Hello all,
My name is Mark Walker and I was recently drafted by the Tijuana Luchadores. I went to College at Baylor University and became a standout wide receiver by the end of my four years. Always dreamed about making it big and joining the ISFL to become one of the all time great route running wide receivers. My favorite player of all time, the guy I want to become like is Josh Garden. From watching him play at Baylor University to his ascent to the top of all wide receivers, he inspired me to try and become another amazing pass catcher.
I was not a highly recruited player out of Baylor, I was approached by scouting teams from all of the DSFL teams. As the draft was before the prospect bowl, they only had my college stats and what the scouts could gather about me. In the end I was chosen with the 78th pick and was the 10th wide receiver taken in the draft. After my performance in the prospect bowl, it is apparent that my natural skills are at the top of the list for new receivers entering the league. I led all receivers in the 4 games with 21 receptions, 298 yards, averaging 14.2 yards per catch, with a long of 29 yards and 1 touchdown. That is 53 more yards than the next closest receiver and the second highest yards per catch average behind only T. Evans who only had 10 receptions. I do not think there is any world that those 9 guys are better at receiver than me, nor will they end up better at the end of our careers. My goal is to make all those other general managers regret passing over me and taking the lesser talent.
For the prospect bowl, I was assigned to the Tokyo Drifters, which is great as I have always loved Japanese culture. Getting to spend some time there while also playing football was an amazing life experience. I grew up loving Japanese anime, so actually visiting there was an actual dream come true. Sadly, while we played a lot of good football, going 4-0 in the preseason, we then went 0-4 in season. Our first game we lost 10-12 to Calgary Cavalry, I ended the game with 5 receptions for 57 yards with a 22 yard longest catch. Our second game we lost 19-23 to the Liverpool Llamas, with a huge day 6 catches for 84 yards with a 27 yard long and a touchdown. But again we came up one possession short. For our third game, we played the Calgary Cavalry and we lost again 13-16, in yet another one possession game. I once again did everything I could to help us to victory with 6 receptions for 102 yards and a 29 yard long. In our final season game, we played Brooklyn Atlantics and lost 23-10, our worst loss of the season. We had trouble getting our offense rolling in this game as I ended with only 4 catches for 55 yards with a 26 yard long. Overall, we had a great experience and had we gotten to play more games together I believe we would have won many of those games, as it takes time to develop chemistry as a team.
The next chapter is taking my training seriously to develop myself into the weapon my team needs, and be ready for the ISFL draft and to help whichever team win as many games as possible. Personal accolades are a driving point, but more than that I want to win. Stats look good by themselves, but everyone always judges a player by their championship wins in addition to their personal records.
For my personal life, outside of training for football, I like to work on healthy eating, playing video games, learning about technology, watching sports, driving cars, and going on walks with my dogs.
For healthy eating, I try to eat as many vegetables as possible, anything green is generally good. My favorites are green beans, asparagus. broccoli, squash, zucchini, carrots and spinach. I prefer to either bake them or saute them with a little oil. I know the current meta for eating healthy in sports is protein protein protein, I do not follow that trend. I usually focus on carbs as my highest percentage, then fat and protein split pretty evenly depending on the meal. I like rice, noodles, potatoes (my all time favorite) and bread of course. For protein, I eat chicken, turkey, lean beef or buffalo as my main meats, with some brisket, ribs and sausage thrown in for good measure. And of course, any good diet involves fish with my main go to being tuna, but I also love me some rainbow trout, salmon and good old cod. The bad part is I prefer my fish breaded and fried, but that isn't exactly on the health train for a non lineman, so I either bake or grill my fish. I drink lots of water, most likely too much, but it stops me from drinking monsters all day. I only take a few supplements, I take a multi vitamin complex, a pre-workout (league approved) and a BCAA after workout to help me stay hydrated and lessen the recovery times.
