The NAB AFL Academy spent the past two weeks in America on a high performance training camp. Highly rated Victorian forward Jaidyn Stephenson has written a daily dairy for AFL.com.au from the tour, detailing the squad's activities. Here's his second and final update.
Day six, Saturday, January 21
Bradenton, Florida
Today we had a session that we knew was always on the horizon: our four-quarter conditioning session at the IMG Academy. It started with a 3km time trial, before moving into nine 100m sprints with a 100m jog recovery.
After that we did a block of game-like conditioning which included running, handballing and tackling. My tackling partner in the drill was Sam Hayes, who I've known since I was about seven years old playing at Upwey-Tecoma Junior Football Club. As a ruckman he probably had me covered for size and strength.
We closed the conditioning session with a 10 minute and 18 second run around the fields, which Luke Power led. Each quarter went for the specific time of 10:18 because that was the time run by Jack Higgins, who won the 3km time trial. Jack's work-rate in a game is what allows him to be so damaging, so it was no surprise he took this one out.
We were pretty wrecked after the morning, but we got on the bus and headed to St Petersburg, which was about an hour away, to watch the annual East-West Shrine Game. This is an exhibition match where some players who compete will get picked in the later rounds of the NFL Draft.
Spotlight: Ruckman Hayden McLean came third in the time trial, which was a great effort for someone of his height. I played in the Victorian under-12s side with Hayden, so it's been good to cross paths with him again in the Academy after he was inducted last year.
Day seven, Sunday, January 22
Bradenton, Florida to Santa Monica, Los Angeles
It was an early start for everyone today as our time at the IMG Academy ended and we headed to Los Angeles.
It was a pretty special experience spending the last week at the IMG facilities, and the professional nature of the environment is something that I'll remember.
We arrived in Santa Monica in the afternoon to pouring rain, which made it easy for us to spend the rest of the afternoon in the hotel room and relax before the final few days of the trip.
Spotlight: I'm rooming with Hunter Clark here in LA, who I've become good mates with in the Academy program. We often spend our nights chatting for hours after curfew having a laugh.
Day eight, Monday, January 23
Santa Monica, Los Angeles
It took a few twists and turns in the bus, but eventually we arrived at the University of California Los Angeles for our training session this morning and the facilities were amazing.
UCLA is obviously one of America's most famous colleges, and something I noticed was the number of UCLA-branded shirts and jumpers that the students were wearing across the campus. There's obviously great pride in attending the college.
Training today consisted of another craft session where we focused on our fundamentals. It has been a real focus of Luke's across the trip and in previous camps to be development-based in our training, and I think we've all learnt a lot from that approach.
We were pushed off the astroturf track by a downpour of rain and had a makeshift gym session out on the ground once the skies cleared up.
After being in the confines of the IMG for most of our time in America, we were pretty excited to head to the shopping malls this afternoon in LA and check out the city. We all stocked up on clothes, shoes and watches due to the cheap prices, and Jake Patmore took full advantage with a big haul of gifts for his girlfriend.
Spotlight: Paddy Dow's come into the squad after an impressive bottom-age season playing for Geelong Grammar and the Bendigo Pioneers. He's a tough, smart and agile midfielder who's going well on tour and I believe he'll be a very strong player this year.
Jaidyn Stephenson, centre, during the 100m sprint session at UCLA
Day nine, Tuesday, January 24
Santa Monica, Los Angeles
Our first day off finally arrived and we spent it at Disneyland, which is somewhere I'd always wanted to visit.
It was a bit of a hike to get there but once we got in I was blown away by the size of the place and the detail that had gone into making it. I just kept thinking about how in awe I would have been as a nine-year-old standing next to Stormtroopers and Mickey Mouse and every other character that popped up.
Most guys seemed pretty comfortable with the scarier rides like Space Mountain, however the favourite ride seemed to be Soarin', which took us on a virtual tour of the world's big landmarks. We flew through the Eiffel Tower and over Great Wall of China, and even got sprayed with the scent of cut-up grass flying over the elephants in Africa.
We all loaded up on churros while roaming around the park, where some boys clocked up more than 10km worth of walking. Lochie O'Brien even had a crack at the enormous turkey leg on offer and to his credit seemed to enjoy it as he finished it off.
Spotlight: Some boys hid their fears better than others on the scary rides, but none more than Noah Balta. I turned around to have a look at how he was enjoying it, and his face looked as calm as if he was just going for a stroll in the park.
Day 10, Wednesday, January 25
Santa Monica, Los Angeles
Our final training for the camp, again at UCLA, prioritised down the line kicking and inside-50 kicking. We see inside-50 kicking as the most important kick in the game, so to work on this aspect was crucial for us going forward and developing as players.
Nick Dal Santo has been leading the kicking education on the tour, and it's been awesome to learn from a player who had such a nice kick like 'Dal' did throughout his career. Having finished his career last year, he's so fresh from the game and it's been good to be able to pick his brain over the past two weeks.
We had a few hours to kill in the afternoon so a group of us went down to Venice Beach to check out Muscle Beach and the surrounding area. We ran into some interesting characters down there and saw the street artists, who were very entertaining.
I haven't seen much of Santa Monica apart from playing Grand Theft Auto on the PlayStation, but some places looked familiar when strolling down there today.
We headed off to the Honda Center to watch the Anaheim Ducks face-off against the Edmonton Oilers. Ice hockey's a very entertaining sport to watch and draws a lot of comparisons with AFL football in the way that they switch across the field and come back into the corridor to set up attacks.
Spotlight: Kwaby Boakye provided the entertainment on the bus with his rapping. We've had our fair share of bus travel across the tour so to be able to break it up with some rhymes made it all the more enjoyable.
Day 11, Thursday, January 26
Santa Monica, Los Angeles to Melbourne, Australia
A quick dip in sea at Santa Monica beach was the final bit of activity for the camp and although the sun was out it was absolutely freezing in the water.
Our walk on the sand was topped off by an interesting encounter for Nathan Richards, who was asked by a French filmographer to look out into the beach and pretend to slowly dry himself.
Nathan fully committed to the task and had all the boys in hysterics as he enjoyed his moment in the spotlight.
As the trip comes to an end, I've been thinking about how fortunate we are to come to America doing something I love and want to make my career. We're also aware of how much work and organisation has gone into this trip from everyone at the AFL, especially Mick Ablett and Kevin Sheehan. We owe a lot to them for the opportunity they've given us.
In years to come I'll look back on this trip as one where a lot of friendships were made and so much was learned. Now I'm just looking forward to the big season ahead and what that might hold.
