Show FOOT BALL THE GREAT AMERICAN GAME AND HOW TO PLAY IT Suggestions For Organizing a Boys Tenm on Varsity RTICS Signals and How to Give Them The Best Sort of Trnninlg For Ambitious Players New York Sept 1 American football foot-ball has in the past been confined mostly to colleges This was probably owing to the fact that it required hard work and strict training to develop men who could stand it to play out an entire en-tire game And the college boys are generally ripe for any sport which has all the elements of an exciting physical physic-al contest Moreover they have a certain cer-tain amount of time alloted for exercise exer-cise and an athletic field class at hand The last half decade however has witnessed a great change in this respect re-spect Such a glorious game could not forever be played exclusvely by collegians col-legians and the irrepressible football spirit has penetrated the most remote districts until there is scarcely any school or town that does not have Its football team Last year boys team indifferent in-different parts of the country did good work and received very favorable comments com-ments from the papers So that this year while the college teams all over the United States will be practicing every ev-ery day regardless of weather making disastrous onslaughts on the longsuffering longsuf-fering scrubs they will find that their example is being followed by thousands of admiring youths who not content with simply reading about the great games will be puntng dropkicking organizing teams and playing match games from the first of September until Thanksgiving Day when the season ends For the benefit of boys who have I not played on teams we give here several sev-eral hints relative to organizing with a brief synopsis of the different positions posi-tions together with points on giving signals and training HOW TO GET UP A TEAM The first thing to do is to select a captain If possible select a fellow who knows something about the game but If he does not let him immediately procure pro-cure a rule book and thoroughly master the points If you have an old football player to coach you so much the betterbut every boy should soon acquire a perfect knowledge of the rules The captain with the help of the coach or member f C A DROP KICK of the team should choose the men to fill the different positions And here the best of judgment is to be used Beginning with the end rusher you want a boy who is a good runner and sure tackler He has one of the most important places on the field When the opposite side has the ball he should play way out and force the runner in keeping him between himself and the tackle Then at the right moment he must dart in and tackle the runner low Having once touched the runner with his fingers he should never let go but hold on with a death grip Should the runner get round the outside of him he has a clear field and may make along a-long run with a possible touch down When his own side has the ball he plays in closer to the tackle following every movement of the opposing end His business is to prevent that man from tackling the runner Very often the end is given > the ball to run with Every boy on the team should have good wind but especially is this so in the case of the end who is a total failure without it The tackle comes next He should be heavier and yet HSfffi GOAL LINE OrT JSVAPD LUC > x 1 N M I 0 I 1 o 0 c > 0 n > 0J o oo r I Z 2 it OIo ooro o o c o c I < I 0 0 k Q = t 0 I 3NOtIVLS2 I 4 = S I I g0j FOOTBALL FIELD very active He has lots of work to do When the opponents have the ball he must break through and try to stop I the kick or if they are going to run prevent the runner and his interference interfer-ence from breaking through the line on him When his own side has the ball he is to block his opponent that Is prevent him from getting through to tackle the runner He also is called on to make an opening for the tacks when they buck the line at his place The guard should be of good weight I but not so heavy as to be slow One of his important duties is to breakthrough break-through when the other side is about to kick and prevent the quarterback from passing it back Or if he cant do that which takes very quick work i he should try to get in front i > f the I ball and stop the kick The guard must not stand up straight where he can be bowled over easily but get I down tow on his knees if necessary When his own side has the ball he must block his opponent He can be 1 of great assistance by preventing the c t > f opposing center ot guard from Interfering Inter-fering with the ball or bothering his own centar rush CENTER AND QUARTERBACK The center has a very important and difficult position since he always has the ball to look after Everything depends de-pends on how the ball is sent back to the quarter The best and quickest way is to snap it back on its end so the latter gets in on a bound The center cannot afford to do any side play with his opponent for fear he may fumble the ball and thus throw the whole team into confusion In conjunction with the guards he makes openings for the backs to get through In standing he mast be careful not to lean forward too far lest his opponent with a quick jerk pull him over on his nose Nor on the