Former NFL player helps at Raider football practice

Former NFL tight end Nate Overbay spent some time with the Lake Roosevelt Raiders football team on Monday to talk to them about his knowledge of the sport as well as to participate in their practice.

Having played football at the high school, college, and pro level, Overbay was able to offer his insights about being an athlete, and life in general.

"It's a mindset," he said. "Everything in life is a challenge and you have to find ways to get over it. You've got to be a student of the game. ... If you're not going to be a student of the game, you're only going to succeed so much."

Overbay continued: "Help your teammates as much as you can, live your life to the fullest, and just enjoy it. If you don't enjoy it, why are you out here? This is a fun game. Football is fun. If you don't make it fun, then you're ultimately not out here for the right reasons. And that's life in general.... if you're not having fun, what are you doing it for?"

Overbay is also part owner of the APX program. APX stands for Advanced Performance X-Train.

Head Coach Loren Endsley and his (now) wife, Cassie, brought the program to LR in the summer of 2015. The company is involved with athletes and high schools around Washington, Oregon, Idaho, and Montana and continues to expand. They emphasize a comprehensive approach to athletics that includes specific training for specific sports, as well as accentuating nutrition to get the best performances out of athletes, as well as to prevent injuries.

Overbay says improper nutrition is related to 90 percent of sports injuries.

"You're going to tear something because you ate McDonalds before you played a game, or drank a soda before you played a game, or [you're] not eating breakfast before you lift," he said. "As soon as the kids buy into that, the results that they get are just stupid, in a good way."

APX has seen great success with Lake Roosevelt.

"Cassie [Endsley] has been a huge thing here with the girl influence," Overbay noted. "She's taken this from two girls to 40 to 50. Softball was unreal this year with the results they saw."

Overbay said the APX program at Lake Roosevelt started with two kids a year ago. "To see now they have 60 to 70 every morning, they have numbers now which they never had here."

Overbay, born and raised in Chehalis before attending Eastern Washington University, spent a few years in the NFL before retiring in 2013.

"He's been through it all," commented Raider Elijah Harris. "He knows his stuff, and he's talking to us.

"Being someone who dreams of going to play at the next level, it's really important that he tells us to enjoy this," Harris continued. "It's really inspiring to see someone who's been through every level of sports come and talk."