Playing video games is one of my favorite relaxation methods to unwind after a long day of football. While growing up, my dad always had computers in the house, he was constantly taking them apart and replacing parts. I learned early on what the parts are and how you install and remove them without damaging them too bad. Being a young kid with access to computers I naturally gravitated towards computer games. I play all types of games, from sports, to racing, to first person shooters and even massively multiplayer online games. My current favorites are any football game(someday I'll get to play myself in one), I love the racing games where you can pick between lots of cars and then modify them to exactly how you want them, like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsports. For first person shooters, I like Apex Legends, Counter strike global offensive, all of the call of duty games(I know only like 9 million) and Valorant. Some of my earliest games where different role playing games and strategy games, my favorites being the Heroes of Might and Magic series, all three diablo games, world of warcraft, any final fantasy game is always good. Currently working on upgrading my gaming setup after finally getting some money from my rookie DSFL contract. I'll do an update once that gets done.
My other favorite thing to do to release stress is go for a nice drive in one of my cars or motorcycle. I love the feeling of taking off in a powerful rear wheel drive car. I don't care if it is all engine, or supercharged or turbo charged or if it has nitrous, as long as it goes fast, I'll drive it happily. My current go to driver is a 2002 corvette Z06. It has a manual six speed transmission that has been beefed up to handle some extra power. The engine has an aftermarket cam, a new intake manifold, bigger throttle body, custom cold air intake setup, bigger mass air meter, smaller pulleys and an upgraded fuel system to handle the extra power. The heads have been ported and polished with long tube headers and full free flowing exhaust without the cats(shh don't tell anyone). Had to upgrade the clutch and flywheel as well with performance versions. Had the car lowered 1 inch all around with some custom 3 piece wheels that really give it an aggressive look. It is not the fastest car out there, but it is fun to drive. I also have a Kawasaki 600 motorcycle that I roll around on from time to time. It has a slip on exhaust to give it a slightly louder sound and other than that it is a stock bike. But it is plenty fast enough for a novice rider like myself.
With my degree being in technology I feel like I have to keep up with the ever changing technology around us. Especially when you consider we are using more and more tech in football. We have fancy machines to help us check our bodies out, to learn the playbook, communicate with each other. It is pretty unreal how much information we can access about every aspect of the sport. We can use computers to help us analyze what types of plays each team is doing and how effective they are against each opponent or even which player match-ups are the best for every position on the field. Definitely something every team should be looking into and adopting to help their teams be more successful. I'm excited to try and learn more with my current team to help develop my game into something next level. My favorite side of technology is cloud tech. I love that we are to the point where we can store all of our information off site and have access to it from anyone in the world. We can have virtual servers spun up from anywhere and do work on them and then shut them back down and only pay for the amount we used. We can share all kinds of information with people half away around the world in real time. I'll stop boring you with the tech talk, as you can see I am a bit of nerd.
Lastly, I want to touch on the mental side of sports and how important it is to have a healthy head space. It's too easy to get overly focused on the hear and now and forgot about the fact that it is a journey. You can't arrive at your end point before you have walked the path to get there. Make goals. Super short term goals, short term goals, medium goals, long term goals and end game goals. Don't be afraid to modify your goals if you need to. But always try to point yourself towards your goals. Even if you are taking a sideways step, as long as you are pointed at your goal, it is not a bad thing. If you go back a few steps, not a problem, just keep looking at your goals and you will get there. It is ok to have a rival, in a lot of cases it is healthy to have someone to help push you. But, do not allow yourself to overly fixate on someone else. You have to play your game, so you can not allow them to influence you into playing the game they want you to. People make mistakes when they stop focusing on what they know and can control and let someone else goad them into making selfish plays. I have been guilty of committing dumb penalties because an opposing player got in my head. I have sense started working on controlling my emotions and focusing on myself while playing. I know how to play my position. I know what it takes to beat the guy across from me. He knows I can beat him, so he wants to make me mess up. So play your game. Make him play your game.
Hope everyone enjoyed getting to know me. I plan on being around in this league for many years. Once I have a kid, I plan on making him play the game as well. I will do some updates over the course of my DSFL career letting everyone know how real life is for us semi professional football players really is. If anyone has any questions about how to set up a killer gaming pad, feel free to hit me up. I also am more than willing to give recommendations for cars and modifications on them.
Lastly, my prediction for the upcoming season, I do not go off. But I learn the ropes and come back next season as one of our top receiving threats. If needed my third year going for receiving leader for the season.
Later all,
Mark "sky" Walker
WR
This would qualify as first time rookie post.
