As part of the Kansas City Chiefs offseason program, the team will hold a three-day voluntary minicamp at The University of Kansas Hospital Training Complex, beginning today.

While the term voluntary is used to describe the camp, the players see the three days as time to maximize some important opportunities.

"It's voluntary, but I want to get the most work in that I can and get in the playbook as hard as I can, so I feel like I have a little bit more of a leg up," Chiefs DB Tysyn Hartman said. "We've already been introduced to the system, so it's not like we're learning it for the first time, when the mandatory things come around."

Among the many topics being stressed this week by Kansas City Chiefs head coach Andy Reid, there's one that stands out, above the rest.

"Winning," Hartman continued. "Getting out there and competing, not just kind of going through the motions. It's fun to be back here, but we can have fun and compete and push each other to get better as well and get ready to win some games and win a championship."

The voluntary camps also provide time for the team to familiarize itself with the playbook and one another.

"Winning and losing in the NFL is pretty small-margin and having times like this and building relationships, especially with a lot of new guys in the locker room, it's important," new Chiefs TE Anthony Fasano said. "In the long run, you see that it helps build your team's character, it helps gain respect of you and your teammates and it's about coming together. We're professionals; people work hard, grinding in the classroom to get all the new systems learned and trying to set a good base for camp."

With the team's new coaching staff, free agents and returning players, the excitement continues to build for the upcoming season.

"I think we have some young guys, some up-and-coming guys with a lot of potential, we have some really solid veterans, that mixture, I think, has been great and will be great for us. (We have an) intense coaching staff that's crazy about football and we have guys that are learning to get better this time of year," Fasano said.

It's been said that knowledge is power; so the time spent on the field and in the meeting rooms this week can then serve as a solid foundation for a successful campaign in 2013.