contrary must he allow himself to be tilted backward Since he receives the majority of the hard knocks the center should be rather heavy but very tough and not easily fagged out Behind the center stands the quarter H A SCRI3IMAGE back the smallest bOY in the team but the one on whom with the caD tain the most responsibility rests If possible the quarterback should be captain for he always gives the signals sig-nals His first mark is to arrange with the center some sign by which the latter lat-ter may know when to snap the ball back In the college teams this is usually done by the quarterback placing his hand on the leg of the center cen-ter end removing it when he is ready to receive the ball He must become proficient in catching catch-ing the ball from the center and passing pass-ing it back And as soon as the ball leaves his hands he is supposed to follow fol-low it up so that if it is fumbled he may be near to grab iti He is always on the interference HALFBACKS AND FULLBACKS On the two halfbacks and the fullbacks full-backs falls the work of advancing the ball For these positions the boys should be well built very gritty and fast low runners so that when an opening appears they can take it on a jump All of them should be good kickers especially the fullback who generally does the drop kicking and most of the punting Every member of the team should practice kicking and falling or > the ball College teams spend whole weeks on that alone When you play your first game you will prdbably let the boy with the ball run alone Dont do that Always have three or four with him to ward off and Interfere Head down Is what the coach usually calls out to the green halfback If you run with your head in the air your career will be short and your nose an elegant mark for somebodys elbow LEARNING SIGNALS When every boy has hIs position and knows what he is to do the next thing is to arrange signals by which everyone every-one knows what the next play is to beAt be-At first sentences were used A whole sentence or part of it meant a certain play but this being easily picked up by the other side was soon discarded Then motions were made with the armor arm-or hand but this method also had many drawbacks Finally the alphabet alpha-bet system came in There are countless ways in which signals can be given by this system For exemple say the right halfbacks letter is K the left tacklesB and the left ends S The quarterback sings out a lot of irrelevant letters first like A J M N O P followed by K B Sand S-and these again followed by more irrelevant ir-relevant letters As soon as 1C B Sis S-is given every player knows that the right half takes the ball between the left tackle and left end This system though still in vogue in many places has been generally superseded by the numerical system In Camps American Football is given the following example Supposing Suppos-ing onetwothree meant that the right half is to try the left end The sumtof onetwothree is six Take that number num-ber then as a key to this signal and any numbers the sum of whih equals six will be a signal for this play as fourtwo or threethree If twenty four is the signal for a kick then two cursixonesevenfour would give the signal THE WAY TO TRAIN Every one has heard a great deal I about the training which football men undergo It would be useless to give here the yarious system for no boy would follow them out strictly in fact he couldnt The boy who wishes to play football should first observe the general rules of Ioilth ot to eat too much and masticate that thoroughly before swal owmt Gladstone rate > every morsel of solid food thirtythree times do not however as a New York boy did be r gin on a banana Considerable variety and plenty of bread and vegetables with meat are necessary Drink very little water especially before or during a game Do not fall into the habit of drinking a great deal of fluid during a meal No smoking or drinking of I stimulants Water and milk are enough for any boy I Health rules are very strictly enforced en-forced In a varsity eleven A good time to rise is 7 a m Immediately on rising take a short quick cold bath and vigorous rubdown Some trainers advocate ad-vocate a mile walk before breakfast But this has been discarded by Americans Ameri-cans Breakfast usually consists of oatmeal with good ripe fruit stale I bread or toast some kind of meat or fish including eggs For dinner meat and vegetables stale bread with dessert des-sert of some light pudding or stewed fruit No pastry or fancy dishes Supper is light A small chop or piece I of fish bread and milk with possibly an egg Bed at 9 Get a good sound sleep with plenty of freSh air It is I bad to drink water Immediately before going to bed The main thing is to do everything with moderation Any boy who does this will soon get wind enough to play through a football game The morning after his first game will be one long to remember His movements will be of the uncertain rheumatic order his one eye considerably off color and his shinbone much larger than it really ought to be But all of these are included in-cluded in football and the rough knocks will only tend to make a strong body and build up a constitution that will serve a good purpose in after life ALLEN SANGREE |