Things You'll Need:
- Football
- 55 yards of field (for regulation 7-on-7)
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Step 1
Leave the pads at home. 7-on-7 football is played during the dog days of summer, therefore having pads on would not only be extremely cumbersome, but a bit a dangerous given the temperature.
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Step 2
Tackle with just a touch of your hands. Because there are no pads, tackling is out. Depending on which league you join, a person is "down" when they are touched with one hand, two hands or have flags ripped from their sides.
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Step 3
Shorten up the field. A regulation 7-on-7 football field is 45 yards in length with a 10 yard end zone. There is no kicking or punting in the game. So each time the offense gets the ball, they start at 45-yard mark and try and get in the end zone.
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Step 4
Get a first down. The first downs in 7-on-7 football are every 15 yards. This is because there usually isn't much of a running game or smash-mouth tackling. You can have 3 first downs before scoring.
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Step 5
Go for the extra point. In 7-on-7 football, the "extra point" is achieved by scoring from the 3-yard line. For a two-point conversion, the ball is placed on the 10-yard line.
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Step 6
Keep track of time. Save your time outs for the fall; in the summer during 7-on-7 football, there are no time outs, just one continuous clock that runs. Each half is 20 minutes with a 10-minute half-time.
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Step 7
Learn the odds and ends. There are a few quirky rules, which are the following. Each possession is only 3 downs, unless you are in the final 15 yards, then a team receives a 4th down with which to try and score. Fumbles are automatic dead balls. And most notably the quarterback only has 4 seconds to throw the ball. The official keeps a stop watch and starts it when the ball is snapped and stops it when the quarterback throws. If that time is over 4 seconds, it results in a loss of down no matter the result of the play.
