By Robbie Neiswanger
Arkansas News Bureau • rneiswanger@arkansasnews.com
FAYETTEVILLE — The Arkansas football team is in the middle of its busy summer schedule.
There’s taxing work taking place in the weight room as the Razorbacks prepare for the rigors of the 2011 season. Conditioning drills are being held in the hot summer sun. So are player-run passing drills and other position work aimed at keeping Arkansas sharp before preseason practice begins.
But Arkansas’ summer schedule isn’t isolated to on-the-field work, which was evident with one other exercise last week. Players gathered together for an etiquette dinner designed to help them learn proper practices, procedures and techniques to be comfortable in formal dinner or buffet settings.
It’s no secret Arkansas coach Bobby Petrino pays attention to detail and expects players to do so as well. So it’s no surprise the ideology was extended to a dinner set up through the program’s student-athlete development staff. The goal, according to assistant athletic director Eric Wood, was making sure players are prepared off the field as much as they are on it under Petrino.
“Executives, whether it’s in the National Football League or if it’s for a corporate job, are using a meal as an opportunity as part of the interview process,” Wood said. “(Petrino) knows that people come from varying backgrounds on the team. So he wanted to make sure that those guys in that situation are comfortable.”
So Arkansas invited DeNita Turner, who is the president and founder of a Maryland-based company called Image Builders, Inc., to work with the team.
Players said it was the second time an etiquette session had been held. So it was a refresher course for most, a confidence-building evening for others.
Lessons learned included general items like how to hold a fork properly, which utensils to use, and how to pass items around a table. There were larger underlying messages, too, like how to network and engage in conversation whether it was at a formal dinner table or in the buffet line.
“I think it was really good,” Arkansas quarterback Tyler Wilson said. “I think a lot of guys took a lot from it. As you can see coach Petrino really values the complete person. Not just what is displayed on the football field.”
Wood said they also fed into the competitive side of Arkansas’ players, turning part of the etiquette dinner into a competition between tables to help keep everyone’s attention.
But Arkansas defensive end Tenarius Wright said that wasn’t a problem. Everyone in attendance took the dinner seriously. In fact, he said most of his teammates were scribbling down notes.
“You learn a lot,” Wright said. “If you have a business meeting you know your drink is supposed to be on a certain side and know which spoon to use. You know how to cut your steak and sit up with posture at the table and talk with confidence.
“All of it is going to help us out when we leave Arkansas.”
Wood said it’s not just about being prepared for interviews, though. The goal is also to help Arkansas better interact with fans, especially in situations like banquets and other functions.
An example: Arkansas held a kickoff banquet last August where one player was assigned to sit at each table filled with fans. Defensive end Jake Bequette said an exercise like the etiquette dinner makes everyone more comfortable in those settings.
“It’s easy sometimes to be intimidated by an interview or some kind of formal dinner when you’re dressed up and around more distinguished people than normal,” Bequette said. “It’s good to have those kind of skills in your belt that you can be confident and not worry about what fork to use.
“You can just worry about the conversation.”
Wood believes the event accomplished those goals, too, as Arkansas took a small break from its on-the-field workouts this summer.
“Coach Petrino thought it was a part of their growth as young men,” Wood said.
