How to Play Street Football
To play a pick-up football game, you do not need a 100 yard patch of grass with goal posts at either end. You can create a street football game in mere minutes by setting some quick boundaries for the game. Just be sure to have a football and a handful of friends to get the street football game going.
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Instructions
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Divide the group into two teams. Select a captain for each team. Then each captain will take turn picking players for their team until all the players are selected. If you have an odd number of people, then you can select an "automatic quarterback." An automatic quarterback serves as the quarterback for each team so that there are an equal amount of people on offense and defense.
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Set boundaries for the street football game. You want to find a street that has at least 40 yards for your game. This will allow a team to attempt to gain one or two first downs in between scores. Select a car or landmark (such as a stop sign or mailbox) that signifies the end zone for both sides of the field. Then find two or three other landmarks spaced evenly within the field that will serve as "first down" markers. When a team moves the ball beyond those markers they get a first down.
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Select how a player is ruled "down." Skip playing tackle football on the street and play a version of touch football for your game. A common way to play is to select either one touch, or two touches causes a player to be ruled down.
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Create an end to the street football game. You can choose to play for a set amount of time, or you can choose to play to a certain score. Because there are no field goals in street football, select a score that is a multiple of 7. The first team to reach that score is deemed the winner.
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Determine when the defense can rush the quarterback. Just like in the real game of football, the defense will want to try to sack the quarterback. Create a count which the defense must call out before rushing the QB. A common count is something like 3 Mississippi where the defense must verbally say "1 Mississippi, 2 Mississippi, 3 Mississippi" before rushing in on the QB.
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Flip a coin to see who gets the ball first and begin play. The last decision to make is whether you want to kick off to the other team. Many street football games simply start with the first team taking position on their end zone line and moving the football forward. Whatever the decision, once the game begins switch possession after a score is made, or if a team does not reach the first down marker after four downs. Continue to play until the final score is reached or the time limit is up.
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References
- Photo Credit street image by Svetlana Kashkina from Fotolia.com
