Touchdown

Traditionally, football is thought of as a game to play exclusively outside. For the most part, this is true. There are certain activities though that can be done either inside, or out. Touchdown is one of those activities.

This is a game that I usually play at the end of the football skills unit. It is a good activity to stress teamwork and trying to "out think" the other team. I begin my explanation by telling the kids if they are "deceitful," or "treacherous," or "cunning" they will have the advantage in this game. Usually, they won't know what these words mean, so I get to be an English/Language Arts" teacher for a moment. Once they understand the meaning of these words, they are ready to play.

To play inside, I divide the class into four groups. Each group sits against one of the four walls in the gym. The two teams on the far end walls are playing first. I give one team a whiffle golf ball. They are to give that ball to one of their players and that player has to run the ball over the other teams goal line for a touchdown. That person cannot pass it to anyone, or hand it off to anyone else. Their teammates cannot block for them. All the other team has to do is tag the person that has the ball. If they get caught, they stop on the spot.

It sounds pretty easy for the defensive team, right? Wrong! You see, the team with the ball gets into a tight huddle. They then secretly give the ball to one of their players, which hides the ball on them (in a sock, in a sleeve…). The players that don't have the ball can pretend that they do have it. The whole idea is to outsmart the other team! One rule that the team with the ball has to follow is that no one can have a second turn carrying the ball until everyone on their team has a turn. This gives those thinkers on the defensive team the chance to keep track of who hasn't had a turn yet, so they don't get faked out by the fasted student each time.

The team with the ball gets one chance to get all the way to the endzone. Whether they score or not, they rotate one quarter around the gym to wait their next turn.

The two teams that were on the sidewalls now rotate to the two end walls and it is their turn to play. It may seem that only half of the gym is involved and the other half has to sit and wait. They may be sitting, but they have a chance to "make their plans" while they are waiting. If they are going to be the next team with the ball, they can decide ahead of time who will get the ball next. If they are going to be the taggers, they can put their heads together to keep track of who has already had a turn, so they know who not to chase. So you see, while there is plenty of running around and physical effort, there is plenty of mental effort as well. This gives you the chance to impress on your kids that while it helps to be strong and fast, there is always a place on a team for someone who is SMART!

To play this outside, especially in the fall when the weather gets cooler (and kids start to wear jackets and hats) there are now more places to hide the ball. The strategy now just got more "complicated." You now also don't need to have two teams sitting and waiting (and planning) like you did inside. Everyone can be playing at the same time, simply by two games going on at the same time.

Remember how the offensive player couldn't get another turn until everyone else had a turn? And remember how the defense could keep track of who hadn't had a turn yet? Well you could put a huge monkey wrench into their plans by switching which teams play each other part way through the class. Now everyone has no idea who has and hasn't had a turn. The activity's intensity just got renewed with that simple maneuver!