| Lending a Giant Hand: Student-Athletes Help Manage a Giant Summer Operation By Vincent Reda (July 30, 2007)
As players on NCAA Division I teams, UAlbany’s Colin Simmons and Brent Wilson know something about scope and quality in an athletic program. Yet even they have to be impressed this summer by the world of the Giants. Football tailback Simmons and basketball forward Wilson are two of 25 collegians who began working with UAlbany Assistant Athletic Director and Equipment Manager Kevin Galuski on July 12 to prepare and maintain the 12th New York Giants summer training camp at UAlbany. Heavy lifting started early, moving desks, computers and file cabinets — even phones and wall pictures — of most UAlbany coaches and their staffs from their regular offices to temporary cubicles in the lobby of the SEFCU Arena or the basement of the Physical Education Building. Their regular offices become separate meeting rooms for various Giant offensive and defensive units, video production or media rooms, etc.
Then, on July 16, hundreds of yards of rubber matting arrived at the SEFCU Arena from a warehouse in Schenectady, followed by approximately 150,000 pounds of weight machines and 80 large blue lockers from the Giants complex in New Jersey — all to be unloaded and set in place meticulously. “The first couple of days, it’s kind of rough, putting and taping down those mats,” said Simmons. “It’s a lot more stress than my back is used to.” He was asked if football coach Bob Ford warned him to be careful. “No,” he smiled, “but we have a couple of quarterbacks working here. I think he worries a bit about them.” All in all, however, it’s a great summer job for a UAlbany athlete. “You get to see what goes on behind the scenes in a professional operation,” said Wilson. “It’s tedious at times, but it’s systematic, like getting the weight machines to be just so much distance from our bleachers and so much apart from each other, before you set them in place.” The student-athletes take advantage of being on campus — the senior Wilson is taking an upper level English course for his major, Simmons a communications class to fill a core requirement. Simmons’ typical day consists of training camp work from 8:30 a.m. to noon, lunch, 45 minutes of running, his own weightlifting, class, and then back to Giants work from 4:30 to 7:30 p.m. “These kids are tremendous — all upbeat, intelligent student-athletes,” said Galuski of his crew members, which are about equally divided between men and women. He said that many shifted to tasks such as working the VIP tent once Giants’ practices began on July 28. But all have to reverse the moving process when the Giants break camp on Aug. 23. The arena must be cleared out and UAlbany athletic staff returned to their offices. “Some of these students have done the camp several years,” said Galuski, now in his sixth year of running the operation. “Many of them know what to do better than I do, and I can always count on them.” |
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