Photo by: AJ Henderson - Georgia Southern Athletics
Camp Confidential: Equipment
8/7/2018 1:23:00 PM | Football
Take a look inside Eagle Equipment
Equipment. Players and coaching staffs a like love it. The equipment managers on the other hand may not always enjoy when it arrives on campus for a multitude of reasons. Not only do they have to check each box of gear to ensure that everything they ordered has arrived, but they also must distribute and prep all the gear for each individual player.
As the Georgia Southern football team opens the season on September 1st, Assistant Equipment Director Neal Spivey will pour out of the Ted Smith Football Center with the squad and be on the sideline for his third season with the Eagles. The team's equipment director is used to these 12-hour days he has been putting in during both camp and the season, but he wouldn't trade them for anything.
Spivey's camp days begin around 5 a.m. as he and his staff of 10 undergrads prepare for the day. They are responsible for organizing and issuing not only all the clothing and equipment worn at practice, but also for each lifting session as well. With most of the equipment being kept in each player's locker, they come to the window of the equipment room every day to pick up whatever else they may need.
With Spivey being the only full time employee at the FOC during the season, he has had some help from the team this season. After practices, coach Lunsford and the team show their servant leadership and help the equipment crew clean the field and get their gear organized before turning it in to be washed. Spivey appreciates that the coaching staff and players understand the hectic environment and wants to give them the best experience and attitude each day.
The staff of 10 attends every practice in case any damage is done or someone needs a quick switch, and they stick around afterwards to get a few loads of laundry in before heading home for the day. Putting in about 4 loads before calling it a day. Spivey says it takes about at least two loads of filling his 100, 75 and two 50 pound washers to get through all the football team's laundry. Those loads do not include any towels or extra gear that might need to be washed after camp days.
Outfitting everything a team may need happens about a season in advance. Spivey meets with an Adidas representative, Coach Lunsford and Tom Kleinlein every July to go over the new styles and designs for the future season. Spivey was also in charge of designing new uniforms from Adidas for some of the fall Olympic sports, which will be unveiled shortly.
By October, Spivey and crew has to send out their 50 page order, which includes thousands of items at a time, not including shoes, and will begin to receive this stuff between April and the end of June. While other orders for fall sports are also piling into the FOC around the same time, the equipment room could look like a child's cardboard city by the time they unpack, count and sort all the gear.
The detail oriented Spivey has a system as to how things are done in his domain. On game day, he arrives seven hours before kickoff and his staff will come in about five and a half hours prior to help set up each player's locker. Each wooden locker hangs a jersey with the name showing from every angle and a nice cleaned matte navy blue helmet positioned on the locker seat.
At the conclusion of a game, he will burn the midnight oil to begin the laundry from the game. With the Eagles changing to turf, the home games are easier on the white pants and are less of a hassle for him to clean.
When the Eagles are on the road, he and his staff pack the equipment trunks and truck to send to that weeks destination. Inside those heavy trunks are spare parts, extra uniforms, travel bags, helmets, cleats, coaches clothes, rain gear, head sets and even spare socks. These trunks are situated on the sidelines and are easily accessible for any of his staff when they travel away from the nest.
Though their twitter game has been lacking as of late, the guys and gals in the equipment room keep us in the loop with what the Eagles will be wearing, as well as some of the crazy things they do behind the scenes. They keep the equipment room light, tossing the football and cracking jokes when things are slow. You can follow their twitter page at (@GSFB_equipment) as they unveil the #newyearnewgear movement.
As the Georgia Southern football team opens the season on September 1st, Assistant Equipment Director Neal Spivey will pour out of the Ted Smith Football Center with the squad and be on the sideline for his third season with the Eagles. The team's equipment director is used to these 12-hour days he has been putting in during both camp and the season, but he wouldn't trade them for anything.
Spivey's camp days begin around 5 a.m. as he and his staff of 10 undergrads prepare for the day. They are responsible for organizing and issuing not only all the clothing and equipment worn at practice, but also for each lifting session as well. With most of the equipment being kept in each player's locker, they come to the window of the equipment room every day to pick up whatever else they may need.
With Spivey being the only full time employee at the FOC during the season, he has had some help from the team this season. After practices, coach Lunsford and the team show their servant leadership and help the equipment crew clean the field and get their gear organized before turning it in to be washed. Spivey appreciates that the coaching staff and players understand the hectic environment and wants to give them the best experience and attitude each day.
The staff of 10 attends every practice in case any damage is done or someone needs a quick switch, and they stick around afterwards to get a few loads of laundry in before heading home for the day. Putting in about 4 loads before calling it a day. Spivey says it takes about at least two loads of filling his 100, 75 and two 50 pound washers to get through all the football team's laundry. Those loads do not include any towels or extra gear that might need to be washed after camp days.
Outfitting everything a team may need happens about a season in advance. Spivey meets with an Adidas representative, Coach Lunsford and Tom Kleinlein every July to go over the new styles and designs for the future season. Spivey was also in charge of designing new uniforms from Adidas for some of the fall Olympic sports, which will be unveiled shortly.
By October, Spivey and crew has to send out their 50 page order, which includes thousands of items at a time, not including shoes, and will begin to receive this stuff between April and the end of June. While other orders for fall sports are also piling into the FOC around the same time, the equipment room could look like a child's cardboard city by the time they unpack, count and sort all the gear.
The detail oriented Spivey has a system as to how things are done in his domain. On game day, he arrives seven hours before kickoff and his staff will come in about five and a half hours prior to help set up each player's locker. Each wooden locker hangs a jersey with the name showing from every angle and a nice cleaned matte navy blue helmet positioned on the locker seat.
At the conclusion of a game, he will burn the midnight oil to begin the laundry from the game. With the Eagles changing to turf, the home games are easier on the white pants and are less of a hassle for him to clean.
When the Eagles are on the road, he and his staff pack the equipment trunks and truck to send to that weeks destination. Inside those heavy trunks are spare parts, extra uniforms, travel bags, helmets, cleats, coaches clothes, rain gear, head sets and even spare socks. These trunks are situated on the sidelines and are easily accessible for any of his staff when they travel away from the nest.
Though their twitter game has been lacking as of late, the guys and gals in the equipment room keep us in the loop with what the Eagles will be wearing, as well as some of the crazy things they do behind the scenes. They keep the equipment room light, tossing the football and cracking jokes when things are slow. You can follow their twitter page at (@GSFB_equipment) as they unveil the #newyearnewgear movement.
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