Chiefs start preparations for move to training camp

Chiefs head equipment manager Allen Wright is a walking example of the cliché, “Practice makes perfect,” when it comes to preparing a team for training camp.

Wright, after all, has three decades of experience.

July 22, 2015; Kansas City, MO; Equipment staff members pack a semitruck at the Chiefs training facility for the move to training camp. Photo used with permission from Chiefs PR. Credit: KCChiefs.com

“I started in 1983, June of ’83 right out of high school,” Wright told reporters Wednesday at the team’s training facility. “They sent me to Longview (Community College), I went to school over there. It’s literally the only job I’ve ever had, so I’m very, very fortunate.”

The logistics of packing field equipment, boxes, duffle bags, hundreds of shoes to toiletry items is no small task for an NFL team.

But thankfully Wright isn’t alone to accomplish the mission.

“It takes a lot of people,” Wright said. “I have five full-time guys on my staff, and of course the trainers have theirs, and the weight staff has their coaches. It’s each individual department responsible for their own areas but it takes maintenance. It’s an army of people that you rely on to do their jobs.”

Wright told reporters the Chiefs will eventually pack 10 semitrucks for training camp, which kicks off in less than a week when rookies, quarterbacks and select players arrive at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo., on July 28.

The heavier field equipment left Kansas City, Mo., Tuesday and the process of moving and sustaining operations in St. Joseph continue through the final day of training camp on Aug. 20.

But it’s not just the heavy equipment Wright pays attention to.

“We’re responsible for everything a coach or player needs the minute they walk in the door,” Wright said. “And that includes field equipment, that includes shoes, socks, gloves, underwear – everything, toothpaste. We have a lot on our plate, which we love. That’s why it takes five of us full-time.”

Each player has a personal preference for certain items and Wright has a system in place to monitor what is packed.

“I have a checklist and there are certain guys that like heavy sweats versus track pants,” Wright said. “Guys that like tennis shoes versus Destroyers, which is a rain shoe. Each individual guy – we pack their travel bag for the season as well – we know the guys that want mouth pieces, don’t want mouth pieces.”

Taking care of details virtually ensures members of the Chiefs won’t have to worry about the small things throughout the physical and mental grind of training camp.

And having decades of experience from the logistical aspect matters.

“We have a list that we go off of for each individual,” Wright told reporters. “We’ll do things like put their personal photos in their locker for those we know that want that, that have them in their lockers. We try to take this operation and make it exactly the same at Missouri Western the best we can.”

———-

Full training camp schedule is as follows:

———-

Herbie Teope is the lead beat writer and reporter for ChiefsDigest.com. Use the contact page to reach him or find him on Twitter: @HerbieTeope.

Follow @HerbieTeope

———-