecture or two, then go out partying into the small hours. For some, that may well be the case.

However, for some of our dedicated Uniballers, it couldn’t be further from the truth. If you are a member of a serious programme, you will likely be having team practices four times a week, attending group classroom sessions, undertaking a vigorous strength and conditioning programme, and focusing on your nutrition. These guys are serious about their Football.

Take the example of 21-year-old Nottingham Trent Renegades linebacker Jack Rice. Now in the second year of his Business Management degree course, his daily routine is not for the faint hearted. He combines his studies with a forty-hour working week at the HIITBOXX Gym in Nottingham city centre. Ideal for his role as strength and conditioning co-ordinator for the team, he designs and implements individual programmes for all the team members. To help fill out his day, he also acts as the Renegades game-day manager.

A normal day for Rice rolls out as follows. Up at 6am and in work by 6.30. He leads the positional group sessions for his fellow Renegades at the gym between 7 and 8 and then does his own training between 8 and 10. After that, it’s managing the gym until 6pm, when it’ll be time to eat and complete some university course work. Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday it’s football practice sessions or games.

Jack started his Football journey at the age of seventeen with the Bedfordshire Blue Raiders. Having happened across some NFL hardest hits videos on YouTube, he knew he had to get involved. He played for the Ouse Valley Eagles before starting University at Stirling, where he played for the National Champion Clansmen for a year. Deciding to change courses, he found himself choosing Trent, with the well-established Football programme factoring heavily in his decision to move south. He was a key player for Trent as they took the Division 1 Northern Conference title last season, earning them promotion and the opportunity to match up with the elite teams in the Premier Division North.

Having played in the Uniball Premier and First Divisions, he’s ideally placed to assess what a player needs to do to be successful at the top of the university football pyramid. “Players in the prem are really serious about their football, they eat, train and play like semi-pro athletes. A lot of them are on the rosters of the top British Senior League teams”. Jack’s longer-term ambition is to play in one of the well-developed European leagues once he finishes his studies.

Clearly then, if you think students are lazy work dodging loafers with no ambition…you really don’t know Jack!