Football and me…
As parents we protect and support our kids. As they get older, the protection part becomes more and more difficult. At some point, we need to let go, knowing they will be safe with our love, trust and prayer. When it comes to football, I can for sure do the support and pray part!
It’s hard to see your son get beaten up for a ball!
So I had three choices: give the other team another football and solve the problem so everyone can go home safe, wear a uniform and go onto the field to protect my son, or stay with the audience and keep praying for everyone to go home in one piece.
“American football is a unique sport -- it is a game about gaining territory as much as it is about scoring points. When two teams step onto a football field, each is battling for every inch it can take from the other. Each team wants to defend the field that is behind it and invade the field in front of it. Ultimately, they want to gain enough ground to score a touchdown or field goal.”
I really like this phrase “it’s a unique sport.” Every time I go to watch a game, I try to learn more, and as much as I hate to see the kids fighting, I enjoy their cheers when they score. It is a unique game; with all the respect, self-control and patience you see in the field, you are certain these kids are learning something there.
This game was famous in the nineteenth century, and said to have begun in England when a football player was frustrated by the law of kicking the ball with the foot without touching it with the hands, but he was applauded and admired taking the ball with his hands and dribbled by other players to reach the end of the field.
In the mid 19 century this game became known in America. Many people admired the game, and it became famous in Northeastern universities, particularly Harvard and Yale and in Massachusetts.
In 1876, Harvard University met at Yale University in Northeastern Massachusetts to set rules and study the rules of the game. In the beginning, there were many differences and problems, but at the end of the meeting they acknowledged that the design of the ball had to be changed from a round ball to an oval one.The name of the game was also changed from rugby to football and was under the Inter-Collegiate Football Association (IFA).
I’m sure that there were no mothers at that meeting, or the game would have definitely been something else.
“American and Canadian football both descended from rugby and began in Canada as a game played between British soldiers garrisoned in Montreal. The soldiers played a series of games against students at McGill University. McGill played several games against Harvard in 1874 and a tradition was born. Despite their mutual origins, the Canadian and the American game developed differently and now have substantially different rules and regulations.
The biggest difference between Canadian and American football is the size of the playing field. In Canada, football fields are 110 yards long and 65 yards wide. In America football fields are 100 yards long and 53 and 1/3 yards wide. The goal posts in Canadian football are placed at the front, rather than the back of the end zone which is also deeper in Canadian football than American.
Canadian football teams have twelve players as opposed to the eleven on American teams. Because the same number of players is required at the line of scrimmage in both games, this results in an extra backfield player on Canadian teams. This means that the typical Canadian offensive setup has two slot backs instead of a tight end and on defense, two defensive halfbacks and one safety instead of two safeties as is typical in the American game.
Another difference between the two games is the number of downs. Instead of four as in the American game, Canadian football has three. This results in a more pass and kick oriented game since there are fewer downs available for short-yardage running plays. The kicking rules are also slightly different with the kicker being able to recover and advance his own kick. For this reason, kicking is a much more integral part of Canadian football than American.
The biggest difference between the kicking rules in the two games is that there is no fair catch rule in Canadian football. In American football, if a kick returner thinks he will not be able to advance the ball after recovery, he can signal for a fair catch and be immune from contact. In Canadian football no player on the kicking team except the kicker and any players behind him on the field may ever be within 5 yards of the ball unless it has been touched by an opponent. Also, in Canadian football any kick that goes into the end zone is a live ball, except for successful field goals.”
Sports teach kids discipline; they develop mental abilities and increase concentration by thinking about how to play and win. They tighten kids’ body, increase their flexibility, and reduce fatigue and stress in the case of doing any work in normal conditions. Also, sports increase self-confidence and develop the spirit of cooperation, participation and teamwork.
For all of these and more, I will always support my kids playing sports.
I will always enjoy being with the audience, cheering and praying; “Go bulldogs go...”
Hama Sabri
September 2019
