College Football 101

As of Sept. 3, GCC has its very own football field. So for those of you out there struck with the urge to suddenly become football fans, yet don’t understand the game, here is a brief rundown for you:

There are two teams in a football game and each team is allowed to have 11 players on the field. There is the offensive (the team with the ball) and the defensive (the team without the ball).

It is the job of the offense to run the ball down the field to make a touchdown, without getting tackled by the other team. Tackling is when a guy, usually much bigger than you, jumps on you and tries to knock you to the ground and turn you into a human pancake.

Hopefully your other teammates are doing their jobs by diverting the pancake-making onto themselves, so you can try to score a touchdown.

The job of the defense is to make sure the guy with the ball on the other team does NOT get to the end zone, and will happily make a human pancake out of the aforementioned person
with the ball.

The offensive team gets four downs, which is four tries to get the ball down the field, without getting it stolen; at least ten yards. If they do that, they get four more downs.

By the time the third down is done, if the team has not managed to get the ball into the end zone, then they can either “go for it” – which is just playing the down as usual — punt it, which is kicking the ball to the other team and trying to get them farther back in the process — or to try and kick a field goal, that is when the kicker has to kick the ball between those two big yellow poles at the end of the field, which is located in the other team’s end zone.

“In college football the real triple threat is one who can run, kick and pass all his exams.” — E.C. McKenzie from ‘14,000 Quips and Quotes.”

Games are four quarters and each quarter is 15 minutes, but don’t expect the game to be over in an hour, the clock gets stopped for almost anything.

Scoring in football is a little complicated here is a quick rundown thanks to www.football.about.com.

Touchdown = 6 points | Field Goal = 3 points | Extra Point Conversion = 1 point | Safety = 2 points | Two-point Conversion = 2 points

Notable football player: Brett Favre

Volleyball 101

This game is played on a court divided by a net. There are six players from each team positioned on opposite sides of the net.

There are two rows of three players on each side of the net, the right back person is the server and they must hit the ball over the net, if they miss the ball, it goes to the other team.

When the ball goes to the other team, the players that lost the ball rotate one position to the left, or clockwise.

Once the ball clears the net, the other team has three chances to hit the ball back over.

No player is allowed to hit the ball twice in a row, unless they
are blocking.

To score, the ball must hit the floor of the side the court of the opposing team.

Usually it’s the first team to 15 points who win.

Notable volleyball player: Gabby Reece

Soccer 101

This game is played on a field of grass. There are generally 11 players to each team on the field at one time, and this includes the goalie.

The goalie is the person who has a different color shirt from the rest of the team and stays near the goal.

In soccer the players mainly use their feet to manipulate the ball, and only the goalie can use his/her hands.

The team’s goals are to steal the ball from the other team, if it’s in the opposing team’s possession, dribble it down the field (using only their feet) and try to kick it into the other team’s goal.

If the ball is kicked out of bounds, then the team that kicked it out of bounds gets to throw it back in, usually.

Most matches are about 90 minutes long.

Notable soccer player: Pelé

Information was found on the following Web sites: