What is stickball and how did Native Americans play it. How does stickball compare to lacrosse. Why was stickball considered the “little brother of war”. How has stickball evolved over time. What cultural significance does stickball hold for Native American tribes.
The Origins and Evolution of Stickball
Stickball, an ancient Native American sport, has a rich history dating back to prehistoric times. Originally developed as a means to settle disputes between tribes without resorting to full-scale warfare, this intense and often violent game has played a significant role in Native American culture for centuries.
The game’s name in Cherokee, “A-ne-jo-di,” translates to “Little Brother of War,” highlighting its importance as a substitute for armed conflict. While the game was undoubtedly dangerous, with players risking severe injury or even death, it was seen as a preferable alternative to the widespread casualties of war.
How was stickball played traditionally?
Traditional stickball was played on a large field with two teams competing to score points by throwing a small ball through a goal. Unlike modern sports, stickball had few rules and no referees. Players were allowed to use their sticks to move the ball and interfere with opponents in any way possible, making it a highly physical and often brutal contest.
- The ball was made of a rock covered in hair and hide, sewn together with sinew
- Players used two sticks made of hickory, with small frames at the top for grasping the ball
- Games could last for days, with no time-outs or substitutions
- Women were traditionally not allowed to participate
The Cultural Significance of Stickball in Native American Communities
Stickball was more than just a game for Native American tribes; it held deep cultural and spiritual significance. The sport was interwoven with religious beliefs, rituals, and social practices, making it an integral part of tribal life.
What role did medicine men play in stickball games?
Medicine men played a crucial role in stickball games, performing various rituals and blessings to ensure their team’s success. Their responsibilities included:
- Invoking proper blessings for their team
- Casting counter-blessings against the opposing team
- Attempting to hex the opposing team’s trail to the playing field
- Overseeing purification and fasting rituals for players
These spiritual practices underscored the game’s importance beyond mere physical competition, elevating it to a sacred event with far-reaching implications for the community.
Stickball vs. Lacrosse: Similarities and Differences
While stickball shares some similarities with lacrosse, there are several key differences between the two sports. Both games involve using sticks to carry and throw a ball, but the equipment and rules vary significantly.
How do stickball sticks differ from lacrosse sticks?
Stickball players use two sticks to grasp and throw the ball, while lacrosse players use a single stick. The stickball sticks are typically shorter and have a smaller frame at the top, resembling a miniature tennis racket. Lacrosse sticks, on the other hand, have a larger head with a deeper pocket for catching and carrying the ball.
Another notable difference is the ball itself. Stickball uses a small, dense ball made of a rock covered in hair and hide, while lacrosse uses a rubber ball. This difference in equipment contributes to the unique playing styles and techniques of each sport.
The Evolution of Stickball in Modern Times
As with many traditional practices, stickball has evolved over time to adapt to changing societal norms and safety concerns. While the sport maintains its cultural significance, modern versions of the game have introduced new rules and modifications.
How is stickball played in the Cherokee Nation today?
In the Cherokee Nation, contemporary stickball games feature several changes from the traditional format:
- A 25-foot pole with a wooden fish on top replaces the traditional goal
- Players score three points for hitting the fish and one point for hitting the pole just below it
- Women are now allowed to participate, playing with their hands instead of sticks
- Men are restricted to using sticks and are not allowed to hit women players
- Women face no such restrictions and can tackle, hit, or push to gain possession of the ball
Interestingly, in most modern games, the women’s teams often emerge victorious due to their unrestricted style of play.
Regional Variations in Stickball
Stickball traditions vary across different Native American tribes and regions, with each community adapting the game to suit their cultural practices and local terrain. These variations contribute to the rich tapestry of Native American sporting heritage.
How does Eastern stickball differ from other regional versions?
In the Eastern regions, stickball has maintained some of its traditional characteristics:
- The game remains exclusively for men
- It retains its “anything-goes” nature, with minimal rules and high physicality
- Inter-tribal competitions are still held, preserving the spirit of rivalry and cultural exchange
These regional differences highlight the diverse ways in which Native American communities have preserved and adapted their stickball traditions over time.
The Role of Stickball in Conflict Resolution
One of the most fascinating aspects of stickball’s history is its use as a means of conflict resolution between tribes. This practice underscores the game’s significance beyond mere sport, elevating it to a diplomatic tool with real-world consequences.
Can you provide an example of stickball being used to settle disputes?
Historical evidence suggests that the Cherokee once used a stickball game to settle a land dispute with another tribe. Instead of resorting to violence or prolonged negotiations, the outcome of the game determined the resolution of the conflict. This practice demonstrates the high stakes often associated with stickball matches and the trust placed in the game’s ability to fairly settle important matters.
The use of stickball for conflict resolution highlights the sport’s role as a “little brother of war,” providing a controlled environment for tribes to compete and settle differences without the devastating consequences of actual warfare.
Stickball as a Spectator Sport and Cultural Event
Throughout history, stickball games have drawn large crowds and served as important social gatherings for Native American communities. These events often featured elaborate ceremonies and rituals, making them much more than simple athletic contests.
What made stickball games significant cultural events?
Stickball matches were among the first large-scale spectator sporting events in many regions, attracting not only tribal members but also local white settlers. The games were often surrounded by extensive ceremonies, including:
- Pre-game rituals and blessings performed by medicine men
- Fasting and purification practices for players
- Elaborate dances and songs
- Feasts and celebrations following the games
These cultural elements transformed stickball matches into significant community events that strengthened social bonds and preserved tribal traditions.
The Legacy of Stickball in Modern Native American Culture
Today, stickball continues to play an important role in preserving Native American heritage and fostering a sense of community among tribal members. While the game has evolved, its cultural significance remains strong.
How is stickball kept alive in contemporary Native American communities?
Stickball is maintained through various means in modern Native American culture:
- Regular games and tournaments held during tribal celebrations and holidays
- Inclusion in cultural education programs at heritage centers and museums
- Demonstrations and interactive experiences for visitors to learn about the sport
- Inter-tribal competitions that promote cultural exchange and preserve rivalries
For example, the Cherokee Heritage Center in Oklahoma includes stickball as part of its Ancient Village tour, allowing visitors to learn about and even participate in this historic sport. This hands-on approach helps to ensure that the traditions and significance of stickball are passed down to future generations and shared with a wider audience.
By maintaining stickball as a living tradition, Native American communities preserve an important link to their past while adapting the sport to meet the needs and interests of contemporary players and spectators. The enduring legacy of stickball serves as a testament to the resilience and cultural richness of Native American societies, offering a unique window into their history, values, and way of life.
Stick Ball – Cherokee Heritage Center
A-ne-jo-di: Little Brother of War
Stickball began in prehistoric times as a way for tribes to settle disputes without going to war. Although incredibly violent and fraught with danger, the death or severe injury of a few men was preferable to the more significant deaths and injuries sure to occur in full-fledged warfare.
Stickball is similar in some ways to the historic game of lacrosse, except that the ball is carried and thrown with two sticks that grasp the ball rather than with a single stick as in lacrosse. The ball is made of a rock covered with hair, and then it is covered again with hide, which is sewn on with sinew, making a cover akin to that of a baseball.
The sticks are typically made of hickory because of its hardness and common occurrence in the eastern woodlands of North America, where the game originated. The top of the stick is thinned, heated, and bent back onto the neck to make a small frame not unlike that of a tennis racket, only much smaller.
A webbing is then made for the head of the stick, typically of sinew although leather can be used as well. The game was historically played on a large field, and teams scored by throwing the ball through a goal. Lacking referees or rules–other than the fact that women couldn’t participate–players were allowed to move the ball with their sticks in any way they could, and, more importantly, to interfere with the opposing team’s control of the ball. It was the equivalent of hockey where the stick was a legitimate implement for hitting the other team members. There were no time outs, and no substitutions. Games could last for days and were filled with injuries, as the players battered each other with their modified clubs.
The medicine men played a prominent role invoking the proper blessings, and also invoking counter-blessings against the opposing team. Medicine men would try to find the opposing team’s village trail to the playing field and hex the trail. Purification and fasting were also ritual elements of the game.
The game is still played throughout the Cherokee Nation, only now there’s a pole in the middle of the playing grounds that’s 25 feet tall, with a wooden fish on top of it instead of a goal. Players try to hit the fish, and get three points for each hit. Hitting the pole one foot below the fish scores a single point. Women are now allowed to play, but instead of sticks they play with their hands. The men may only use sticks, and may not hit the women.
The women are under no such rules, and can tackle, hit, push, or do anything necessary to get the ball. In most games of stickball, the women almost always win.
In the East, stickball is still only for men, and it is still an anything-goes sport. Today it is played at the Cherokee Heritage Center during special events like Cherokee National Holiday, and against other tribes in the region.
Stickball is included as part of the tour of the Ancient Village, and visitors are invited to participate.
For more information about the Ancient Village and related programs, please contact: e-mail [email protected] Phone 918 456-6007 or 888-999-6007Stickball | NCpedia
by William L. Anderson, 2006
Additional research provided by Charles Battle.
See also: Cherokee Indians
Stickball, a Native American game similar to lacrosse and called “anetsa” by the Cherokee Indians, was once played throughout the United States. The game was played by two teams with an equal number of men. The object was to get a tiny, walnut-sized, leather-covered ball through a goal using sticks shaped somewhat like small tennis rackets. The size of the field depended on the size of the teams and the availability of suitable terrain. The Cherokees were among the first to play consistently on a field about 100 yards in length, although some fields were much larger. There was no time limit; the first team to score 12 times won. Any strategy to score was acceptable, including biting, choking, and even banging each other on the head with the rackets. There were no time-outs or substitutions, but if a player was knocked out his opponent had to leave the game also.
Although a less violent form of stickball is played primarily as entertainment today, the Cherokees once considered anetsa as the “little brother of war,” an important training experience for future conflicts. As a precursor to such training, Cherokees sometimes participated in a pregame ritual in which players were scratched with a bone set in eagle feathers until they bled from 100 different wounds. There is evidence that the Cherokees once settled a land dispute with another tribe on the outcome of a stickball game. These contests, often surrounded by much ceremony, were the state’s first large-scale spectator sporting events, attracting huge crowds, including local whites, during the nineteenth century. Many whites, in fact, adopted the game, which came to be played by Confederate soldiers and timber workers in the Mountain region of North Carolina. Stickball remains an important link between modern times and early Cherokee society.
Image Credit:
Cherokee stickball. Image courtesy of the University of Pennsylvania Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology. Available from http://www.sas.upenn.edu/dpic/cherokeestickball/welcome (accessed September 12, 2012).
Stickball | Chickasaw Nation
Chickasaws have a long history of playing the traditional game of stickball. Itti’ kapochcha to’li’ or stickball, also known as “little brother of war,” has been handed down from generation to generation and was historically played to settle conflicts over land and politics between Native American tribes. Recorded accounts of stickball date back to the early 18th century.
When a dispute arose, elder tribal leaders would meet and decide on a location to play, rather than fight a war. This time-honored game was usually played by men and was thoroughly steeped in ceremonial traditions. Stickball was typically accompanied by all night stomp dancing and singing. Often, before a stickball game, men would paint their faces for battle and fast for a more spiritual experience.
Stickball is played on a field similar to that of a football field, with two poles 100 yards apart. An equal number of people per team hurl a ball made of scrapped deer skin, dampened and filled with a rounded rock, and sewn together with deer sinew, into the air. Players take turns lobbing the ball down the field with ball sticks approximately 2 feet long, with a rounded end, similar to the palm of a hand, weaved with deer skin. Players use stickball sticks to hurl the ball down the field to teammates, who then hit or touch the pole to score points. Make no mistake, this game is a grueling battle of wills.
