High School Football
American football is the most popular sport in the United States, both among fans and athletes (American football is mostly played by school and college students).
What is American Football?
American football is a team game played on a field measuring 120 yards long and 53.3 yards wide. The field is marked every five yards with transverse lines, the central of which is marked as “fifty-five”, and every ten yards in both directions are, respectively, “forty-yard”, “thirty-thirty”, etc. marks. At a distance of fifty yards from the central, the “goal lines” are located, followed by ten-yard “scoring zones” (end zones). There is a gate in the form of a slingshot on the far border of the scoring zones,. The bottom bar is located ten feet above the ground, and the width is 18 feet 6 inches for professional and student teams or 23 feet 4 inches for schoolchildren. The height of the side posts is at least ten feet for school fields and ten yards for professionals and students.
The match is won by a team with the most points, which can be earned in different ways: putting the ball in the opponent’s goal zone (touchdown, brings six points), scoring it into the field goal (three points), stop the attacking team with the ball in its own safety zone (two points). In addition, after a touchdown, an attacker can either try to score a ball into the goal with a kick (extra point, one point), or repeat a touchdown, starting an attack in two (for professionals) or three (for amateurs) yards of the scoring zones (two-point conversion, two points).
The duration of the game in American football is 60 minutes (48 for schoolchildren), and the match is divided into two halves, consisting, in turn, of two quarters each. At each time point, one of the teams attacks (holds the ball), and the other, respectively, defends. The meeting begins (as well as the second half of the game) with a kick on the ball (“kick off”), set at the thirty-five mark, in the direction of the opponent’s scoring zone. At this point, the players of the second team are trying to catch the ball and move with it as close as possible to the opponent’s goal. The game stops when the ball (or a player with the ball) touches the ground or leaves the field. Next, the attacking team’s task is to move the ball at least ten yards towards the defending players, using either passes by hand or “carryouts” (when the player runs with the ball in his hands). If the attempt is successful, the rally starts from a new mark (and the attack has four attempts again), if the attempt fails – the ball goes to another team. Each tip-off begins with a quarterback back pass, which is the key player of the team and can both pass the ball and try to throw the ball away.
At the same time, there are eleven players of each team on the field. The players on the field change with each transition from attack to defense (and vice versa). There are even experts on “kick-offs” who can go on the field for one hit. Despite the widespread opinion that brute force is decisive in American football, in fact, there are many strategies of the game that make this sport very interesting and entertaining.
High School Football Training
Of course, the most popular football competitions are the NFL games, but in the United States, there are many fans of this sport among amateurs. Football is widespread in American schools, and teams from more than thirteen thousand higher schools take part in competitions every year.
American football continues to remain extremely popular in US universities. The National University Sports Association regularly organizes competitions (and not only football). The NCAA annually holds a national football championship, which is very popular (especially in regions where there are no NFL teams). Within the framework of inter-university football,there aree several “derbies”, games between “principled” rivals, many of which even have their own names. The most famous are “Iron Bowl” (a match between the teams of Auburn and Alabama universities), “Magnolia Bowl” (Mississippi vs. Louisiana), “Border War” (Missouri vs. Kansas), “Big Game” (Stanford vs. Berkeley, California) and others.
Modern American football not only remains one of the most popular sports in the United States but is also deservedly considered one of the symbols of this country.