Why American Football?
Some Distinguishing Factors
- The game is nick named the chess game of the field.
- There can be a total of 99 players on a squad, so it doesn’t get any more social than that, a perfect spectrum in which we can gage our progress as a whole.
- Because of the large number of players discipline and organization are on the top of our list
- It is a serious contact game of war, so responsibility is right up there as well., supporting and helping one’s peers is a given, “you are as strong as your weakest link”.
- The demands and expectations we can expect of our participants are simplified due to the context.
- If correctly adopted Danish coaches could find a twist here to help anchor the game as a social contributor to the Danish society, though handball badminton and soccer will always be the front runners, we can compete in the social arena.
The Game of Inches
it’s not a coincidence that we chose American football; it is the context in which the behavioral intervention strategy research on self-control was conducted. The game is consequential, every mistake is punished immediately, it is a game of war. It requires that you fight and work hard for your objectives, inch by inch, leaving nothing for chance.
Personality, size, weight, intellectual ability, offence, defense, strength, and weaknesses. A context that leaves room for the development of all, every position requires a certain personality that varies in size, weight, and abilities. All these different variables must be harnessed which makes American football one of the most disciplined team sports known, and in this case a perfect platform for our objective; behavioral learning.
In this game the passive is taught to stand up to the challenge, the over aggressive to control their aggression. It is a context that leaves room for the development of all individuals, since every position requires a certain personality and set of skills, “clearly a reflection of society”.
POSITIONS
Offence:
The offensive player must be smart, then strong in strength and will. Behavioral skills; task completion, selfmanagement, self-control, peer teaching, rules/routines, and dealing with demand factors. (GENERALIZATION) The wide receiver; needs speed, good hands, and if not needs to be a good blocker, with a calm focused personality, he is light in weight. The running back; needs speed or power, can handle mental or physical punishment, he can be short and strong or big and strong, calm and focused with a strong will. The quarter back; needs cognitive understanding of the game and the qualities of the running back and the wide receiver, he has an average size, he is calm and as focused as the water boy. The offensive line; these are the bodyguards of the quarter back or the running backs, they are bigger in weight and size of the offensive personnel, they can not be provoked they are very calm and focused, they have a cognitive understanding of the blocking scheme and a will to get the job done.
Defense:
The defensive player is strong, then smart, great reactive skills calm but with an aggressive nature. Behavioral skills; Self management, higher self-control training, peer teaching, compliance, rules/routines, patience, and dealing with demand factors. (GENERALIZATION) The defensive line: big strong and aggressive, high level of discipline training. The linebacker: fearless fast strong and aggressive higher level of discipline training, average in size. The defensive back: fast light in weight and size aggressive but calm, some discipline training.
Special teams:
These kids are wild and are under stricter scrutiny, this is where they are formed and disciplined to prepare them for offensive or defensive tasks, in these special teams groups we have all types of personalities, weight and sizes, that have to be made ready for specific, team, game assignment tasks. On special teams we get to know who is who, special teams are the cross roads of behavioral traits and athletic ability. (Social constructionism)