My name is Mark Walker and I was recently drafted by the Tijuana Luchadores. I went to College at Baylor University and became a standout wide receiver by the end of my four years. Always dreamed about making it big and joining the ISFL to become one of the all time great route running wide receivers. My favorite player of all time, the guy I want to become like is Josh Garden. From watching him play at Baylor University to his ascent to the top of all wide receivers, he inspired me to try and become another amazing pass catcher.
I was not a highly recruited player out of Baylor, I was approached by scouting teams from all of the DSFL teams. As the draft was before the prospect bowl, they only had my college stats and what the scouts could gather about me. In the end I was chosen with the 78th pick and was the 10th wide receiver taken in the draft. After my performance in the prospect bowl, it is apparent that my natural skills are at the top of the list for new receivers entering the league. I led all receivers in the 4 games with 21 receptions, 298 yards, averaging 14.2 yards per catch, with a long of 29 yards and 1 touchdown. That is 53 more yards than the next closest receiver and the second highest yards per catch average behind only T. Evans who only had 10 receptions. I do not think there is any world that those 9 guys are better at receiver than me, nor will they end up better at the end of our careers. My goal is to make all those other general managers regret passing over me and taking the lesser talent.
For the prospect bowl, I was assigned to the Tokyo Drifters, which is great as I have always loved Japanese culture. Getting to spend some time there while also playing football was an amazing life experience. I grew up loving Japanese anime, so actually visiting there was an actual dream come true. Sadly, while we played a lot of good football, going 4-0 in the preseason, we then went 0-4 in season. Our first game we lost 10-12 to Calgary Cavalry, I ended the game with 5 receptions for 57 yards with a 22 yard longest catch. Our second game we lost 19-23 to the Liverpool Llamas, with a huge day 6 catches for 84 yards with a 27 yard long and a touchdown. But again we came up one possession short. For our third game, we played the Calgary Cavalry and we lost again 13-16, in yet another one possession game. I once again did everything I could to help us to victory with 6 receptions for 102 yards and a 29 yard long. In our final season game, we played Brooklyn Atlantics and lost 23-10, our worst loss of the season. We had trouble getting our offense rolling in this game as I ended with only 4 catches for 55 yards with a 26 yard long. Overall, we had a great experience and had we gotten to play more games together I believe we would have won many of those games, as it takes time to develop chemistry as a team.
The next chapter is taking my training seriously to develop myself into the weapon my team needs, and be ready for the ISFL draft and to help whichever team win as many games as possible. Personal accolades are a driving point, but more than that I want to win. Stats look good by themselves, but everyone always judges a player by their championship wins in addition to their personal records.
For my personal life, outside of training for football, I like to work on healthy eating, playing video games, learning about technology, watching sports, driving cars, and going on walks with my dogs.
For healthy eating, I try to eat as many vegetables as possible, anything green is generally good. My favorites are green beans, asparagus. broccoli, squash, zucchini, carrots and spinach. I prefer to either bake them or saute them with a little oil. I know the current meta for eating healthy in sports is protein protein protein, I do not follow that trend. I usually focus on carbs as my highest percentage, then fat and protein split pretty evenly depending on the meal. I like rice, noodles, potatoes (my all time favorite) and bread of course. For protein, I eat chicken, turkey, lean beef or buffalo as my main meats, with some brisket, ribs and sausage thrown in for good measure. And of course, any good diet involves fish with my main go to being tuna, but I also love me some rainbow trout, salmon and good old cod. The bad part is I prefer my fish breaded and fried, but that isn't exactly on the health train for a non lineman, so I either bake or grill my fish. I drink lots of water, most likely too much, but it stops me from drinking monsters all day. I only take a few supplements, I take a multi vitamin complex, a pre-workout (league approved) and a BCAA after workout to help me stay hydrated and lessen the recovery times.