There are three types of stickball games. The first is the social game, played between men and women around a single pole, where men use sticks and women use their hands. The second is the ceremonial east-west game, played only by men. The third is the modern field game, played between men and women, both sexes using sticks, with a specific set of rules and field dimensions as set forth by the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians.
Chickasaws still play this game today, whether it is for fun at a festival or celebration, or for competition at games and tournaments. These games are a great way of providing cultural enrichment while keeping stickball alive within the Chickasaw Nation.
The Chickasaw Nation provides stickball playing opportunities for all citizens and the community. The Chickasaw Nation currently has two competitive teams, one for youth, Chikasha Bak Bak and one for the adults, Chikasha Toli.
For more information on the Chickasaw teams, please visit the stickball services page.
Stickball: How the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Play the Game Known as The Little Brother of War
Stickball has always been much more than a game to the Cherokee people. Though once this ancient sport served a judicial or diplomatic function by settling tribal disputes before they led to war, today it’s a living cultural tradition. Stickball games are regularly played across the Cherokee Nation. Here in Western North Carolina, there are many opportunities throughout the summer and fall to watch teams made up of members of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians play the game.
Before you get the opportunity to watch stickball played live in Cherokee, you may want to understand the rules of the game. The thing is, if you look online, you’ll find that there are many different versions of stickball rules posted. For example, Choctaw stickball rules are different from those followed by the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.
More than that, according to Patrick Hill, a player for the Big Cove team, local rules can vary slightly from game to game. “It is always a different game when you play it. It is never the same,” he says. Because the rules can vary from game to game, even experienced players have to keep learning and practicing new styles of play. “We could practice one way but it is not necessarily going to be played that way. You’ve got to figure out ways to prepare for each game.” As a player, Patrick enjoys the fact that the game is always changing. When asked what his favorite part of stickball is he says, “learning how to play. I’m always going to be able to keep learning something new out there.”
Though the sport of Lacrosse came from stickball, there many big differences between the two games. For one, Cherokee stickball players do not wear any sort of padding or protective equipment. They don’t even wear shirts. Stickball is not a game for the faint of heart. We talked to Patrick recently to understand how the game is played today in Cherokee, North Carolina.
The Basics
Cherokee stickball, also called Indian Ball, is played on a field with two goal posts set on either end. Two opposing teams line up against each other in a game. Whichever team scores 12 points first wins. There are no time-outs allowed.
The “drivers” are the referees of the game, and each team brings their own drivers. drivers work together to determine and set the rules of play before the first ball is tossed up. They watch closely to make sure that the game is being played according to the rules they agreed upon.
Equipment
Each player carries one or two sticks. The sticks are typically made of hickory and one end features a scoop made of leather or sinew webbing. (The drivers will determine whether one or two sticks will be used by players in a game.)
The ball, which is about 3” in diameter, is made of leather and sinew. Each stickball team brings their own balls to a tournament, though typically the ball used in a game will be supplied by a team that is not currently playing in that game.
Team Size
Team sizes vary from game to game. Twelve is an average number for a stickball team, but Patrick has seen anywhere between nine and 22 men on each side. The drivers agree to the number of players on each team, and ensure that both sides have an equal number of men.
If a player is injured and must leave the game, the driver of the opposing team then picks one of their team members to step out of the game to keep the sides even.
Scoring
Exactly how points are scored is determined at the start of the game by the drivers. Some teams were taught to run past the goal with the ball to score, others to throw it past the goal, whereas others circle the goal post with the ball to score, and there may be other variations. Before a game begins, the drivers agree upon which scoring method both teams will follow.
Tackling
Players can (and do) tackle at any time. Each player is assigned a member of the opposing team to guard.
Handling the Ball
Once the ball is tossed up into play, players scramble to scoop it up off the ground with their sticks. It is illegal to catch a tossed ball or to pick it up off the ground with your hands. Typically, once a player has used the stick to lift the ball above their knees they can then transfer the ball to their hands. (The drivers agree at the start of the game on how and when the ball can be picked up.) The player with the ball then runs for the goal while trying to avoid being tackled and losing the ball to their opponents.
If the ball is illegally caught or otherwise touched, or if it goes out of bounds, it is called a “dead ball.” Once a dead ball has been called, the drivers determine which person is allowed to toss the ball back into play.
After a team scores 11 points, that team has the option of putting down their sticks and playing with their hands until the end of the game.
Passing On The Stickball Tradition
Like many stickball players in Cherokee, Patrick was first introduced to the game in childhood. He was ten years old when he first started playing with a team at the Indian Fair. He has played off and on throughout his life since then with the team in Big Cove. Recently he has noticed a surge in interest in the game, especially from children.“We’ve gotten the kids involved…as young as three that come and run around.”
Patrick has greatly enjoyed learning and teaching stickball over the course of his life. He says that being a player has been “life changing at times” but that passing it along to the younger generations is what keeps bringing him back to the field. “Keeping it alive and respecting it is really what’s keeping me out there.” In fact, over the last five or six years, Patrick has noticed that many of the kids in Big Cove are more eager to play stickball than football, or soccer, or any other sport. “We’ve got the football coaches calling us and asking for kids… They are really into this sport.”
With no protective padding to wear, stickball can be an especially intense game for players of all ages. Patrick says that mental preparation before the game is necessary, but that each team knows exactly what they are getting into. “It’s called the medicine game and little brother of war. Each team has their own ways to prepare… When we go out there we are not afraid.”
What are the origins of the game called Stick Ball?
We are producing a television programme in the U.K. covering the subject of ‘Traditional team sports played throughout the world’. We are interested in filming a documentary about the traditional sport ‘Stickball’ and would like to speak to someone involved in the organisation of this sport. Could you possibly let me know someone I could contact?
The programme will not just focus on the sport, but also on the origins of such a sport, and the culture surrounding the sport. We are trying to highlight the importance of sport to different regions in each country, and how it is still very important to each and every culture.Many thanks for your help.
–Submitted by Stuart M.
Answer:
Hi Stuart,
Anejodi, or “Stickball” is usually referred to in modern times as LaCrosse, since it is very similar to the European game of the same name, which actually evolved from the rules of the indigenous stickball games. It’s played most by Canadian Iroquois bands such as the Mohawk Akwesasne and the Caughnawauga bands. The Mohawk Six Nations Reserve is located in Ontario, Canada, across the border from New York. Stickball is also played by the Choctaw, the Cherokee in both Oklahoma and North Carolina, and many other tribes.
Early descriptions of lacrosse, from missionaries such as French Jesuits in Huron country in the 1630s and English explorers, such as Jonathan Carver in the mid-eighteenth century Great Lakes area, are not detailed and often conflicting. They inform us mostly about team size, equipment used, the duration of games and length of playing fields but tell us almost nothing about stickhandling, game strategy, or the rules of play.
The oldest surviving sticks date only from the first quarter of the nineteenth century, and the first detailed reports on Indian lacrosse are even later. However, several Indian tribes say they have been playing this game for thousands of years.
George Beers provided good information on Mohawk playing techniques in his Lacrosse (1869), while James Mooney in the American Anthropologist (1890) described in detail the “[Eastern] Cherokee Ball-Play,” including its legendary basis, elaborate rituals, and the rules and manner of play.
Almost exclusively a male team sport, it is distinguished from the others, such as field hockey or shinny, by the use of a netted racquet with which to pick the ball off the ground, throw, catch and convey it into or past a goal to score a point. The cardinal rule in all varieties of lacrosse was that the ball, with few exceptions, must not be touched with the hands.
There are three basic varieties of stickball games, based on the equipment and the type of goal used, and the stick handling techniques: the Southeastern, Great Lakes, and Iroquoian. Among southeastern tribes (Cherokee, Choctaw, Chickasaw, Creek, Seminole, Yuchi and others), a double-stick version of the game is still practiced. A two-and-a half foot stick is held in each hand, and the soft, small deerskin ball is retrieved and cupped between them.
Great Lakes players (Ojibwe, Menominee, Potawatomi, Sauk, Fox, Miami, Winnebago, Santee Dakota and others) used a single three-foot stick. It terminated in a round, closed pocket about three to four inches in diameter, scarcely larger than the ball, which was usually made of wood, charred and scraped to shape.
The northeastern stick, found among Iroquoian and New England tribes, is the progenitor of all present-day sticks, both in box as well as field lacrosse. The longest of the three, (usually more than three feet), it was characterized by its shaft ending in a sort of crook and a large, flat triangular surface of webbing extending as much as two-thirds the length of the stick.Where the outermost string meets the shaft, it forms the pocket of the stick.
Lacrosse was given its name by early French settlers, using the generic term for any game played with a curved stick (crosse) and a ball. Native terminology, however, tends to describe more the technique (ie. Onondaga DEHUNTSHIGWA’ES, “men hit a rounded object”) or, especially in the southeast, to underscore the game’s aspects of war surrogacy (“little brother of war”). There is no evidence of non-Indians taking up the game until the mid-nineteenth century, when English-speaking Montrealers adopted the Mohawk the-hon-tsi-kwaks-eks, or the Creator’s game, they were familiar with from the Caughnawauga and Akwesasne, attempted to “civilize” the sport with a new set of rules and organize into amateur clubs.
Once the game quickly grew in popularity in Canada, it began to be exported throughout the Commonwealth, as non-native teams traveled to Europe for exhibition matches against Iroquois players. Ironically, because the Indians had to charge money in order to travel, they were excluded as “professionals” from international competition for more than a century. Only with the formation of the Iroquois Nationals in the 1980s did they successfully break this barrier and become eligible to compete in World Games.
Apart from its recreational function, lacrosse traditionally played a more serious role in Indian culture. Its origins are rooted in legend, and the game continues to be used for curative purposes and surrounded with ceremony. Game equipment and players are still ritually prepared by medicine men, and team selection and victory are often considered supernaturally controlled. In the past, lacrosse also served to vent aggression, and territorial disputes between tribes were sometimes settled with a game, although not always amicably.
A Creek versus Choctaw game around 1790 to determine rights over a beaver pond broke out into a violent battle when the Creeks were declared winners. Still, while the majority of the games ended peaceably, much of the ceremonialism surrounding their preparations and the rituals required of the players were identical to those practiced before departing on the warpath.
A number of factors led to the demise of lacrosse in many areas by the late nineteenth century. Wagering on games had always been integral to an Indian community’s involvement, but when betting and violence saw an increase as traditional Indian culture was eroding, it sparked opposition to lacrosse from government officials and missionaries. The games were felt to interfere with church attendance and the wagering to have an impoverishing effect on the Indians. When Oklahoma Choctaw began to attach lead weights to their sticks around 1900 to use them as skull-crackers, the game was outright banned.
Meanwhile, the spread of non-native lacrosse from the Montreal area eventually led to its position today worldwide as one of the fastest growing sports (more than half a million players), controlled by official regulations and played with manufactured rather than hand-made equipment—the aluminum shafted stick with its plastic head, for example. While the Great Lakes traditional game died out by 1950, the Iroquois and southeastern tribes continue to play their own forms of lacrosse. Ironically, the field lacrosse game of non-native women today most closely resembles the Indian game of the past, retaining the wooden stick, lacking the protective gear and demarcated sidelines of the men’s game, and tending towards mass attack rather than field positions and offsides.
There is also a street game played in urban inner-cities called stickball, that is a spinoff of baseball. They have an organized stickball league.
RELATED LINKS ON THIS SITE:
Evolution of Native American Stickball into the modern game of LaCrosse
This is a historical timeline of the evolution of the native american stickball game into the modern game of LaCrosse.
A-ne-jo-di, or Stickball, is a very rough game played by many Indian tribes
A-ne-jo-di, or Stickball, is a very rough game played by not only the Cherokee, but many other Southeastern Woodland tribes including the Muscogee (Creek), Seminole, and others.
