today I will give you an introduction to this fantastic sport.
The first thing you need to know is that this sport is the most popular one in the USA. Its principal professional championship, the NFL ( National Football League), is watched by millions of Americans every week-end on TV and in stadiums. I will tell you more about this championship in another post.
An american football stadium:
Main rules
American Football rules are unknown in France because that sport is not very popular and its rules are a little bit complicated, but I'll try to explain it to you the best I can.
This sport is played on a 100 yard field ( 91,44 meters) divided by 10 yard portions.
On each side of the field, there is a "crossbar" and behind it, the "end zone", the place you have to go to score a "touchdown"!
An American football team is always composed of 11 players. But, in fact, there are three different units playing during a game: the offense, the defense and special units (used for different types of kicks). A game is 60 minutes long, divided by four 15 minutes periods.
The game begins with a kickoff, when one team kicks the ball as far as possible. The other team has to catch the ball and then they have four attempts (called "downs") to advance the ball 10 yards forward. If they have not done that after four downs, the ball is given to the first team and it's called a "turnover on downs". If the team who caught the ball made a 10 yard progression, an offense starts where they stop advancing the ball. The offense unit of the first team goes just in front of the defense unit of the other which is called "the line of scrimmage"
A line of scrimmage:
At this moment, an offensive player passes the ball between his legs to the quarterback, the most important offensive player, this action is a "snap". And the offensive team tries to gain 10 yards again, passing the ball to a "running back" or making a long pass to a "wide receiver" ( I will explain later in detail what the different roles of the players in the offense unit are in another post). And again, the team has four downs to do that.
An important thing you should know is that when the ball is on the ground, the game stops. So, instead of intercepting the ball, another way for the defense team to get possession is to push the offensive player who has the ball on the floor which is called "to tackle".
Scoring.
In American Football, there are three different ways of scoring.
- The Touchdown (6 points)
To score a touchdown, a player has to be in the end zone with the ball. So he can receive the ball from a pass or run into the end zone. Even if the player's feet are not in the zone, if the ball is in, he scores a touchdown! After a touchdown, the scoring team places the ball on the 3-yard line and tries to kick it over the "crossbar". They can score an extra-point ( one point).
A player kicking for an extra-point:
- The Field Goal (3 points)
This is when a player kicks the ball over the crossbar, usually attempted during the fourth down.
- The Safety ( 2 points)
A safety is scored when a defensive player tackles an opponent in his own end zone.
Now you know the main rules of American football. But there are lots of things to know to understand a game very well... There are lots of strategies called "plays" and that's why the coach of an American football team is very important.
I will show you other things about this amazing sport very soon!
Bye
Clément
This sport is played on a 100 yard field ( 91,44 meters) divided by 10 yard portions.
On each side of the field, there is a "crossbar" and behind it, the "end zone", the place you have to go to score a "touchdown"!
An American football team is always composed of 11 players. But, in fact, there are three different units playing during a game: the offense, the defense and special units (used for different types of kicks). A game is 60 minutes long, divided by four 15 minutes periods.
The game begins with a kickoff, when one team kicks the ball as far as possible. The other team has to catch the ball and then they have four attempts (called "downs") to advance the ball 10 yards forward. If they have not done that after four downs, the ball is given to the first team and it's called a "turnover on downs". If the team who caught the ball made a 10 yard progression, an offense starts where they stop advancing the ball. The offense unit of the first team goes just in front of the defense unit of the other which is called "the line of scrimmage"
A line of scrimmage:
At this moment, an offensive player passes the ball between his legs to the quarterback, the most important offensive player, this action is a "snap". And the offensive team tries to gain 10 yards again, passing the ball to a "running back" or making a long pass to a "wide receiver" ( I will explain later in detail what the different roles of the players in the offense unit are in another post). And again, the team has four downs to do that.
An important thing you should know is that when the ball is on the ground, the game stops. So, instead of intercepting the ball, another way for the defense team to get possession is to push the offensive player who has the ball on the floor which is called "to tackle".
Scoring.
In American Football, there are three different ways of scoring.
- The Touchdown (6 points)
To score a touchdown, a player has to be in the end zone with the ball. So he can receive the ball from a pass or run into the end zone. Even if the player's feet are not in the zone, if the ball is in, he scores a touchdown! After a touchdown, the scoring team places the ball on the 3-yard line and tries to kick it over the "crossbar". They can score an extra-point ( one point).
A player kicking for an extra-point:
- The Field Goal (3 points)
This is when a player kicks the ball over the crossbar, usually attempted during the fourth down.
- The Safety ( 2 points)
A safety is scored when a defensive player tackles an opponent in his own end zone.
Now you know the main rules of American football. But there are lots of things to know to understand a game very well... There are lots of strategies called "plays" and that's why the coach of an American football team is very important.
I will show you other things about this amazing sport very soon!
Bye
Clément
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