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Mitchell Assists League At Rookie Symposium
by Mike Spofford, Packers.com
posted 06/29/2007
All 11 of the Green Bay Packers' 2007 draft choices attended the 11th annual NFL Rookie Symposium in Florida earlier this week, but they weren't the only members of the organization there.
For the second straight year, Packers player/staff development professional Betsy Mitchell also went to the symposium as a small-group facilitator, helping to generate discussions amongst rookies from various teams about the issues they'll face in their transition from college to pro football.
 Betsy Mitchell" hspace="8" vspace="4" align="left">Mitchell was a facilitator for a group of 40 players, none of them Packers, who would convene after the large-group meetings on personal finances, the steroid policy, off-the-field conduct and other topics to discuss them more in-depth.
One thing Mitchell noticed is that while essentially every one of the 255 rookies in attendance learned something about life skills or decision-making that can help, the players' levels of preparedness for this type of transition were all over the board.
"Some may have had, for example, a financial person involved with them already, but others have no idea how to deal with the finances," Mitchell said. "Some may have an agent who's been helpful in trying to give them information, others don't. They have varying degrees of experience and varying degrees of coping skills."
That's one reason the NFL offers, and mandates attendance at, the rookie symposium. The league tries to give the players an introduction to almost any issue they'll encounter as they enter professional football, and the information is presented in a variety of ways - through large lectures, small-group discussions with facilitators like Mitchell, and panel discussions with current and former players, one of them longtime Packers fullback William Henderson.
"They can share their life experiences and what they were challenged with, and it helps the rookies to be prepared and have a plan for what they're going to be faced with so they're not surprised at every corner," Mitchell said.
"They're all hit with some routine and typical things. They're all going to be dealing with requests made by family members and others, and many of those are extraordinary requests. They're all dealing with exposure to the media in a way they haven't before. And they're all dealing with pressures of the unknown. They don't even know if they're going to make the team, and yet people are coming at them saying they ought to invest in this, or they want them to do that. My focus is to personalize the information, and to help them establish a process by which they make decisions."
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Of particular emphasis at this year's symposium is the league's new personal conduct policy, put in place by Commissioner Roger Goodell. Players are facing possible suspensions for any off-the-field incidents that are detrimental to the league, and the commissioner addressed the players himself on the issue.
The topic generated lively chatter in Mitchell's group, an indication this year's rookie class is well aware of the heightened scrutiny they're all falling under.
"It wasn't fear-based discussion, which you might think because it's a consequence-based policy, but it was moreso from the standpoint that this is way more important than it used to be," Mitchell said. "Because the price for messing up is really high.
"All these rookies get the same information, and it creates instant pressure for everyone to behave. They've all heard the same message, and it gives them a base for applying positive peer pressure to each other, and I see that as a real value."
Mitchell, one of only a few professionals who works with players on these kinds of issues on a full-time basis, also sees the value in simply making the rookies aware of the confidential help they can receive from their own club should they need it, whether it be from the player development staff, mental health professionals, or the security department.
Mitchell will be continuing the orientation process with a series of eight more sessions for the rookies beginning in training camp, a requirement of all the teams. Those sessions will expand on the topics covered at the symposium and will carry well into the regular season, when some rookies will begin to experience the success or the struggles, or both, that come with playing in the NFL.
"The people that prepare the symposium and look at the curriculum are incredibly thoughtful and wise in anticipating what the potential pitfalls are for a player coming in," Mitchell said. "A lot of players have one opportunity to really do this, and they don't want to mess it up, and all of this is to help them not to do that." |
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