The Guardian: What do you want to do with your major?
Hammond: Well, really as soon as I graduate, I’m moving. I want to go down south because I want to be a strength and conditioning coach for football..., receivers preferably, and one day move up to head coach. I also want to be a personal trainer on the side and hopefully one day open up my own gym.
The Guardian: So do you play football?
Hammond: Yeah, I played two years of NCAA ball in Cleveland and then I transferred here and Wright State got a team, and I’ve played here for three years. As soon as I finished, (since you’re only allowed to play so many years of college football) they asked me if I wanted to be the receiver coach and I said ‘yeah sure, why not.’
The Guardian: Do you do anything else on campus?
Hammond: Besides the conditioning coach and receiving coach for Wright State, not really.
The Guardian: Are you thinking about going back to school to get your masters?
Hammond: Definitely. I want to go to the University of North Florida to get my master’s in exercise physiology.
The Guardian: What do you want to do after that, the same thing?
Hammond: Yeah the same thing. Actually, I should be coaching by then. University of North Florida, they have a football team so hopefully I can get on that staff and then go to school for free, a perk of being a faculty member.
The Guardian: Okay, so do you have any plans for the summer?
Hammond: Yeah actually, next week I’m going to Chicago with my girlfriend. That’s going to be pretty fun. I play arena football and semi-pro as well, so every day for me is training, well at least two to three times a day. It’s really rigorous so I don’t really have any plans, but semi-pro is through the summer so I really can’t do anything but train a lot and go to practice. I don’t really have a summer or what people like to call vacations.
The Guardian: Who do you play for?
Hammond: Well, I play for the Mad River Stallions, which is a semi-pro team and I play for the Dayton Silverbacks which is the local arena football team. I’m just doing this for film right now because there’s a big combine at end of the summer that I’m getting ready for.
The Guardian: What exactly is that?
Hammond: Well a combine is basically you go and you try out, it’s performance based. You run your 40 yard dash, bench 225 pounds as many times as you can, your vertical, broad jump. They go as far as measuring between your pinky and thumb. They also measure your wing span. There will be a couple of NFL teams and a couple of arena, but majority will be European teams and they watch you and if they like you, they’ll pick you up.
The Guardian: Do you want to get picked up then?
Hammond: I definitely want to get picked up. I had a NFL try out last year and we were talking to the Giants and two days later the lock out happened and being from a small program…no body touched me.
The Guardian: What position do you play?
Hammond: I’m a wide receiver. I do special teams as well, punt return and kick return.
The Guardian: How long have you been coaching?
Hammond: This is my first year as a legit coach. I’ve taken a lot of kids under my wing. This isn’t really a big transition as far as coaching because I’ve done it before but just on the side. This is more professional, it’ll go on a resume. And with coaching that’s all it’s about, it’s about who you know, but when you get into the position it’s about what you know.
The Guardian: So do you have any other hobbies?
Hammond: Working out is my number one. I mean I’m an exercise science major, that’s what I want to do, that’s what I have a passion for. I go in the weight room and give it 100 percent twice a day, maybe even three times a day. It’s a get-a-way for me. If I’m having a bad day I can go to the weight room and relieve some stress. I can’t always go to the football field because I don’t always have a guy throwing me the ball. I also like to do a lot of things that transition into football and see how it is. I do Kung-Fu on the side, which works on my hand speed and a lot of lateral movements as well, it’s nice. I dig golf. Golf is number one especially for football players. I dig movies. I like going out to watch movies. I’m really a laid back, chilled kind of guy. I just like to hang out and have a good time.
The Guardian: What kind of movies are you into?
Hammond: I definitely dig inspirational movies like Warrior, The Fighter. I just saw The Avengers and it was awesome, probably the greatest movie I’ve ever seen in my life….Also football movies like The Replacements. I dig T.V. shows like Michael Irvin’s 4th and Long, because watching football shows like that, with players actually trying out, gives me ideas and tips for training my players. Rob and Big, Fantasy Factory, Ridiculousness and I occasionally watch wrestling. I dig wrestling; it’s like a male soap opera.
The Guardian: What about music?
Hammond: I dig more heavy metal than anything. I use to be a big hip-hop head. I was a dancer for about five, six years. I was in a crew here in Dayton and I was a break dancer. It was just a phase, but I was really big into old school hip-hop. Pretty much hip-hop sounds the same and I got out of the phase, so I started picking up the electric guitar a little and playing and fell in love with rock and roll, heavy metal, like Bullet for my Valentine, Korn, Skrillex and I dig a little techno too, Swedish House Mafia. Just anything that gets me hyped for the weight room.
The Guardian: What’s been your favorite memory from Wright State?
Hammond: Memories at Wright State, I can say I have a favorite memory from the classroom, but all my memories come from the football field. Spending time with my brothers, that’s what we are, a band of brothers. We sweat, we bleed, we cry together. In the classroom, we were in Dr. H’s class and I said C’s get degrees and she got really mad at me. I remember that like it was yesterday and I laugh at it now.
The Guardian: Is there anything else you’d like to say?
Hammond: I’m from the area, I went to Wayne High School and at Wayne you looked at Wright State and it’s just like I don’t want to go there, nobody wants to stay here. I’ve been away from home before at a different college and it’s not as hyped up as a lot of people think it is. You get away from home and you get sick, you get really homesick and you want to come home. Coming to Wright State you actually get a different perspective of things and I got here and I loved it. I really dig Wright State.