The Cherokee Stomp Dance
The traditional religious dance of the Cherokee is the Stomp Dance. Part of the day’s activities includes the playing of a traditional stickball game.
EXTERNAL LINKS:
International Federation of Women’s Lacrosse Associations (IFWLA)
IFWLA was formed in 1972 to promote and develop the game of women’s lacrosse throughout the world. Inaugural members were Australia, England, Scotland, Wales and the United States. The number of member countries has doubled as lacrosse has spread. New member countries are from Asia and Europe and interest is now spreading into South America.
Canadian LaCrosse Association
The Canadian Lacrosse Association is recognized as the governing body responsible for all aspects of Canada’s National Summer Sport.
US LaCrosse Official Site
National teams, museum of LaCrosse, rules of the game, extensive links.
NDN Sports
A website devoted to native americans in sports.
Choctaw Stickball
A Choctaw description of the kabocca game we call stickball.
Historical descriptions of the stickball game
The sport of lacrosse is derived from a Haudenosaunee game of great antiquity called, in Oneida, Ga-lahs. This ancient tradition has been brought back into the daily lives of Oneidas. Today the men’s team, the Silverhawks, competes against other Haudenosaunee teams in the Iroquois Lacrosse Association.The Oneida Nation also sponsors a lacrosse stick-making class taught by Russell George.
Native American Sports Council
The NASC conducts community based multi-sport programs which encourage healthful community participation and provide assistance to Native American Olympic hopefuls.
North American Indigenous Games
The NAIG is a celebration of sport and culture for North American Indigenous peoples from across Turtle Island (North America).
The Mayan Ball Game was the first team sport in human history.
The Mayan ball game has been played in Central America for over 3000 years. It is the basis for all other “ball and goal” team games, similar to shinny, lacrosse, and other football, basketball, soccer type team ball games. To learn more about the game, go to this site where you can download a free plug-in and play a version of the game. Although this site is slow loading, it’s really worth the wait.
Indigenous women show who’s got game — High Country News – Know the West
Physicality and communication are key elements at the Choctaw Nation’s annual tournament.
During the championship game against another Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians team, Kristin Josh leads Ittibah Achafah in a team chant. Josh formed the team just a month before the championship game.
Tristan Ahtone/High Country News
For the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians women’s team, Ittibah Achafah, the game might have come down to just one point. One score. One satisfying thud of the woven leather ball against the wooden pole.
At halftime on this Labor Day weekend in Tuskahoma, Oklahoma, the huddled players panted and reminded each other to communicate. The championship game of the inaugural women’s stickball tournament held in the capital of the Choctaw Nation was still scoreless; it was anyone’s game.
Ittibah Achafah, whose name means “Come Together” in Choctaw, was already down one match against MBCI, the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians’ other women’s team, in the double elimination tournament. Despite the pressure, despite the fatigue, despite the fact that they started tournament play with only 27 players on the field, not the 30 required, defender Kristin Josh, her dark hair tightly braided, was smiling.
Josh, 23, a member of the Choctaw Nation from Carthage, Mississippi, grew up with stickball and had cobbled Ittibah Achafah together via Facebook barely a month before. Now, here they were, tied with the tournament’s favorites for the championship game. As one of the defenders whose job it is to guard her team’s pole, Josh prepared to shut MBCI down. “Once one person scores, the team will get into a groove, and that’s hard to stop,” she said.
The first point could easily be the last in the game, and Josh knew the MBCI team to be good shooters. Whether Josh and her teammates clacked their sticks together out of anxiety or adrenaline was hard to tell: Many also carried grins.
“I know we can beat them. I know we can do it,” said Josh, eyeing the field, a palpable sense of hunger in her gaze.
They had 16 minutes left to prove it.
Stickball is the national game of the Choctaw Nation and an integral sport among the Chickasaw, Cherokee, Seminole and other tribes. Like lacrosse, it is a team sport played with a ball and netted sticks, but the similarities end there. The game varies from tribe to tribe, but one aspect is universal: its physicality. Any player who has the ball in their possession can expect to be tackled, pulled to the ground by their jersey or brightly colored breechcloth, or hit full force by a shoulder charge. Players often leave the field with bruises, deep gashes, even broken bones. And many play barefoot, which can cause unique, and painful, injuries.
Many Choctaw say the game was created to resolve intertribal disputes in lieu of going to war; in fact, stickball is nicknamed “the little brother of war.” Yet the game also represents an almost sacrosanct honor whose roots stretch back hundreds of years. Honor — and bragging rights.
Ittibah Achafah competes against Tvshka Homma in an early tournament game.
Tristan Ahtone/High Country News
Many players play stickball barefoot.
Tristan Ahtone/High Country News
The Tvshka Homma women’s team huddles up between quarters.
Tristan Ahtone/High Country News
The sun had finally set on the fans gathered in the stands to watch the tournament. In the first and second quarter, Ittibah Achafah and MBCI remained tied at zero-zero. Then, late in the third quarter, a scrum of players crowded the ball in a corner near the Ittibah Achafah pole. The game got heated, and the players’ sticks clacked together in a frenzy.
After several seconds clawing at the ground, an MBCI player managed to snatch the ball and chuck it over her shoulder, connecting with the pole and delivering a loud THWOCK!
The quarter ended. The teams walked to their sidelines for one last huddle. Ittibah Achafah had eight minutes left to score at least two points.
Perhaps the hardest part of stickball is the scoring. Each player carries two handcrafted sticks, often made of smooth hickory and rounded at the end, with a net the size of a half-cupped hand. The ball is made of leather woven around a stone and then dipped in bright orange paint, and players may only touch it with their sticks. To score a point, players must hurl the ball and hit the opposing team’s wooden pole, a 4-by-4-inch beam that stands about 12 feet high. The field is similar in size to a soccer field, quarters last only eight minutes, and no time-outs are allowed, even for injuries. Whenever the ball goes out-of-bounds, a referee, one of a dozen, immediately throws a new ball into play.
Players treat their sticks with great respect; many regard the stick as an extension of their hands. “I know some people that, when they sleep, they keep them right next to their bed,” said Harold Comby, a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians who has been announcing games from his perch in the press box for decades.
Even though tournament play at the annual Choctaw Holiday Festival in Oklahoma is in its sixth year, the Mississippi Choctaws have hosted what is regarded as the “stickball world series” for decades. The Mississippi Band is considerably outnumbered by its cousins in Oklahoma; it has about 11,000 members compared to the more than 220,000 in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma. But its teams are disciplined and often include players whose families have competed for generations. Being a player is a great honor, Comby said: “They may not have a job, but if they play stickball they are respected in the community.”
On the first day of tournament play, MBCI managed to beat Josh and her teammates 4-1, and the final score had become a point of contention on social media. “Look, they’re saying online that they beat us 9-1,” one player told her head coach, Fabien Tubby, before vowing to set the record straight and running off to show her teammates.
Tubby smiled when he heard the rumor that his team had lost by eight points, rather than the actual three. He didn’t really mind; it meant that his players would walk into the championship game with a chip on their shoulder. “There’s a whole bunch riding on this,” he said.
Fabian Tubby coaches Ittibah Achafah in between quarters.
Tristan Ahtone/High Country News
Held up by a pair of crutches, Tubby stood on the sidelines watching his team play, the defenders standing next to their poles holding their sticks high as others chased after the ball and took turns throwing it their way. Tubby, who had taken a hard hit in a men’s game earlier that day, could barely walk, and he grimaced in between yelling words of encouragement. Though Tubby hails from Mississippi, he has played for the local Oklahoma Choctaw team, Tushka Homma, for years now; his team has lost to his kin, the men’s MBCI team, for five years in a row.
Yet despite the odds faced by the women’s team that day, Tubby was confident. “If they play the way I know they can, it shouldn’t even be a game,” he said through a wince.
Communication is key in stickball. From a spectator’s vantage point, it might seem like a mess of clashing sticks and colliding bodies, but on the field there is a conversation taking place, sometimes barely audible above the steady drumbeat from the drummers at the corners. Other times, it is unmistakable, with screams of “Defense!” “Sideline!” and “Hit her!” ringing out above the field. Tubby had reminded his players to speak to each other constantly. As Billy Curtis, a coach for the Tushka Homma women’s team, told his players the day before, if you don’t communicate, “It might as well be 35 versus 25.”
Although this was the first women’s tournament in Tuskahoma, Choctaw women have been playing stickball for hundreds of years. Les Williston, who played an integral part in bringing the game back to the Choctaw Nation in the form of tournament play, knew a women’s bracket would eventually be needed. He wanted Choctaw children, regardless of their gender, to carry on the honor of the game, just as generations of their forebears had. He couldn’t help grinning at the young children who raced around the edges of the field with sticks in hand or at the thought of those who carry theirs to school. “That’s honor that kids can carry with them every day,” he said. “They’re proud to carry their sticks and say, ‘I’m a stickball player.’ ”
Another place of honor belongs to the drummers. Typically, two drummers representing each team stand at opposite corners of the field, keeping the beat of the game in unison. In a time before social media and telephones, the drums marked the beginning of a match for the surrounding communities, Comby said. One of each pair of drummers often pounds a steady rhythm, while the others fills in the empty spaces. A string bound by a metal clasp on the underside of the drum creates an unmistakable buzz that fills the air, balancing the deep, low beat. The steady rhythm hums through the metal seats in the stands and adds a cadence to the action on the field.
Back on the field, it was down to the final eight minutes. The first score by MBCI, was, according to the Ittibah Achafah players, a lucky shot, and in the last quarter, Josh and her teammates got fierce: The hits came harder; the running more frantic, and each shot taken by either team caught the collective breath of the crowd.
For the first several minutes of the quarter, it felt as if Ittibah Achafah could even the score at any second. The smacking of sticks within a mass of bodies and a quick pitch of the ball toward the MBCI pole happened once, twice, then a third time, before a defender threw it nearly the length of the field and back into Ittibah Achafah territory. That’s where the ball would largely remain until the final minute of play, when it once again neared the MBCI pole.
But MBCI’s defense held on as the final whistle blew, and the tired but smiling players walked off the field.
Ittibah Achafah huddled at the sideline, and Tubby made his way to the center of the circle on his crutches. If the Ittibah Achafah players were crestfallen, it didn’t show. They compared scratches and wounds, and their eyes glistened with the thrill of the game. “I’m not even mad,” said one of Josh’s teammates, a wide smile on her face. “Who’s coming back next year?” yelled another.
The team gathered together and put their sticks in the air, Josh leading the chant: “One, two, three: ACHAFAH!”
Graham Lee Brewer is a contributing editor at High Country News and a member of the Cherokee Nation. Follow @grahambrewer
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Are You Ready for Some Stickball?
It’s Native American Heritage Month, so I thought I’d write an article about my favorite sports game. Coincidentally, my favorite sports game also happens to be an important and historical element in Cherokee culture — Stickball. If you’ve never had the opportunity to watch a modern Stickball match, I highly recommend it. But first, a little history of the game.
Stickball is a very old and traditional activity within many Indian tribes, primarily among the eastern Woodlands tribes of the US and Canada. A precursor to the game of Lacrosse, Stickball is the oldest team sport in North America. In centuries past, the game was used as a way of resolving disputes, a last resort before going to war. Games were played between opposing tribes or villages, could last from sun up to sun down, and included hundreds of players. These games were very violent, and serious or fatal injuries were not unheardof. On game day specific regalia, diet, and dance rituals were observed, and those rituals were similar to those observed before going to war. In fact, the game’s Cherokee name (A-ne-jo-di) translates to “Little Brother of War.”