Playing video games is one of my favorite relaxation methods to unwind after a long day of football. While growing up, my dad always had computers in the house, he was constantly taking them apart and replacing parts. I learned early on what the parts are and how you install and remove them without damaging them too bad. Being a young kid with access to computers I naturally gravitated towards computer games. I play all types of games, from sports, to racing, to first person shooters and even massively multiplayer online games. My current favorites are any football game(someday I'll get to play myself in one), I love the racing games where you can pick between lots of cars and then modify them to exactly how you want them, like Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsports. For first person shooters, I like Apex Legends, Counter strike global offensive, all of the call of duty games(I know only like 9 million) and Valorant. Some of my earliest games where different role playing games and strategy games, my favorites being the Heroes of Might and Magic series, all three diablo games, world of warcraft, any final fantasy game is always good. Currently working on upgrading my gaming setup after finally getting some money from my rookie DSFL contract. I'll do an update once that gets done.
My other favorite thing to do to release stress is go for a nice drive in one of my cars or motorcycle. I love the feeling of taking off in a powerful rear wheel drive car. I don't care if it is all engine, or supercharged or turbo charged or if it has nitrous, as long as it goes fast, I'll drive it happily. My current go to driver is a 2002 corvette Z06. It has a manual six speed transmission that has been beefed up to handle some extra power. The engine has an aftermarket cam, a new intake manifold, bigger throttle body, custom cold air intake setup, bigger mass air meter, smaller pulleys and an upgraded fuel system to handle the extra power. The heads have been ported and polished with long tube headers and full free flowing exhaust without the cats(shh don't tell anyone). Had to upgrade the clutch and flywheel as well with performance versions. Had the car lowered 1 inch all around with some custom 3 piece wheels that really give it an aggressive look. It is not the fastest car out there, but it is fun to drive. I also have a Kawasaki 600 motorcycle that I roll around on from time to time. It has a slip on exhaust to give it a slightly louder sound and other than that it is a stock bike. But it is plenty fast enough for a novice rider like myself.
With my degree being in technology I feel like I have to keep up with the ever changing technology around us. Especially when you consider we are using more and more tech in football. We have fancy machines to help us check our bodies out, to learn the playbook, communicate with each other. It is pretty unreal how much information we can access about every aspect of the sport. We can use computers to help us analyze what types of plays each team is doing and how effective they are against each opponent or even which player match-ups are the best for every position on the field. Definitely something every team should be looking into and adopting to help their teams be more successful. I'm excited to try and learn more with my current team to help develop my game into something next level. My favorite side of technology is cloud tech. I love that we are to the point where we can store all of our information off site and have access to it from anyone in the world. We can have virtual servers spun up from anywhere and do work on them and then shut them back down and only pay for the amount we used. We can share all kinds of information with people half away around the world in real time. I'll stop boring you with the tech talk, as you can see I am a bit of nerd.
Lastly, I want to touch on the mental side of sports and how important it is to have a healthy head space. It's too easy to get overly focused on the hear and now and forgot about the fact that it is a journey. You can't arrive at your end point before you have walked the path to get there. Make goals. Super short term goals, short term goals, medium goals, long term goals and end game goals. Don't be afraid to modify your goals if you need to. But always try to point yourself towards your goals. Even if you are taking a sideways step, as long as you are pointed at your goal, it is not a bad thing. If you go back a few steps, not a problem, just keep looking at your goals and you will get there. It is ok to have a rival, in a lot of cases it is healthy to have someone to help push you. But, do not allow yourself to overly fixate on someone else. You have to play your game, so you can not allow them to influence you into playing the game they want you to. People make mistakes when they stop focusing on what they know and can control and let someone else goad them into making selfish plays. I have been guilty of committing dumb penalties because an opposing player got in my head. I have sense started working on controlling my emotions and focusing on myself while playing. I know how to play my position. I know what it takes to beat the guy across from me. He knows I can beat him, so he wants to make me mess up. So play your game. Make him play your game.
Hope everyone enjoyed getting to know me. I plan on being around in this league for many years. Once I have a kid, I plan on making him play the game as well. I will do some updates over the course of my DSFL career letting everyone know how real life is for us semi professional football players really is. If anyone has any questions about how to set up a killer gaming pad, feel free to hit me up. I also am more than willing to give recommendations for cars and modifications on them.
Lastly, my prediction for the upcoming season, I do not go off. But I learn the ropes and come back next season as one of our top receiving threats. If needed my third year going for receiving leader for the season.
Later all,
Mark "sky" Walker
WR
This would qualify as first time rookie post.