Troy Polamalu
Troy Polamalu
Troy Aumua Polamaluis a former American football strong safety who played his entire twelve-year career for the Pittsburgh Steelers of the National Football League. He played college football for the University of Southern California, and earned consensus All-American honors. He was chosen by the Steelers in the first round of the 2003 NFL Draft. He was a member of two of the Steelers' Super Bowl championship teams, and was the NFL Defensive Player of the Year in 2010...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionFootball Player
Date of Birth19 April 1981
CityGarden Grove, CA
CountryUnited States of America
It takes a tremendous amount of skill to be a football player. And some of these guys have enough skills to do other sports. Soccer could be one. Basketball could be another. Things where you need incredible hand-eye coordination are always options. I think a football player would be able to adapt to a lot of sports.
There are very few sports where you can find that tranquility. Some people find that in golf, but when you're in the water it's such a difference from the golf course or the basketball court. That's what makes surfing unique over any other sport.
I've been surfing for a couple years, in the offseason in California and in Hawaii. I'm not very good, but it's just something that to be out there in the water, no cell phone, no music... very few sports are as pure as that.
I really enjoy surfing a lot. It's an awesome sport. With surfing there are no mind games versus Peyton Manning, or versus anyone else. It's not me trying to throw a certain shot put further - or to put a ball in a hoop, it's just me against mother nature.
I think it's important to cross train. Surfing is a good cross training sport for your shoulders. I don't think I know of any other football player who does it, who can go and paddle out past the sets.
If you don't eat right as an athlete, you'll get tired and won't be as sharp. It's simple to drink sodas and sports drinks, but water is the most essential drink to put in your body.
Our sport is not made for anybody to be able to play it, especially at the NFL level, so there's obviously some risk that we all take knowingly.
Playing professional sports, it's important to eat healthy and take care of your body. In the offseason, rest is really important to me.
America needs football. It's a real blue-collar sport; it's played with a blue-collar mentality, a mentality that's the backbone of this country.
I don't look at football as a violent, barbaric sport. It's a very spiritual sport, especially for someone facing the challenges during a game: the fear of failure, the fear of getting too big an ego, of making a mistake and everybody criticizing you.
I've never been a fan of individual awards because football is such a team sport. There's so many things that goes into making plays. It's about teammates trusting one another and working together.
I'm sure there are softer-speaking guys and harder-hitting guys out there.
I know where I'm supposed to be at the time of the snap. Now, wherever the play dictates where I'm going to go is a different story. Sometimes I'll compromise my responsibility because I overcompensated, and sometimes I'll get cut short and just fall in the middle of the play, as well.
I made a nice highlight tape of him last year. He's definitely a safety I watch. I saw every single one of the plays he played in last year and I took a lot from him.