FOOTBALL STUDY GUIDE

History:
The sport of American football itself was relatively new in 1892. Its roots stemmed from
two sports, soccer and rugby, which had enjoyed long-time popularity in many nations of
the world. On November 6, 1989, Rutgers and Princeton played what was billed as the
first college football game. However, it wasnt until the 1880s that a great rugby player
from Yale, Walter Camp, pioneered rule changes that slowly transformed rugby into the
new game of American Football. Meanwhile, athletic clubs that sponsored a great
variety of sports teams became a popular phenomenon in the United States in the years
immediately after the Civil War. One of the sports the athletic club embraced was
football.
Within a decade, concern over the increasing brutality of the game led to its ban by
some colleges. Nearly 180 players had suffered serious injuries, and eighteen deaths had
been reported from the brutal mass plays that had become common practice. So in
1905, President Theodore Roosevelt called upon Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to help
save the sport from demise.
At a meeting between the schools, reform was agreed upon, and at a second meeting,
attended by more than sixty other schools, the group appointed a seven member Rules
Committee and set up what would later become known as the National Collegiate
Athletic Association, or the NCAA.
From this committee came the legalization of the forward pass, which resulted in a
redesign of the ball and a more open style of play on the field. The rough mass plays,
which once caused so many serious injuries, were prohibited by the committee. Also
prohibited was the locking of arms by teammates in an effort to clear the way for their
ball carriers. The length of the game was shortened, from seventy to sixty minutes, and
the neutral zone, which separates the teams by the length of the ball before each play
begins, was also established.

What you will need:

Football
Bag of pinnies
Cones or field lines for boundaries

Player Positions:
Offense: team with possession of the ball
Defense: team without possession of the ball
Quarterback: throws, runs, or hands off the football to a teammate, the
quarterback also calls the plays
Center: football is hiked from the center to the quarterback

 Receiver: runs out in different formations to catch the football thrown by the
quarterback
Running back: a runner the quarterback hands the football off to

Guard: protects the quarterback from the defensive players

Football Terms:

Line of scrimmage: imaginary line that the ball is placed at the beginning of each
down and now player may pass until the ball is snapped or hiked
Lateral: pass thrown backward
Forward pass: pass thrown down the field to another player
Completion: forward pass caught by another team member
Interception: when the defense catches a pass thrown by the opposing teams
quarterback
Fumble: loss of control of the football by a player
Touchdown: when the ball is passed or ran into the end zone
Incomplete pass: when the offensive player does not catch the pass
Complete pass: when the offensive player catches the pass

Rules:

Play is started with one team kicking or throwing the football off to the opposing
team.
The receiving team will either catch the ball or pick it up off the ground and run
with it towards the end zone.
If the player is tagged by the opposing team they will then start from the point of
the tag.
Tags may either be with one or two hands however players must make sure to not
push each other.
The quarterback will say go or hike and at that point the team may run past
the line of scrimmage to try and catch the ball.
The defense must count to 3 before they are allowed to tag the quarterback.
The offense will have 4 downs (tries) in order to get the ball into the end zone.
If the offense scores the other team will go down the other end to receive a throw
or punt from the other team and take their shot at the end zone.
If the offense does not score on those 4 downs the other team will take over on
offense from where the 4th down was started.

Scoring:

Touchdown = 1 point (PE rules) (6 points regularly)

Safety Concerns:

Players must be sure that they are not pushing when tagging an opposing player.
Be aware of your surroundings.