Super Bowl XLVI Champion Henry Hynoski offered a few words of advice to Hamburg athletes during his visit to Hamburg Area School District’s Performance Academy on June 19.
“Anything can be achieved through hard work and desire and dedication,” Hynoski told the teens. “It doesn’t matter where it is you’re from. You don’t have to be the biggest and strongest person but as long as you work hard and you outwork everybody, all things are possible through that.”
Hynoski explained that is the story of his life.
“Overcoming adversity. I had several injuries,” said Hynoski. “My goal in life was always to get to the NFL and I just did whatever it took to get there… That was the driving force.”
That included getting up at 5 a.m. to drive an hour and a half for a workout every day.
“I wasn’t the most talented guy but I outworked everybody and our team, when we won the Superbowl, we weren’t the most talented team but we outworked everybody that year. That’s the message I want to get across to the kids. That if you believe in yourself and you believe in that all things are possible, you can get it done.”
Afterward, rising Hamburg 8th grader Ryan Daly, who participates in wrestling and soccer, spoke with Hynoski and shook his hand.
“It was pretty cool,” said Daly who has never met anyone from the NFL before. “It was pretty cool meeting someone who has been in that intense arena. It was cool to ask him questions.”
Held the mornings of June 18 to 21, the Hamburg Performance Academy includes physical and mental training.
“The Academy is designed to help junior high kids develop the academic and athletic and social skills that will help carry them to overcome the challenges that will be presented in high school,” said Hamburg Area School District Director of Athletics Aaron Menapace. “As you go from junior high to high school, it’s an increased expectation academically and it’s an increased expectation athletically and there’s a whole world of other things that get presented to them socially that we’re trying to prepare them for.”
Motivational speaker Craig Hillier opened the academy on June 18, providing a workshop that was upbeat, fun, interactive and educational for the teen athletes. Topics included, but were not be limited to, responsibility, setting a positive tone, creating team chemistry, working through conflict, sportsmanship and more. For more information, visit www.craighillier.com.
“Playing beyond the scoreboard,” said Menapace. “It’s not just the score that counts, it’s how you play the game. It’s how you treat your officials, your opponents and coaches.”
Others visiting with a message for the teen student-athletes were NCAA Division II softball player Rebecca Blatt, a 2016 Hamburg alumnae, and NCAA Division III football player Blake Roberts, a 2014 Hamburg alumnus.
This is the third year the district has hosted the academy for Hamburg athletes entering grades 7 to 10. Physical training on days two, three and four was provided by Coach Clarence Curry and Coach Andrew Haas, owners of Team Works Sports Academy in Reading.
“They deal specifically with body training of younger athletes,” said Menapace. “They have an awesome way. They connect with kids. They’re very personable. In the workouts, they always interject a little humor and fun but they challenge and drive the kids.”
“We teach them the fundamentals of movement,” said Curry. “Understand center of gravity management, load correctly, injury prevention. The small stuff that most trainers neglect because obviously it’s not battle ropes, it’s not tires and it’s not keeping up with the Joneses that everybody sees on YouTube. We want to make sure they understand the true essence of sports and sports science to keep them on the field.”
“For us, and coming from a teaching background, it’s really about challenging the kids,” added Haas. “We want them to understand that there has to be an end result in what they’re doing and to get there, you have to put in the work. It’s sometimes difficult, sometimes challenging, sometimes you want to give up and you’d rather go do something else but if you really want that in your life, you can’t give up, you have to keep grinding at it.”
Haas said reaching these kids early is very important because right now they’re the most impressionable.
“If they can grab onto some things that they’re really passionate about or see someone they can consider a role model, that means a lot to make sure that concept is growing,” said Haas.
These lessons apply to everyday life. The coaches established Team Works, with Curry having a sports background and Haas having an education background, to teach life skills that were based on sports.
“The tools that you get from organized sports is invaluable in terms of what you will use in life: dedication, time management, problem solving,” said Curry.
“Intangibles,” added Haas. “They’re the first person to get to work and they’re the last to leave. That’s what we’re trying to tell these kids. It’s not easy. We get that. It’s hard to be a student-athlete, but as you grow, things get a lot more demanding. If you can do this stuff now and get it in your head that life is a challenge, sports come easy.”
For more information about Team Works, visit www.teamworksports.org.
The Hamburg Performance Academy is supported by funding provided by the Hamburg Education Foundation, Hamburg Sports Boosters, and a business sponsorship from Outten-Kia Chevrolet of Hamburg, as well as participant registration fees.
