Delco Football Preview: 7-on-7 has its benefits but not a replacement for real football
Cyrus Barlee started his NoLackinLifestyle (NLL) football training business in 2017. The name derives from a lyric of a song he listened to during his playing career at Upper Darby, where he was a two-time All-Delco defensive back.
“I went to Cal University out in Pittsburgh and my playing career in college was cut short. At the time I was thinking of ways to give back to the game of football because it’s brought me so far,” Barlee said. “I remember in high school we would always say, ‘No lackin’ from the music we would listen to and I was trying to bring a positive spin to it. ‘No lackin’ and be prepared for anything.’ It connects with a lot of the youth because they hear those words ‘no lackin’’ all the time.”
It’s more than just a motto.
The mission statement on NLL website reads: “We are a diverse fitness community with a culture focused on getting results through fun and hard work. With experienced coaches who are always on-hand and ready to help, our clients are guaranteed to have a top notch training experience.”
Barlee is CEO of NoLackinLifestyle LLC, whose original objective was to provide youths an outlet to work on their skills and stay in shape during the offseason .
“We started as a nonprofit and what we were doing was training kids and getting them involved. We have a lot of kids training with us who are from the inner city and Delaware County. So we were just trying to provide them with something to do in the summertime.”
Then the 7-on-7 boom happened. Throughout the region teams were popping up. There is Philly Finest and Delco Elite, which was co-founded by Chester assistant coach Lamar Shaw. The concept of 7-on-7 football became the cool thing to do in the offseason for quarterbacks, running backs, receivers and defensive backs.
Barlee’s brand brings high school players together from all backgrounds. This year he has worked with Cardinal O’Hara lineman Edmund Wisseh, Springfield quarterback Jake Rama, and Upper Darby quarterback Montez Ellis.
“When I was playing, 7-on-7 was just starting to take off. We didn’t really have that type of exposure to it, like the way it is now. The programs in the area, like the Philly Finest, had all of the best players on their teams so they could showcase all these guys going to college,” Barlee said. “Now most kids see that and that’s what brings them in. They can go play with a guy from another school who is a four-star recruit. You can get that type of exposure, whereas when you’re playing for your high school team, you might play against a guy who is a four-star recruit once in a blue moon. With 7-on-7, you’re doing that every week, so I think that’s what makes guys want to come out and try it.”
The main benefit of 7-on-7 is to improve your basic skills (throwing, running, catching) while also improving your physical shape and stamina. Ellis agrees with Barlee that 7-on-7 is not taking the place of high school football anytime soon. It is, in essence, not real football at all.
“I only played it to keep myself in shape. I don’t want to sit down and do nothing,” said Ellis, a senior and one of the top returning players in Delco. “It’s good for cardio and stuff like that, but everybody knows 7-on-7 is not real football.”
Ultimately the 7-on-7 game is only a glimpse of what football training businesses such as Barlee’s offer their players.
“I’m not too big on 7-on-7 because I know there’s negative aspects to it. Most of the time it’s not real football. You’re learning stuff that sometimes can create bad habits,” Barlee said. “We try to let the kids know that, OK, this is not real football and you’ve got to understand that. We do it because we try to keep kids away from doing other things. We coincide it with our training and weightlifting program. A lot of schools have offseason training and they do have gyms, but a lot of kids can go months without any actual training. A lot of schools in the city, for instance. So what we provide is, you can still workout throughout the offseason. But I tell the kids, if you have a school workout program, that always comes first and foremost before coming to us. Go to your school workout and make sure you create a bond with your teammates and all of that. But if they don’t have it, then we offer them the chance to work out on a field and be able to stay in shape.”
Barlee is an assistant coach at Upper Darby, so he knows high school football takes precedence over any off-based training program. Veteran high school coaches, including Academy Park’s Jason Vosheski, would rather has players remain immersed in the high school program year-round.
“I want them to learn our terminology, for starters. They’re not getting coached what we coach them, they’re not running the same routes or they’re not being called the same thing, and they’re getting bad habits. And then we have to try and break off those habits,” Vosheski said. “The other thing is, the teams that are out there are not community teams. They are all-star teams. There’s no continuity. The quarterback is not working with his receivers. So you’re going to come to our practice and our kids might not be as fast or we run different routes and there are different timings. I’ll admit it does have its benefits, I know it keeps them busy, but I would tell one of our kids that if you’re going to do it, please don’t tell me.”