Today, Stickball is a recreational activity, all in good fun, thought it’s still a fairly rough game. Stickball matches are often played before Stomp Dance or other traditional ceremonies, and increasingly tribes are incorporating public recreational games or demonstrations into their tribal events. The Cherokee Nation hosts a Stickball game every year at Cherokee National Holiday, and members of the Eastern Band often perform demonstration games in and around North Carolina. The photos in this article were taken at the Cherokee National Holiday Stickball Game in 2013.
The playing field for Stickball varies depending on the location or event. At traditional grounds, the field consists of a single central 25 foot pole with a wooden fish on top. Players try to hit the fish in order to earn points. For larger public recreational games, the game is often played on a modified football field, where each team has a goalpost and these are placed in each endzone. The players carry a pair of handcrafted sticks with small hoop baskets on the ends. They use these sticks to capture, carry, and fling the small ball. The goal is to hit the opposing team’s goalpost with the ball.
The game moves very quickly and can get rather intense. It requires several types of players to compete — those whose talent is protecting the goal with their size and brute force, those who can run the ball using speed and agility, and those who have the quickness and excellent aim needed to shoot the goals. And all positions require toughness. There is no padding in Stickball, no helmets either. Players wear shorts and a t-shirt and are often barefoot. When the game gets heated, players can and do tackle and take down their opponents. But the clock doesn’t stop for bumps and scrapes.
Stickball is quite a sight to see, and one that should not be missed should the opportunity arise.
So I ask you again: are you ready for some Stickball?!?
| Hockey. Russia. KHL. Playoff | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st period | Vanguard | CSKA | | | |||||||||
| Football.England. Premier League | ||||||||||||
| 22:00 | Leicester City | West Bromwich Albion | | | |||||||||
| Football. Spain. Example | ||||||||||||
| 20:00 | Atletico Madrid | Huesca | | | 22:00 | Granada | Eibar | ||||||
| 22:00 | Real Sociedad | Celta | | | 23:00 | Barcelona | Getafe | ||||||
| Football.Italy. Series A | ||||||||||||
| 1st half | Roma | Atalanta | | | 21:45 | Napoli | Lazio | ||||||
| Football.Portugal. Premier League | ||||||||||||
| completed | Tondela | Nacional Madeira | | | 1st half | Lived Vicente | Famalican | ||||||
| Basketball.USA. NBA. Regular season | ||||||||||||
| completed | Washington Wizards | Golden State Warriors | | | completed | Indiana Pacers | Oklahoma City Thunder | ||||||
| completed | Cleveland Cavaliers | Chicago Bulls | | | completed | Toronto Raptors | Brooklyn Nets | ||||||
| completed | Philadelphia 76th | Phoenix Suns | | | completed | New York Knicks | Atlanta Hawks | ||||||
| completed | Houston Rockets | Utah Jazz | | | completed | Dallas Mavericks | Detroit Pistons | ||||||
| completed | San Antonio Spurs | Miami Heat | | | completed | Portland Trail Blazers | Denver Nuggets | ||||||
| completed | Sacramento Kings | Minnesota Timberwolves | | | completed | Los Angeles Clippers | Memphis Grizzlies | ||||||
| Hockey.USA. NHL | ||||||||||||
| completed | Chicago | Nashville | | | completed | Arizona | Minnesota | ||||||
| completed | Vegas | San Jose | | | completed | Edmonton | Montreal | ||||||
| Football.Copa Libertadores | ||||||||||||
| completed | Universitario Lima | Palmeiras | | | |||||||||
| Basketball. Euroleague. Men | ||||||||||||
| 20:00 | Anadolu Ephesus | Real Madrid | | | 21:45 | Milan | Bavaria | ||||||
“I almost turned my neck”: the American football player effectively knocked out an opponent
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“I almost broke my neck”: the American footballer effectively knocked out the opponent
“Slightly broke his neck”: the American football player effectively knocked out the opponent
Linebacker “Cleveland Browns” Mac Wilson with a tough move knocked down Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during the National … Sport RIA Novosti, 01/18/2021
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American Football
Kansas City Chiefs
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MOSCOW, January 18 – RIA Novosti. Cleveland Browns linebacker Mac Wilson knocked down Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during a National Football League (NFL) playoff match. to the ground. Mahomes got to his feet only on the second attempt and was able to leave the field only with the help of his teammates.As a result of the meeting, “Kansas City” went to the finals of the American Football Conference, beating Cleveland by a score of 22:17.
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American football, Kansas -city chiefs
MOSCOW, January 18 – RIA Novosti. Cleveland Browns linebacker Mac Wilson knocked down Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes during a National Football League (NFL) playoff game.
In the third quarter of the game, after playing the ball, Wilson attacked an opponent with a grab by the neck and knocked the quarterback to the ground. Mahomes got to his feet only on the second attempt and was able to leave the field only with the help of his teammates.
Following the meeting, Kansas City advanced to the American Football Conference final, beating Cleveland 22:17.
American football: rules, tactics, terms
It’s no secret that American football is not very popular in our country. There are several reasons for this: the immense popularity of European football (aka soccer in the USA), dislike for the Americans themselves and their way of life and values, and most importantly – a lack of understanding of the essence of this game and ignorance of its rules, which turns into unfounded statements that the American football “dumb game for Americans”, “just idiotic messy” and more obscene.
I personally really love this game and would like to introduce you to its basic rules.
I recommend reading this post to fans of European football and simply haters of American football.
WARNING:
To understand what American football is, you must immediately abandon any analogies with ordinary football and not look for any similarities with it, because American football DOES NOT HAVE ANYTHING IN TOTAL WITH EUROPEAN FOOTBALL .
Everything that is written below is mainly aimed at showing the meaning of the game and helping to watch the broadcasts of matches and is a short retelling of the rules, in which only the main points are touched upon.American football is one of the most difficult games in the world. The complete set of rules hardly fits on three hundred pages, a significant part of the terms is not translated.
American football is a team sport with the ball. The goal of the game is to move the ball towards the end zone on the opponent’s side of the field and earn points. The ball can be carried, thrown and passed to teammates. Points can be earned in a variety of ways, including s
pushing the ball into the goal area, successfully passing the ball to the goal area, or hitting the ball between the goal posts (over the crossbar).The winner of the game is the team with the most points after the allotted time.
The main elements of American football, without which the game as such simply cannot exist is a 120 by 54 yards (1 yard = 91 cm) field, two teams of 11 people and an elongated ball with laces.
The course is divided into parts by lines of 5 yards and is numbered every 10 yards. 50 yards is the center of the field and the lines on either side of it are numbered in descending order, thus indicating the number of yards left for the attacking team to go in order to earn a touchdown.Along the width of the rods from the goal line of one goal to the goal line of the other goal, 2 lines are marked – the scrimmage lines. The ball is placed on these lines and the game begins from them.
There are two special zones on the field on each side: the end zone, which brings points and the red zone (red zones) – from the end zone to the 20 yards mark.
At the ends of the field on each side there is a goal, the posts of which are located behind the playing field. The width of the gate is 6 meters, the height from the ground to the crossbar is 2.5 m., above the crossbar – at least 3 meters.
A leather ball, slightly smaller than a rugby ball, is egg-shaped 72X 54 cm, weighs 400 grams.
Now let’s talk directly about the commands. Each team can send 11 players onto the pitch at the same time. Teams may substitute all or some of the players between game moments. Since there is a strict specialization of players in American football, the whole team is divided into offense, defense and special teams (special teams – take part in the game when the ball is kicked).Thus, professional teams can apply for the game up to 53 people. The players’ tasks are very different – some run with the ball or stop the runners, others take passes, others defend the point guard, the fourth attack the point guard, the fifth kick the ball. Therefore, it is in this sport that the system of playing roles is especially developed. Each player performs only his own tasks and does not take away bread from others. And for different tasks you need different physical data. This is to the fact that statements are often heard that football is a game for pumped meat.You are wrong, dear sirs.
The game is started by putting the ball into play (kick-off).
Players of one of the teams (which one is determined by the draw, let’s call it Team B) line up on their 30-yard line (a line 30 yards from their end zone), and one of them (kicker) kicks on the ball, previously installed on a special stand, trying to send it as far as possible to half of the opponents’ field.
One of the players from Team A (called the returner) catches the ball and tries to carry it as far as possible in the opposite direction.At the same time, his teammates help him, pushing rivals away from him (this is called “making a block”, or “putting a screen”). The screen can be performed by pushing into the body or throwing under the feet, but grabs, kicks, pushing in the back and tackles from behind or from the side are prohibited. Team B players attempt to stop the reterner by knocking him to the ground or pushing him out of bounds. To do this, they can use all kinds of grabs and jerks. Only hooking and grabbing the mask that protects the player’s face is prohibited.From the place where the reterner was stopped, team A starts the attack. All players on the team in possession of the ball are called “offense”, all players on the other team are called “defense”. The aim of the attack is to bring the ball into the opponent’s end zone. The goal of the defense is to take the ball away.
Drive is the period of possession of the ball by any team. It is during the drive that the attack occurs. The attack begins as follows:
The seven attacking players line up facing the opponent’s end zone (this line is called the scrimmage or “attack line”).One of them (center -center) stands directly above the ball. The line of attack serves as a kind of border separating the teams – no one is allowed to cross it before the ball is in play.
One of the player distribution schemes is shown below. Abbreviations refer to the individual position of each player.
Offense:
QB – quarterback, TE – tight-end, WR – wide receiver, FB – fullback, HB – halfback (midfielder), C – center, OG – offensive guard, OT – offensive tackle.
Defense:
DE – defensive end, DT – defensive tackle, CB – cornerback (cornerback or corner), LB – linebacker, FS and SS – free safety safety) and strong safety (strong safety).
Just want to emphasize that there are a large number of line-ups in American football, and they vary based on the situation on the field and the strategic intention of the coach. Some types of players may not exist at all, while others may appear more than usual.
The attacking team must put 7 people on the attack line. The center puts the ball into play, throwing it back, between his legs, to one of the partners. Almost always it is the quarterback (passer, point guard) – the main attacker.
Putting the ball into play is called snap. An attack consists of attempts by the attack to propel the ball towards the opponent’s end zone
. It is very difficult to immediately carry or throw the ball across the entire field, and, given the active resistance of the enemy, it is almost impossible.Therefore, in American football, the field is passed in parts. The attack is given 4 attempts (down – “down”) in order to advance the ball 10 yards. If they succeed, they get a new series of attempts, if not, the ball is given to the opponent and the teams change roles.
Down is a segment of playing time that begins with a snap and ends with the ball carrier stopping or an inaccurate forward pass. After receiving the snap, the quarterback runs back three or five steps, gives the ball to the outgoing person (running back – running back or back runner, most often the running back is in the midback position) or throws it to the receiver.Sometimes he runs forward himself. There is also such a technique as fake (fake) – the quarterback with all his appearance shows that he is giving to the kicker, but in fact he does not give it. Everyone runs to catch the endurance, and at this time the quarterback gives a pass to the open receiver.
Passing in football is a forward pass. Forward passes in American football (unlike rugby) are allowed, but on the following conditions: one pass per one down, the passing player must be behind the attacking line, forward passes can only be caught by players who were on the edges or behind the attacking line during the snap …
To successfully complete the pass, the player must catch the ball on the fly and be within the field (where the ball is located does not matter).
If the task of the attack is to carry the ball as far as possible, then the defense has the opposite goal – to prevent the enemy from moving forward, and if you are lucky, then intercept the thrown (intercept) or dropped (fumble) ball and bring it to the enemy’s rear. They hinder promotion in different ways. You can knock the ball out of the hands of the opponent, or you can crash into it on the run and throw it to the ground with the ball.Where he was knocked down – from there the attack continues to play. There is another way – a sophisticated one – to catch and knock the quarterback to the ground, but this is difficult because he is covered by the strongest players on the team. This stopping of the quarterback with the ball is called a sack.
