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The Language of Football

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Organized sporting events have entertained the masses for thousands of years. In the United States, one sport, in particular, stands out above all others as the nation's most popular: football. Americans love the intensity and sportsmanship displayed on and off the field. Not only does football allow you to enjoy the sport itself, but also teaches many life lessons and responsibilities; teamwork, discipline, perseverance, high goal setting and leadership. Football requires remarkable amounts of teamwork and sportsmanship to be successful. There is no such thing as a one-man team in this sport. Football consists of eleven people on defense and offense playing on the field starting from the quarterback, running back, full backs, wide receivers, defensive corners, offensive line, defensive line, linebackers, and lastly safety’s. The quarterback, who usually has the ball for the most part of the game, has total control of the offense and its players that are on the field. Language is used and spoken throughout the game between the coaches to the quarterback and the quarter back to the offense. This communication that players use is coded language that is very sophisticated, hard to understand and varies from team to team. Before the ball is snapped/hiked also known as “in play,” the offensive team huddles up in a circle waiting for the play to arrive from the coaches. When the play is vocally said to the quarterback from the coaches, the quarterback then goes to the huddle and announces the message to the players. When the players receive the message they then go to the line of scrimmage and end up performing that play. When the level of noise is too loud, the verbal communication from the coaches to the quarterback and vice versa is tremendously unbearable to hear. When this is the case and verbal communication is very limited, sign and also body language is exercised. Many teams have various amounts of coded/sign languages that they use starting from hand and leg signals to color coated signals. These signals from the coaches allow players to know what the play is when the turbulence level is elevated. One of the greatest quarterbacks play

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