Sports Radio Interviews

Inside the NFL Rookie Symposium With Chargers Rookie Vaughn Martin

Even casual fans of the National Football League have some sense of just how much the league is ‘big business’. Whether it’s how players are shuffled around the league by teams adjusting to the constraints of free agency or how commissioner Goodell takes a no nonsense approach to player conduct on and off the field, it’s obvious that the NFL is more than just a game. And the economic consequences of alienating its fanbase by showcasing highly paid athletes that are running around disregarding the law is unacceptable for the league’s top brass. The NFL’s attempt to steer athletes clear of trouble begins at the NFL Rookie Symposium, a weekend event each year in Carlsbad, California. Vaughn Martin, the San Diego Chargers 4th round draft pick joined XX 1090 in San Diego after the event to talk about the experience and what the 250+ rookies learned.

On the Rookie Symposium and what it entailed:

“We finished this morning. It was good. I enjoyed the experience. First off, you’re blessed to be there in the first place, that means you got drafted right? You have all these folks that are involved in the NFL in different ways. We had actors down there to give us skits and stuff about life. Basically taking responsibility for yourself and taking your responsibility for yourself is going to make the transition to the NFL a lot easier. That was good, you don’t complain. If you don’t take anything away from that weekend, you’re really doing a disservice to yourself. I felt very fortunate to be there and I can’t speak for everybody, but I know all of my teammates, all the other rookies from the Chargers, they enjoyed it too.”

On the skits that they viewed there:

“It’s serious because the consequences of acting inappropriate in those situations that they try to depict are serious. But with that, they try to keep it humorous to keep our attention and to keep it realistic. Basically it was scenarios like average, young, new NFL players going to the club, whether they’re with their mom, with their family, at a barbecue, going back to the hometowns to see friends whether it be high school or college. Any scenario where you could possibly get yourself in trouble based on the wrong decision.”

On what they were told about women:

“What they tried to entrust was basically you don’t know anybody. A lot of people are going to try to be friends now that you’ve achieved, it’s such an achievable thing that the majority of the population doesn’t get to achieve. Some people might be trying to bring you down and some of those people might include women so you got to be careful.”

Listen here to Martin on XX 1090 in San Diego

Tags: NFL Rookie Symposium, Roger Goodell, San Diego Chargers, Vaughn Martin, XX 1090