You can stop a running player with the ball in almost any way – jump on top of him, grab his knees, meet with a blow of the shoulder to the chest, and so on.
For example, a typical segment of playing time might look like:
Let’s say Team A starts an attack from their 20-yard line.
FIRST DOWN – The ball gets a midfielder and goes to the break. The defenders knock him to the ground on the 26-yard line. The midfielder went 6 yards
SECOND DOWN – Now Team A only needs 4 yards and they have 3 more tries. The quarterback decides to fold. Having received the ball from the post, he waits for one of the attackers to open and throws the ball in his direction. The attacker, however, was unable to catch the ball and dropped it to the ground. This is an unfinished pass.The ball returns to the 26-yard line.
THIRD DOWN – Team A still needs 4 yards. The quarterback passes again and this time a teammate catches the ball and runs it to the 37-yard line, where Team B pushes him out of bounds. This attempt brought the attack 11 yards – more than enough. They now have the first down again and a new target, the 47-yard line.
Team A’s goal is to go through the entire field and get the ball to the opponents’ end zone .Team B, on the other hand, is trying to get possession of the ball. The easiest way to tackle the ball is to prevent the attacker from going 10 yards. If, after 4 attempts, the attackers have not passed the prescribed distance, the ball is given to the defense at the point where the attackers were stopped. Most often, however, after 3 downs, the attackers will return the ball themselves using a technique called a punt. In this case, a special player enters the field – punter (panther). The panther receives the ball from the center and kicks it (the situation is similar to a kick-off, but the blow is delivered not from the stand, but from the hands).
The calculation is that even though the opponents receive the ball in this way, they will have to start the attack from the depth of field. When a pant is broken through (less often kick-off), situations arise either when the ball flies out of the end zone, or falls in the end zone, or is caught in the end zone. This is called a touchback, after which the team receiving the pant must attack from the 20-yard mark.
The main source of points is touchdown – bringing the ball into the opponent’s end zone. The touchdown brings the team 6 points. A touchdown can be made either by running into the end zone with the ball, or by passing the ball to a team-mate who is there. After the touchdown is realized, the team has the right to score additional points (extra point). The ball is placed on the opponents’ 2 yard line and the team is given 1 try. You can hit the goal, gaining 1 point, or you can take a risk and try to deliver the ball to the end zone, gaining 2. A touchdown in this way can bring the team from 6 to 8 points.Shot on goal when earning an extra point differs in that the kicker holds the ball by the holder, who in turn catches it from the center player.
Another way to score points is called a field goal. A field goal can be scored by hitting the goal without first bringing the ball into the end zone. This is usually done on 3rd down, instead of pant, when the team is close enough to the opponent’s goal. The cost of a field goal is 3 points. It breaks through in the same way as the bonus hit after a touchdown.The defense can score 2 points by stopping the player with the ball in his own end zone. This is called safety. After a touchdown or field goal, the scoring team kick-off the ball. After the safety, the kick-off is done by the victims.
Like any sport in American football, there are rule violations. They are punishable by the loss of yards. The ball is moved towards the end zone of the offending team. The referee signals the violation by throwing a yellow flag on the field. Minor infractions are penalized by 5 yards.The most typical ones are falsestart (the offensive player started moving before the snap) and offside (during the snap, the defending player was behind the attack line). Holding (wrong screen) costs the attack 10 yards.
Gross violations (grabbing the mask, undue harshness) are punishable by 15 yards. For defense, there is no worse violation than pass interference (deliberate contact with an offensive player not in possession of the ball in order to prevent him from catching the pass).If a pass is interfered with, the attackers receive the ball at the point of infringement. If, as a result of the team’s violation of the rules, the penalty leads to the opponents entering the scoring zone, then it is replaced by half the distance to the scoring zone. In general, there are a lot of violations, above I have cited only the most common ones. The game lasts 60 minutes (two halves (halves) of 30 minutes, each of which is divided into two 15-minute periods (quarters)). At the beginning of each half, a kick-off is made. The time is clear – the clock stops after an incomplete pass, the player with the ball goes out of bounds, an increase in the score, a violation of the rules.Teams have 3 time-outs in each half. National Football League rules provide for an additional 15-minute (overtime) before the first points scored in the event of a tie.
Above it was said about the individual positions of the players. Now let’s take a closer look at them.
ATTACK
Quarterback – gets almost all snaps. Forward Pass Specialist. The brain of the team decides who runs where and what does. After the snap, he can give the ball to the midfielder, throw a pass forward or go to the break himself.The main signs are ingenuity, leadership qualities, peripheral vision.
Midfielder – the main task is to break through; find a gap in the defense and slip into it. Usually short, tightly knit, has a brilliant starting speed and physical strength.
Fullback – the main task is to run ahead of the midfielder and clear his way. Bigger than a midfielder, but smaller than a lineman. Sometimes gets the ball; most often – when the team needs to ram the defense straight ahead and gain 2-3 yards.
Receiver – Wing forward. The main task is to catch the passes forward. Sprinter speed, jumping ability and grippy fingers are the main physical characteristics.
Attack lineman (tackle, center, or guard) is a screening specialist. The main task is to protect the player with the ball. A giant (average height – 195 cm, average weight – 130 kg), enormous physical strength, must possess a set of special techniques and have an excellent reaction. With the exception of the center snap, the linemen almost never touch the ball.
Tight end – extreme lineman. It can be called a large receiver or a small line receiver. The tasks are twofold – sometimes he puts screens, sometimes he catches passes.
PROTECTION
Protective lineman (tack or end) – also called front protector. The main task is to stop the breakthrough at its very beginning. The extreme LZs are usually a little smaller and more mobile than their counterparts in the attack (they hunt for the quarterback). The central LZ, on the other hand, is a real elephant.He closes midfield and hunts for midfielder
Linebecker is an all-rounder. Helps LZ in a breakout, covers receivers during a pass, hunts for a quarterback. LB are usually the best athletes on the team. Must be strong, relatively fast, possess the aggressiveness of a predator and the prudence of a mathematician.
Cornerbacks and Safety – the second echelon of defense. The main task is to cover the receivers. Cornerbacks are usually a little smaller and faster – they get the personal tutelage of the receivers.Safety helps when necessary and is the last frontier on the way of the attacker.
And finally, I will say that American football is essentially a turn-based game, and the right tactics and strategy play a role no less important than the individual abilities of the players. There is a huge number of all kinds of combinations, both in attack and in defense, for various formations and compositions of players. Usually, each team has a special book, where all the combinations that this team uses are recorded, and each football player memorizes them.Only well-coordinated teamwork, adherence to a developed strategy and full use of the individual skills of each player can help to achieve success, although, as in any other sport, there is always an element of randomness.
Popularity of the game:
American football is the most popular sport in the United States, attracting millions of viewers on TV screens. One poll showed that American football has been the favorite sport of US residents since 1972, when it first surpassed baseball.
TV ratings for NFL matches are higher than those of other North American sports leagues. On Super Bowl day – the decisive match of the season in the NFL – the game is watched by a total of 100 million people in the United States and is broadcast in more than 200 countries around the world.
Non-professional college football is also very popular in the USA. Four university stadiums in the United States hold more than 100,000 spectators and are often full. Even games between high school students often attract more than 10 thousand spectators.
Let’s hope that in Ukraine someday there will be such popularity. The record in the number of viewers in Ukraine was more than 15,000 people in 2002.
American football is not a stupid mess for jocks, but the smartest sport.
A sport that should be compared not with regular football or rugby, but with chess.
A group of black men packed in leggings, uniforms and almost hockey helmets stands in a circle and listens to an actively gesturing white man.After some time, they come to the line, freeze for seven seconds opposite exactly the same dudes, but in the form of a different color.
At some point, they all begin to move at the same time – one runs backward, the other forward, and the bulk collides somewhere in the middle. There is a short fuss, after which they again disperse in circles – apparently, to discuss what happened. Jesus, they’ve been talking for longer than the game’s episode. Is this American football? How can you not recall the pop hit about “there are only pauses in our song”?
The incomprehensible fuss of men in leggings – this is how American football appears to most people outside North America.
Why call football a sport that involves throwing and catching the ball with your hands? Why are they all wearing armor instead of using exclusively the power of the human body, like in rugby? Why are Americans so dragged about by stupid fuss? Even if we imagine that Zadornov was right, a huge country (and indeed a whole continent, given the huge interest in Canada and Mexico) cannot be in love with something absolutely out of the ordinary.
Let’s try to figure it out.
A brief excursion into history
When, by the middle of the 19th century, Britain had already formalized the rules of football according to the rules of the Association and the rules of football according to the rules of Rugby, officially separating the two sports, in America they still continued to play a cruel, almost medieval ball game, where players were required to be first of all, strong fighters.
Every American college played by its own rules, some games were more like British football, others were like rugby, and others were something completely different. That all changed in just a few years in the 1880s, when Yale varsity coach Walter Camp pushed the introduction of important changes to the American version of football. The scrum line has appeared and the ball is injected from the center to the quarterback, the scoring system has been changed, the blocking of opponents is allowed, and so on.
Photo – footballoutsiders.com
Final Reform – Allowing Forward Pass in 1905. This definitively separated American football from related sports. If you are asked how rugby differs from American football, there are many differences, but the main thing is the ability to throw the ball forward.
The innovation was important not only from a strategic point of view, but also from a security point of view. In the early twentieth century, American football was still a very violent game.In 1905 alone, there were 19 deaths during the game. Since in American football, unlike other game sports, physical contact between players is allowed on all parts of the field, and not just in relation to the player in possession of the ball, the number of injuries and injuries was impressive. Therefore, helmets were gradually introduced, and then special protective frames.
First football move: E2 – E4. Two yards cast
American football is constantly compared to European football and rugby, but in reality this sport is most similar to chess.In regular football, the action takes place almost continuously, and the coach can only make changes by substitutions or setups before the match or at half-time. For Americans, the action is discrete – each specific rally is prepared and discussed in advance. Of course, if already at the time of the rally something is not going according to plan, that is, there is room for improvisation, but in most cases every action of the players on the field is carefully thought out and prepared by the coaching staff.
An American football match is a chess game in which chess players play at the same time.For most of the game, viewers watch the offensive team play against the defensive team. The former move to the opponent’s scoring area, the latter try to prevent them from doing so.
Photo – footballoutsiders.com
Each party has a so-called playbook – a list of specially designed combinations. The coach or his assistant gives the quarterback a command what to play (at the NFL level by radio communication through the headset mounted in the helmet, at the level of mere mortals – the quarterback runs to the edge).The quarterback transfers the command to all partners. Moreover, the command is given in encrypted form, for example: “Red Right 30 Pull Trap”. “Red Right” means exactly how the players should stand before the rally. A three of a kind means that the quarterback will throw the ball to the fullback behind him. Zero is the number of the passage to which he will run. Pull Trap means that one of the big men in the front line will not block the defender, but will run ahead of the fullback to clear the way for him.
Photos – footballoutsiders.com
Encrypted combinations, firstly, greatly save time, and secondly, they do not let the opponent understand that the attack will play now. And the most important thing is that you need to know these combinations by heart, there is no time to clarify anything on the field. The most difficult thing is for the quarterback – if the other players only need to know their responsibilities, then he must keep in mind and remember where all his comrades will run. Therefore, it often happens that an athletic footballer does not take root in the NFL simply because he cannot learn a playbook and is generally not very smart.This is not quantum mechanics, but you need to think about it.
