From telegraph.co.uk
Dwain Chambers’ new job title is wide receiver for the Hamburg Sea Devils, and therein lies the problem. The ‘wide’ part he can handle, using his speed to evade opposing corner backs and find open space on the flanks, but receiving is a different story. As Jack Bicknell, Hamburg’s veteran head coach, put it: “If he could catch the ball consistently he could go to the NFL. But he just can’t catch it.”
Last week in Tampa, Florida, where the European American football league, NFL Europa, was holding its pre-season training camp, the chink in Chambers’ heavily padded armour was all too evident as the former sprinter received two passes during a full-contact practice session against the Cologne Centurions and fluffed them both, the second one resulting in an interception. “My impression is that the kid is trying like nobody I’ve ever come across,” said Bicknell.
“We know about his speed. His problem is catching the ball. I’ve seen improvement. I can’t put him in a game yet but he’s really working hard. It’s all new for him and he’s a bit bewildered. He’s got a lot more work to do.”
A lot more work but precious little time. Hamburg’s opening game, also against Cologne, is on April 14, which gives Chambers less than three weeks to perfect a skill that his American team-mates have had a lifetime to learn… assuming the Londoner makes the final cut.
League rules stipulate that the six teams playing in NFL Europa, a feeder league to the NFL proper and populated mainly by up-and-coming American players contracted to NFL teams, are allowed only eight non-Americans in their 40-man rosters. Hamburg currently have 11, which means that next weekend, when the training camp ends, Bicknell must dispense with the services of three of them.
Usually, a wide receiver who can’t receive could expect to be packing his bags for home but there is every indication that Bicknell will give Chambers his chance.
Fellow Englishman Scott McCready, another Hamburg wide receiver and Chambers’ room-mate in Tampa, believes the Londoner’s speed and athleticism will earn him the nod. “They knew when he came here that there was a lot for him to learn,” he said.
“I really don’t think they would have bothered bringing him if they were going to cut him at this early stage. Being part of the offence works in his favour. The defence has to be good every play because if you make one mistake you can lose the game. With offence, if Dwain has five runs in a game and catches only one of them for 80 yards, then that’s a big play. You’ve always got that weapon when you’ve got someone with Dwain’s speed on the team.”
Chambers, 28, is sufficiently confident of making the cut to be already making plans to bring his partner, Leone, and 18-month-old son Skye out to live with him in Hamburg, though he knows he needs to improve to get in the team. His enthusiasm for his new adventure is matched by his frustration at the steepness of the learning curve.
“I’m trying to learn in the space of a few weeks what guys have known all their lives, and that’s not going to happen,” he said. "I’ve just got to be less hard on myself and just take things more smoothly and try and enjoy it.
“I’m pleased with the way things have gone, but I always want more. That’s the competitive side of me. I hate making mistakes, I hate dropping the ball and I hate not getting the ball, but I’ve just got to learn to be patient.”
Amazingly, Chambers has still never played a full American football game and yet he now finds himself on the brink of a professional contract in a league that, though below the standard of the NFL, is considered a significant step up from American college football.
Last Tuesday, when his team were pitted against Cologne in a practice session, Chambers had his first taste of full-contact play. With players’ careers at stake, the intensity was at times ferocious, though Chambers was relieved to avoid the crunching tackles that go with the territory of a wide receiver.
“I’m expecting to have some big hits but at the same time I know my speed is going to get me out of a lot of trouble,” he said.
Chambers believes the errors will start to disappear once he gets his head out of track and field mode and starts thinking instinctively like an American footballer.
He does not rule out a return to the track if he fails to make the grade, though he admits he has fallen out of love with the sport that brought him fame and then infamy when he was banned for two years for failing a drug test. A condition of his reinstatement was his agreement to hand over a hefty proportion of future track earnings to compensate for the money he won when he was on steroids.
Money earned as an American footballer will be his to keep, and there will be lots of it if he can impress in NFL Europa and catch the eye of an NFL scout in the United States.
But first there is some real catching to be done - a skill far from easy for anyone not used to looking over their shoulder while running at full tilt then applying soft hands to a high-velocity missile.
“This is a tough sport and I’ve got to be exceptional and better than anyone else in order to get noticed,” said Chambers. “Yes, my speed is an attraction, but I’ve got to show that I can catch the ball.”