Syracuse Football Players Studying the Martial Arts

The Syracuse University football team is using the secrets of the Orient to help prepare for the 1988 football season.

About half the returning members of the Orangemen’s 11-0-1 squad recently completed a six-week karate course taught by instructor Greg Tearney, a seventh-degree black belt holder who has been teaching Okinawan karate for 24 years.

It might have looked funny to observers as football giants, like 295-pound defensive lineman Frank Conover, balanced on one foot, delivering a series of precise, head-high karate kicks while counting off in Japanese. But the lessons help players become more flexible, develop better balance and improve their mental concentration, coaches said.

Syracuse began using martial arts following the 1986 season, in which it finished 5-6.

“It’s definitely had an effect on our players,” said strength and conditioning coach Mike Woicik. “There are some individuals who did karate, and afterwards their position coaches came back and said, ‘Wow, these guys can do things they could never do before.’ ”

Tearney, who has worked with former Syracuse All-American Tim Green, now a linebacker with the Atlanta Falcons, said martial arts instruction is gaining widespread use as teams realize it can improve an athlete’s development, particularly his concentration skills.

“That’s the difference between a good athlete and an exceptional athlete,” he said. “The exceptional athlete is the person who’s totally in tune with what he’s doing, mentally and physically.”