During a pass rally, the offense must run into the field in such a way as to “cut” the defense, make it move in the wrong direction and allow someone to open up to receive the ball. Each of the players has his own route, which he must overcome in a certain time. With huge and incredibly fast defenders rushing to hit the quarterback in every draw, timing is of the essence. In training, everything is calculated – when the quarterback takes three steps back, the receiver should be at this point, and when he turns, the ball should already cover half the distance in the air.
But even the extension rallies – the ones where the ball is just trying to push the ball forward, and there is a lot of small – has its own math. Most often, viewers have the feeling that the player with the ball stupidly rushed into the crowd of people, from around the corner of the camera. When the NFL began to show rallies from the spider camera, it became clearly visible how the line of oversized guys blocking defenders worked. Like a player running with the ball, he chooses the desired free line and runs into it until the wicket is slammed shut.
Delight in nuances
The rules of the game of American football are considered to be very complex, but as a person who has gained experience in learning this sport from scratch, I can say that they are not so much complicated as they have many small nuances. Even now, ten years later, during the game I can still discover some new moment for myself, having seen a rare game situation, but you grasp the essence after watching a couple of games, and after a month you know all the basic information.
But this layering of rules opens up a wide field for surprises and wow effects when some smart player or coach uses the rules to their advantage.
A simple example: when a team kicks off the kick-off on the ball (at the start of the match or after a touchdown), it must not fly out of bounds. You need to hit so that the ball remains in the field, and it is beneficial to shoot as far as possible so that the opponent does not grab the ball and return it somewhere in the middle of the field. If you kick the ball into touch, you will get a violation, and the ball will be placed almost in the center of the field.
The Detroit kicker managed to hit the ball well, he almost flew into the end zone, but still remained within the field. If a Green Bay Packers player just covered the ball, the team’s attack would start driving straight from their end zone, which is unpleasant and dangerous. But Ty Montgomery is fumbling about the rules, so he went out of bounds and covered the ball in the field so that his feet were out. According to the rules, if an out-of-bounds player is in possession of the ball, then the ball is also out of play.So the ball went out-of-bounds. An offense, and Green Bay launch not two yards, but forty.
Or the ingenious rally of the Cleveland Browns, one of the weakest teams in the NFL in the 21st century. After an unsuccessful combination, the coach seems to change quarterbacks – Brian Hoyer enters the field, and Johnny Manzel runs to the edge and talks loudly about something with a specialist. The trick is that Manzel does not go out of bounds, formally he remains a player participating in the next rally, just not in the position of a quarterback, but in the position of a player who can catch the ball.The defense, of course, believes that the guy is arguing with the coach and went to the sidelines. Manzel catches the ball from Hoyer. Unfortunately for the Browns, the rally was not counted due to a violation by another player on their team, but this does not negate tactical ingenuity.
Or this is the ending of the Baltimore – Cincinnati match. 11 seconds before the final whistle, Baltimore wins by 7 points, but finds itself in a delicate position. Being close to their scoring zone, the attack of the team used up three attempts out of four, but did not advance much forward.If the fourth attempt fails, the opponent will start his attack right from here – this is suicide. It is possible to shoot the ball as far as possible on the fourth attempt, as is customary in such situations, but the opponent will still have time and chances for one or two rallies.
The Baltimore coaching staff came up with an unprecedented move. Instead of breaking the ball, the player keeps it and waits. At this time, all the other players of his team insolently hold the defenders by their shirts and break the rules in every possible way.The player with the ball waits for the time to run out and then runs out of his own end zone. What would happen if this happened in any other part of the field? Baltimore would have received a 10 yard penalty and play would have continued for another rally – the match cannot end on an offensive offense … unless the last action of the match was to score. Going out of bounds with the ball is called “safety” and gives 2 points to the defense. Baltimore actually gave the opponent 2 points, but the match was immediately over, and Cincinnati lost with a score of 14:19.
There are plenty of tricky scenarios like this in American football. Therefore, NFL champions are often not the teams with the most stellar, strongest fast players, but those with the smartest coaches and quarterbacks.
Are there many breaks in American football? Compared to soccer, of course. In football, which we are used to, the ball is in play for about 70 minutes out of 90. In the NFL, there is only 10 minutes of action in three hours. A monstrous ratio, at first glance. But that is precisely why it makes no sense to compare these sports.It’s different with chess. Can we say that action takes place in them only when a chess player moves a piece? Is the process of thinking and making a decision just a pause?
American football best players, nfl champions
The great union collapsed.
Even people far from American football could hear Tom Brady’s last name. For America, this is a figure of the scale of Michael Jordan or Wayne Gretzky. The longtime New England Patriots quarterback has been rewriting the history of the richest sports league in the world for 20 years.
This spring, he became a free agent for the first time in his career. Bookmakers and experts were confident that in the end Brady would sign a new contract with the Boston team. But NFL fans were shocked and even forgot about the coronavirus for a few hours when Brady first announced his departure from the Patriots, and then agreed on the terms of the contract with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
One of the greatest and most effective alliances in sports history has broken up.
Brady has more championship rings than fingers.Ronaldo and Messi will envy his stability
The main storyline in the career of Thomas Edward Patrick Brady seems to have been written by not the most sensible Hollywood screenwriter, there are too many boring cliches in it.
University of Michigan graduate goes professional, although no one really believes in him. He is not an athlete, does not have a particularly strong throw. Brady watches the NFL draft on TV and waits for the third or fourth round to be picked.
When the fifth round ends, Tom begins to figure out that he will have to quit football and go to “normal work”.His last name sounded in the sixth round under the overall 199th number. Prior to him, six quarterbacks were drafted. Four of them didn’t even last three years in the league.
Tom Brady / Photo: © Brian Bahr / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
Brady joined the New England Patriots team, which at the turn of the century was considered rather provincial and provincial, despite the relatively recent appearance in the Super Bowl. Head coach Bill Belichick was not yet regarded as a genius either, but had a reputation as an extremely reclusive and demanding specialist who had only a few disastrous years at the Cleveland Browns.Brady had three competitors on the team in the position.
In a magical way, the combination of all these factors has developed in the most successful way for Boston. Brady became the main understudy for the more experienced quarterback Drew Bledsoe within a year, and Belichick received carte blanche from the owner of the club and built an amazing defense. At the beginning of the 2001 season, Bledsoe was injured, Brady came out instead and never returned to the bench.
This is not to say that he immediately played at some incredible level.No, the first years – including the championship – the rest of the team dragged the young quarterback, and not vice versa. But he did his part and made the most of his strengths – composure, perfectionism, playful intelligence, and the ability to learn.
Tom Brady / Photo: © Elsa / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
The Patriots have won three league titles in four years. The first rings on the young quarterback’s hand instilled confidence in him, gave him some insurance against failures, and from that moment his level of play began to grow from season to season.In 2007, he already broke NFL records for touchdown passes and won his first MVP title.
Brady’s last individual award to date was three years ago, when he was 40. At 41, he led New England to their next championship title – their sixth in the 21st century. Before Brady, it was thought that the ceiling for 40-year-old quarterbacks was to get on the pitch and get out alive. But he changed the idea of how long you can play at the highest level in American football.
Tom Brady would have entered the Hall of Fame even if he had retired in 2011.Or if it started in 2011. But having become an icon of the 2000s and 10s, he even entered the third decade of his career not only as a symbol of success, but also as a serious combat unit. However, no one could have imagined whose colors Tom would defend in the next battle.
Brady has played below market value contracts throughout his career. I left the Patriots out of pride
There is another factor that has kept the Patriots and Brady alliance successful over the years, not directly related to the player’s performance on the pitch.For most of his career, the quarterback gave the club a huge discount when it came to signing contracts.
There is a salary cap in the NFL. Starting quarterbacks are the highest paid players in the league. If you spend 20% of your payroll on one player, then all the other 52 players (and the NFL rosters are large) are only 80%. There are many examples of clubs winning trophies while their starting quarterback was still playing on a cheap rookie contract, but the second contract was already tying the club hand and foot.
Tom Brady and Gisele Bündchen / Photo: © Faye Sadou / AdMedia / Global Look Press
Brady could afford to earn below market value because he is married to Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen. Yes, in any case, he was not a poor person, but it was almost impossible to catch up with Giselle in earnings, and their joint budget allowed them not to worry about agreements.
A couple of years ago, there were first signs that something was wrong with New England’s relationship with its quarterback.Negotiations on a new contract were at an impasse, and instead of extending its term, the Patriots were only raising their current wages. And if the owner of the club, Robert Craft, did not like the soul in Brady, then you cannot say the same about the head coach and at the same time general manager Bill Belichick.
No, this is not about some kind of dislike. It’s just that Belichick made a great specialist by his own pragmatism. He fired older players without any regrets, as soon as he realized that it would be more profitable to take a younger and cheaper player, and no matter how significant he was for the team, fans, and so on.Belichick’s Patriots (especially of the late period) had a lot of consistency and few personalities. And this approach led to great victories.
Bill Belichick / Photo: © Fred Kfoury III / Icon Sportswire / imago-images.de / Global Look Press
Giving a 40-year-old quarterback a serious contract went against Belichick’s principles. Perhaps he wanted to get rid of Brady a few years ago, when Jimmy Garoppolo appeared on the team. Rumor has it that Robert Kraft traded Garoppolo for San Francisco against Belichick’s wishes and in order to please Brady, who saw the young guy as a dangerous competitor.We do not know for sure, but we do know that last season San Francisco with Garoppolo reached the Super Bowl, and New England, with Brady clearly surrendered, were eliminated in the first round of the playoffs.
Belichick could be annoyed that Brady was indulging in some freaks like inviting a personal trainer to the base (who gave physical recommendations to other Patriots players that did not fit with the prescriptions of club doctors), promoting the TB12 brand and participating in numerous advertising projects.Brady was never a diva, did not suffer from star fever in the usual sense, but his authority in the Patriots became too great.
At the same time, Tom could be repelled by Belichick’s managerial decisions. Last season, the Patriots had an outstanding defense, but the offensive personnel were very meager. When Rob Gronkowski, Brady’s chief gear-catching specialist, retired, the club could not find a decent replacement for him. In the rest of the hosts, there were either completely green youths, at whom the quarterback swore terribly on the edge, or 33-year-old Julian Edelman – an experienced master, but with a height of 178 centimeters, he did not pull the role of the first violin.
Tom Brady / Photo: © Maddie Meyer / Staff / Getty Images Sport / Gettyimages.ru
The statistical regression of Tom Brady, who played one of his worst seasons of his career (although even these numbers looked decent by the NFL average), many attributed to his age. He himself probably associated this with poor-quality managerial work. It is very difficult to determine who is right here.
But it is easy to determine what ultimately caused the divorce. Neither Belichick nor Brady wanted to take the first step.Since the beginning of February, when the season was finished, the Patriots general manager has not actually conducted any negotiations with the quarterback. The club expected the player to come and say what he wants. And Brady believed that with a 20-year legendary career, he deserved to come to him. Not talking about your feelings is a very Boston story.
Brady didn’t want to move to Hollywood because of his family. Tampa fans have long queues for season tickets
Quarterbacks of this caliber do not usually enter the free agent market.But paradoxically, Brady had almost no offers. Someone did not fully believe that the player would really leave the club where he spent his entire career. Most prefer to invest in long-term projects, rather than take a legend for two years (especially teams that are thousands of light years away from the Super Bowl).
There were only two options, the Los Angeles Chargers and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Chargers are moving from the tiny college stadium to a new arena in Inglewood, which they will share with another local Rams club, this season.After moving from San Diego to Los Angeles, the Chargers have a fan base problem, so they need to find fresh ways to fill the stands.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B92iWjGpagk/
Brady did not want to take his family from the east coast to the west and agreed to the proposal of a much less ambitious team. The Buccaneers have not played in the playoffs since 2007, and won there at all in 2002, when Tom’s own career was just beginning. But the “Bucks” can offer Brady $ 30 million a year (for Brady, it is not the money itself that is important, but what it symbolizes – respect and authority), as well as a smart selection of hosts.
As soon as it became known that the legendary quarterback had agreed on the terms of the contract with Tampa, a giant virtual queue for season tickets was formed on the Bucks website – more than five thousand people on the waiting list in less than four hours. Although in the 2019 season in terms of attendance, Tampa was the third from the end of the team in the league.
This is what the line looks like for Bucs season tickets right now. Keep in mind, this organization averaged under 52,000 per game last season in attendance. pic.twitter.com/3mpqpvg9Oe
— JennaLaineESPN (@JennaLaineESPN) March 18, 2020
The Brady Effect could be felt even in the speeches of politicians.Buffalo Mayor Byron Brown said at a press conference on the coronavirus threat:
“If you are planning to celebrate Tom Brady’s departure from New England, and, God willing, from the AFC Eastern Division, I remind you – no mass gatherings. Celebrate at home and with no more than 10 people. ”
Over the past 17 years, the Buffalo-based AFC East Division has won 16 times against the New England Patriots, led by Tom Brady. But things are changing, and now the bookmakers believe that the Buccaneers with Brady have a better chance of winning the next Super Bowl than the Patriots without him.
NFL fans are looking forward to the new season, which kicks off in September, with great interest. They will finally get an answer to one of the eternal questions: who was more important in the Belichick-Brady alliance? Was it the dark genius system that made Brady invulnerable? Or was the quarterback’s super-talent masking Belichick’s bad managerial decisions?
Perhaps Brady’s transition to Tampa is the same plot twist, proving that the script is written by life, and not by a guy from Hollywood (unless, of course, we are talking about M.Night Shyamalan). The previous great NFL quarterbacks – Joe Montana, Brett Farve, Peyton Manning – have also left clubs where they have found that greatness. Michael Jordan’s career was not just the Chicago Bulls, but Gretzky’s was not just the Edmonton Oilers.
So Tom Brady will have another try. It is not a fact that it will be successful, but fascinating is a must.
– Why exotic? It’s just that European football is popular in Russia, which is called “soccer” in America.And in the States, everyone is crazy about American football. The names are the same – the rules are different. But in our football, you can also kick the ball and score it into the goal – you get points for that.
I chose football because in 1989 I moved from Dnepropetrovsk to San Francisco. He started playing in the 11th grade. God gave me physical data. I love power contact, I have good speed. The coaches said bluntly that I was born for football. A year later, I was admitted to the university for free, where I played for the local team for another three years.He made it to the National Football League (NFL) last season. San Diego won 12 divisions and made the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. True, we lost in the first round.
– What is the formula for an NFL tournament?
– 32 teams in total. In the regular season, each club plays 16 matches. The game consists of 4 periods of 15 minutes each. 11 people on the field, 42 in reserve. There are so many people because if a team has to attack, some players come out, if defend, others.Eight teams qualify for the playoffs. The series consists of one match: if you lose, you immediately fly out.
– In what other countries is football popular?
– In Canada. There is a league in Europe. I know, for example, three teams from Germany. But you can’t compare with America. Because in the USA it is not a sport, but the culture of a nation. Football has been played since childhood. They are playing records of old matches. Every game of the season is shown on television.
There is no such propaganda of football in the Old World. Sorry. Because this sport would suit the Russian mentality.First, the power play. The battle of the heroes. No step back! Secondly, football is more dynamic than soccer. The game can unfold at any moment. Even if you are leading 11 points a minute before the end of the match. But your opponent makes two touchdowns and wins.
PENSIONER 25 YEARS
– What is your role?
– Line Defender. Look here (draws on paper), here I am. Nearby in a line – three of the same guys. On the other side are their attackers. The rules in football are simple – in four attempts you need to walk 10 yards (9.15 m.- Approx. ed.). I need to do everything so that my opponent does not run past me. The most chic thing is to put their leader on the field – the quarterback who throws the ball. This is the hardest part of sports. It is called “sax”. In America, they say it’s even easier to score three goals in hockey or hit a ball with a baseball bat so that it travels at 100 miles per hour (161 km / h). After all, a quarterback in football is surrounded by 6-7 huge guys! How to get there?
– Do you get injured often in football?
– Wrong word! Unconditional first place.Hockey and boxing are far behind. In each match – 20 injuries on both sides. Therefore, parents are reluctant to send their children to football. After all, the career of a professional footballer lasts an average of 3.7 years!
When a 120-pound player bumps into you, you start looking in which corner your head is. You lie on the grass and you are bored. And the running doctors always ask one thing: “Where are you?” If you answer correctly, then everything is fine. The same quarterbacks never have less than 10 concussions in their careers. It’s good that there is full health insurance and a large pension – it is received after four seasons.
– So you can become a pensioner at the age of 25?
– It turns out so. But I want to play until I am 32 years old.
HOLIDAY SUPERBOWL
– What are the salaries in the NFL?
– For example, Manning, who was first drafted, was given a $ 50 million contract. Moreover, he received 17 of them immediately as a signature bonus. So Manning did not play a single game in the season! Because a veteran for $ 600-700 thousand a year in his position performed very well. We decided not to change anything.But you can’t get rid of the newcomer either – next season he will receive another $ 9 million.
– What contract do you have?
– I signed a five-year contract for $ 4.5 million. Half of the amount was given immediately. But I can earn all the $ 8 million – through various bonuses. Here we went to the playoffs – they gave me an award.
– There is a lockout in the NHL. Players do not want to have a salary cap. I talked to one NHL player, and he cited the NFL as an example: “Look how the owners of the clubs crushed the players for themselves – they have a limit on salaries and non-guaranteed contracts, when you can be on the street any day…”.
– Yes, the players have a very weak union. But they are saved by television! Do you know how much each team gets from the TV crew? $ 70 million a year! On February 6, the Super Bowl was held – the NFL playoff final. Half a minute of advertising cost $ 2.5 million! Sponsors have been queuing for five years to get on the air at this time.
– Is this America’s most spectacular sporting event?
– Not just sports. The Super Bowl rating beats everything. In general, everything! When the finale begins, the streets die out.Everyone is watching TV. Even the police say Sunday is the quietest day in America. Because there are NFL tours at the end of the week.
– How many stadiums fit?
– 60-80 thousand spectators. Sold out all the time. The game starts at 15.00, and people come already by 6 in the morning! They drink, walk, barbecue (barbecue in American style. – Ed.). And those who are unlucky enough to get into the arena sit in sports bars. They order beer, pizza, ribs. Football is a holiday for the States!
– Who won the last Super Bowl?
– New England.For the last five years they have been the strongest. The same dynasty team as Los Angeles in basketball or Detroit in hockey. In New England, even veterans go for a pittance just to win their first Super Bowl. But this does not always go away. Last year, Carolina became the champion, beating New England in the final. It was a deafening sensation!
– Can you imagine a lockout in the NFL?
– Never! What for? The average pay for a team is $ 50-70 million. Still, there are 53 people on the staff.So, this amount is more than covered by money from television. And then – only income: from the box office, marketing … Football is too popular for a lockout there. If the NFL is taken away from the Americans, the revolution will begin!
HELLO, “LIGHTNING”! I am “VIKING”
– Igorek, this is Alexander Boykov from Moscow. What’s the second name for San Diego?
– “Lightning”.
– And I’m rooting for the Vikings from Minnesota. But now I will be rooting for San Diego too.
– Why do you like Minnesota? (Smiles.)
– I saw their emblem – and decided to root for this club.
– And I have a former classmate playing in Minnesota – Knich Yu Daisy. 96th number. We were chosen in one draft.
– Do you often visit Moscow?
– I came for the first time in my life.
– Where was you born?
– In Ukraine.
– Well, that means it’s still ours! I wish you to win the Super Bowl as soon as possible!
– Thank you!
GRETZKY-FOOTBALL PLAYER
– Is the NFL going to conquer Europe?
– If the league had the same commissioner as Stern did in the NBA, it might.And so – no. My friend will play for Cologne. He goes there as if on vacation. The German League for those who haven’t made it to the NFL. They only pay $ 1000 per week.
– American football also has a goal. Is it difficult to hit them with the ball?
– Each team has a standard breaker. It happens that he hits from 50 meters. With thirty to score is obliged … This is football. A touchdown is a great achievement, but it doesn’t always happen. Most often, the team’s strategy boils down to getting closer to someone else’s goal and driving the ball between two posts.Three points are awarded for this.
– Why are you playing at number 99? I only know one person who performed in California and wore two nines on their back.
– Wayne Gretzky, when did he play at Los Angeles? It has nothing to do with it. I just had the right to choose – and I took “99”. This is the biggest number in football.
– This speaks of your ambition. How did the debut season turn out?
– I did the most tackles in San Diego. This is when you put an opponent in possession of the ball on the lawn.A good achievement considering that my physical data got me into the NFL a year earlier than usual.
– Are you one of the biggest in the league?
– There are guys who weigh 10-15 kilograms more. But they are motionless! I can run, and at a decent speed: 40 yards in 4.9 seconds. And if I start to gain weight, the coach will not like it.
– Which bar do you work with?
– Chest Press? 500 lbs (225 kg.- Approx. ed.). One of the tests before the draft: you need to squeeze 100 kg the maximum number of times. I made 41 – it was a record. Peers made no more than 30. But there was one guy from Hawaii who squeezed 42 times. So I went back to college and, on the advice of my coach, went to the bar again. And he did 43 to be the first.
– How do you joke in football?
– They can, for example, put an ointment like “Finalgon” into the shorts, with which the muscles are warmed up. You don’t feel right away. And when you start to sweat, you start a “fire” in one place.
– I see you have a tattoo. What does she mean?
– This is my zodiac sign. I’m a Taurus. It is fashionable for football players to have tattoos. Half a team goes with them. And the fans at San Diego are so desperate that they prick the signs of “Lightning” on their heads.
– Are you popular in San Diego?
– Children stop, ask for autographs. And the team publishes a calendar every year. 53 people – and only 12 months. The best are chosen. They gave me July.
– What are your impressions of Moscow?
– First, your girls are amazingly beautiful.Secondly, there is snow all around. I’m from California and this is the first time I’ve seen this. Third, cars. There are more Mercedes cars in your capital than in America!
– When you walk down the street, you look like Ivan Drago from Rocky IV, played by Dolph Lundgren …
– I arrived with my uncle. When we walk together, he is stopped and asked: “Where did you get so much money to have such a bodyguard?” (Laughs.) And in America, no one is surprised. They immediately see that the guy is a football player.
PERSONAL AFFAIR
Igor OLSHANSKIY
San Diego’s linebacker.
Born on May 3, 1982 in Dnepropetrovsk (Ukraine).
Height 196 cm.Weight 140 kg.
The only person from the former USSR to play in the NFL.
Studied at Oregon College. Picked 34th in the NFL Rookie Draft.
Spent first season with San Diego. 16 matches (12 wins and 4 losses), 24 tekla, 1 sax (in the match with Atlanta, where Olshansky stopped Michael Wick – the most valuable player in the NFL).
Contract – $ 4.5 million over 5 years.
AMERICAN FOOTBALL SHORT DICTIONARY
NFL – North American National Football League.
Super Bowl – NFL Playoff Finals. The most spectacular event in the New World.
The quarterback is a passing specialist. The brain of the team decides who runs where and what does. Has a chip that communicates with the trainer. And all the combinations that the team uses are written on the hand. They say to him: “We are playing the 14th position.” And the quarterback hands it over to partners.
Line back – also called front back. Its main task is to stop someone else’s attack. Usually the linebacker is a real bishop who covers the center of the field and hunts down opponents.
Touchdown – Bringing the ball into the opponent’s end zone. The touchdown brings the team 6 points. It can be done either by running into the end zone with the ball, or by passing the ball to a team-mate who is there. After a touchdown, a team can score additional points: with one attempt to kick the ball so that it hits between the posts, – 1 point. Or take a chance and once again deliver the ball to the end zone – 2 points.
Tackle – Blocking an opponent in possession of the ball.
Sachs – Blocked the quarterback in possession before the shot.Most significant achievement in professional sports in North America.
RULES OF THE GAME
Each team can have 11 people on the field at the same time (substitutions are not limited, and therefore teams of professionals usually enter 53 players for a match). They play an oval leather ball slightly smaller than a rugby ball. The ball is egg-shaped 72×54 cm and weighs 400 grams.
Matches are played on grass or synthetic turf – 120×54 yards (1 yard = 91 cm). At the ends of the playing field, H-shaped gates are installed, the rods of which are located behind the playing field.The width of the gate is 6 meters, the height from the ground to the crossbar is 2.5 m, above the crossbar is at least 3 meters.
The entire length of the field shall be marked with transverse (yard) lines 10 yards apart. They are necessary to determine the distance covered by the teams from the place where the ball was played to where it was stopped.
The game is started by putting the ball into play (kick-off). The players of one of the teams (which one determines the lot) line up on their 30-yard line, and one of them (the kicker) kicks the ball, trying to send it as far as possible to half of the opponents’ field.
A player on the opposing team (called the “reterner”) catches the ball and tries to carry it as far as possible in the opposite direction. At the same time, his teammates help him, pushing rivals away from him (they put a “screen”). The screen can be performed by pushing into the body or throwing under the feet, but grabs, kicks, pushing in the back and tackles from behind or from the side are prohibited.
All players on the team in possession of the ball are called “offense”, all players on the other team are called “defense”.The aim of the attack is to bring the ball into the opponent’s end zone. The goal of the defense is to take the ball away.
Prior to that, the juniors of the “Admirals” met with rivals only in flag football.
The day before the game, the teams held a joint training session: more experienced Astrakhan residents shared their skills. But on the day of the match, the situation was different. The game was controlled by “Torch”, almost preventing the “Gladiators” from approaching their scoring zone. Several times the players from Astrakhan came close to the line, but failed to realize their attempts.The first half ended with a safety and a score of 24: 0. In the third and fourth quarters, the Torch juniors made many interceptions, one of which led to a touchdown. The match ended with the victory of the Novorossiysk juniors 42: 0.
First Quarter:
TD Matthew Gumenyuk QB
Second Quarter:
TD Robert Khurumov TE
2-point realization Matthew Gumenyuk QB
TD Rasim Fedin WR
2-point Matthew Gumenyuk QB
Safe Robert Khurumov LB
Third Quarter:
TD (intercept) Robert Hurumov LB
Fourth Quarter:
TD Ashot Deynega FB
TD Ashot Deynega FB
Georgy Lisunov, coach of the Gladiators team:
In general, junior football in Russia is developing very hard, because there are many adult teams.And as such, the development that comes from children’s teams is almost nonexistent. There are 5-6 cities in Russia that develop junior football. It is good that the Russian youth team is now planning to participate in the European Championships and various other international tournaments. It would be good if more junior teams appear in the country. We learned that next to us, in Novorossiysk, there is also a children’s team, and, of course, we were happy to hold a training camp and a game. This will stimulate the further development of juniors in the south of Russia.They have been playing football in Astrakhan for 15 years. Here we held a joint training session, brought the young men to arrange a training game for them in the summer. It’s good that there is an opportunity to show the guys some details, teach some points that they still don’t understand, and talk to the coaches on tactical topics. What is great in Novorossiysk is that there is a large supply of players, there is an opportunity to carry out rotations, which, in principle, we recommended at the joint training session. As for the game, the result is expected.It’s hard to play 15 people against 30. Although I want to emphasize that it’s not even about the result. We discussed with the leadership of the “Admirals” from the very beginning that our goal is to come and give a new impetus to development, when the guys from one city see that there are people like them in another city. When the team is close to you, not two thousand kilometers, in St. Petersburg or even in Murmansk, where you cannot reach, then why not come. I congratulate the guys from Fakel on their victory, especially since this was their first game.I hope that many of them will start playing football even harder. Then there will be training camps, we will be glad to see the Novorossiysk players at our tournament in the fall.
Nikita Bolgov, coach of the Fakel team:
Thanks to the Astrakhan “Gladiators” for coming. Georgy Sergeevich and I have already agreed for a long time that we will have such a meeting. We had a small training day under his guidance. It was a pleasure to train because he is a very experienced specialist.We are young in every way. This concerns the middle age of the adult team, the middle age of juniors, the fact that we began to train them a year and a half ago. Of course, such meetings with experienced specialists are very important. In three hours of training, we learned a lot. In general, we are one of those people who develop junior football. I hope that we will continue to keep in touch. If we talk about the match, we are glad that we won such a team with a big name. We have been preparing, these are all the fruits of our work, I think that everything is to the point and deserved.We played without mud, the players met, I’m sure they will communicate. I hope to see you in the autumn in the format of training camps, then we will put on the uniform of the national team to defend the honor of our country.
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of the Russians who played in the US National Football League – RT in Russian
This year the professional league of American football – NFL – celebrates its centenary.On February 2, Miami will host the 54th Super Bowl – the main game of the season in the National Football League. It will host the San Francisco Forty Niners and the Kansas City Chiefs. RT recalls which of the Russians at one time became part of the history of American football.
John Barsha
In 1920, the first championship of the American Professional Football Association took place, which was later renamed the National Football League (NFL). Among the founding members of the new league were the Rochester Jeffersons of New York State, for which John Barsha, the first Russian-born professional American football player, played as a fullback.
His real name and surname is Abram Barshovsky. He was born in 1898 in Russia to a Jewish family and as a child moved with his parents to the United States. In high school, Abram took on a new name – John Barsha, to hide his participation in an unofficial basketball match, which his team played without the knowledge of the coach. After school, Barsha entered Syracuse University, where he successfully played baseball, basketball and American football.
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In 1920, Barsha played three matches in the Rochester starting lineup in the future NFL. He even managed to earn a touchdown. Then the athlete represented the Syracuse Pro club, whose participation in the second season of the football championship is the subject of controversy among historians – it is officially believed that this team did not join the American Professional Football Association, although it played games with the teams that were part of the organization. At the end of his sports career, John Barsha worked as a lawyer.He died in 1976 at the age of 77.
Morris Glassman
Morris Glassman, born in 1900, is the second Russian-born NFL player. Although he played more matches on the field than Barsha, much less information about him has survived. Perhaps because his team, the Columbus Panhandlers, won only one match in 1921 and 1922, and ceased to exist in 1926. Glassman played 15 games, with most of them in the starting lineup.
Ace Gutovsky
Star of the 1930s Leroy Erwin Gutovsky, nicknamed Ace, can rightfully be considered the best NFL player with Russian roots. He was born in 1909 into a family of Volga Germans. However, when he was only five weeks old, Gutovsky ended up in the United States, where his family settled in Oklahoma.
Gutovsky embarked on a professional sports career in 1932 and spent eight years in the NFL, playing for teams such as the Portsmouth Spartans, Detroit Lions and Brooklyn Dodgers.With Detroit, he became NFL champion in 1935, beating the New York Giants in the final, and the following year became the season leader in attacking yards and helped the team set the league record for the season that lasted 36 years.
The descendant of emigrants from the Russian Empire was even credited with an absolute record – 3478 yards in attack during his career. However, in the early years of the NFL, the calculations were often inaccurate, and it was subsequently determined that in fact Gutovsky had only 3279 yards, which was not a record figure.However, in Detroit, Ace remained the absolute leader in this indicator until the 1960s.
After the end of his sports career, Gutovsky fought in World War II, and then went into the oil business – his father discovered huge deposits of black gold in Oklahoma in the 1940s. Ace died in 1976 of cancer.
Max Padlov
Max Padlov was born in Russia in 1912 and was the eldest child in a Jewish family that later moved to the United States. History has not preserved any other details about the first years of the life of another Russian NFL player.Like many athletes of those years, Padlov combined basketball and American football. After graduating from Ohio State University, he began his professional career in 1935.
Padlov did not become an outstanding athlete. He spent two seasons in the NFL with the still-existing Philadelphia Eagles, but only played four games as an end. Later he played in the second most important American Football League, which existed for two years, for the Cleveland Rams and Cincinnati Bengals (the namesake of the modern team) and for other clubs.
Harry Schaub
Even fewer details remain about Padlov’s teammate and compatriot Harry Schaub. American football reference books only mention that he was born in Russia in 1911, attended school in New York and graduated from Cornell University. Schaub played one game with the Philadelphia Eagles in 1935 as a guard. In 1988 he passed away in Florida.
Vitaly Pisetskiy
A new wave of players from Russia to the NFL began only after the collapse of the USSR.The pioneer was Vitaly Pisetskiy, his family emigrated to the United States in 1992. Prior to that, he played European football and showed some promise. In his new country, Pisetsky changed his sport and at the university level played for Wisconsin, with which he won the prestigious Rose Bowl student cup in 1999.
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However, Pisetsky left for the NFL draft only a year later, when he disappeared from the radar of professional clubs. Nobody dared to spend their pick on the Russian player, and after the ceremony, the Chicago Bears signed a contract with him. But following the results of a series of preseason matches, Pisetskiy failed to gain a foothold in the team.
Sergei Ivanov
A similar story happened with Sergei Ivanov, only he went through an even more difficult path. He has proven himself in Europe as a talented young safety defensive player who remains the last obstacle to touchdown.After a training camp organized by the NFL for foreign players, Ivanov signed with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
It is rare for American football to be on a team without a local college education, and even less so from a foreigner. But Ivanov failed to play in the NFL. He played in four preseason matches and ended up in the training squad, from which it was only possible to get into the main squad if half of the team (and it included more than 50 players) were suddenly out of order.Ivanov spent one season, taking part only in training and theoretical studies, and this was the end of his career in the NFL.
The legendary American football player will launch his own NFT marketplace :: RBC.Crypto
NFT,
Apr 07, 15:48
0
Tom Brady’s Autograph site will kick off this spring and will bring together the sports, entertainment and fashion industries to create digital collectibles.
One of the best players in American football history, Tom Brady, opens his own NFT platform called Autograph.According to CNN, the launch will take place in the spring of 2021. The marketplace website states that Autograph will be the first platform to bring together well-known brands, athletes, and people from the entertainment and fashion industries to create digital collectibles.
Autograph’s advisory team will include Apple Senior Vice President Eddie Cue, Lionsgate CEO John Feltheimer, Live Nation Entertainment CEO Michael Rapino, DraftKings co-founders Jason Robins and Paul Lieberman, Cameo CEO Stephen Galanis, Warriors co-owner Peter Guber, DraftKings CEO North America Matt Kalish and Spotify Commercial Director Don Ostroff.
Tom Brady is the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback. Considered one of the most prominent players in American football history. In 2019, he became the only player to receive six National Football League (NFL) champion rings.
Earlier it became known that the Italian fashion house Gucci and other luxury brands will issue their own NFT tokens. The fashion collectibles platform Neuno has already started collaborating with them.
NFT tokens are unique and not divisible. Such tokens are used to confirm ownership of an object; they cannot be replaced without the consent of the owner.
– Khabib Nurmagomedov will issue his NFT tokens
– What are NFT tokens. And what does Banksy
have to do with it
– “The industry will not burst.” Why the NFT market started to decline
You can find more news about cryptocurrencies in our telegram channel RBC-Crypto.
Author
Alexey Korneev
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