High school football season

I don't know a lot about how they structure things officially, but a lot of specifics will depend on the student population and how good the team is.

I'm in a small, rural town. Our high school team played 10 games, 4 at home and 6 away, plus one game before the season started. We lost all 10, so we didn't get to do any additional games. The Junior High (junior varsity) team plays on Thursdays; the High School team plays on Friday evenings; College Football is Saturdays. There are a bunch of different divisions in my state (Texas), so teams only play within their division (which tries to take schools of like populations and match them against each other), and do not play all teams within their division (we might play the teams in our division in a 1-hour radius). Since we never won any games, doing extra playoff games (going to regionals or state) was never a factor.

We played our pre-season game on Friday, August 18th, and then played the normal games for each of the Fridays in September and October. Our last game was November 3rd.

Our rural high school has about 200 students enrolled total (9th-12th grade). The football team had 24 guys with numbers on their jerseys and official positions. We had another 12 guys on the roster beyond that. I checked my old high school, which has about 2800 students (9th-12th grade) and they have 77 kids on their team.

Here's a website that might be useful.

The uniforms I see cheerleaders in my area wear are more like this or this or this. You don't see midriffs, you don't see pleats. Pleats are more 80's/90's; midriffs are more for "women" (college or pro cheerleaders) than they are for "girls".

My small, rural school with a 200-student population has 8 cheerleaders, plus a 9th one who serves as mascot. I couldn't find a good link to a current roster, but it looks like my old school with a 2800-student population had 15 cheerleaders.

1. Number of players on a team is highly variable. Number of players on the field is alway 11, both on offense and on defense, except for some small school leagues which may have rules for fewer players on the field, out of necessity.

2. Season duration is also highly variable, dependent upon climate. In the South, the season may start in September and run to December (college and pro football seasons continue into January). In the far North, where I live, the high school season starts in August and ends in mid-October. For high schools, 8 to 10 games is the norm, with possibly extra championship playoff games for the winningest teams.

3. Cheerleader numbers are likewise variable, as there aren't any rules pertaining to this. A lot depends on the size of the school population.

4. Uniforms you see on TV are generally pretty accurate. The helmets and pads are standard safety equipment everywhere.

caw

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

I graduated high school in 1970 in San Diego. We voted for 5 female cheerleaders and 5 male cheerleaders...which meant there were a lot of disappointed girls and all the boys who tried out were on the cheerleading team. Cheerleading costumes are usually the school colors, blue & white in my case. (No, I didn't bother to try out for the team.)

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Like everything else you've asked about U.S. schools, this varies immensely. My school didn't have football, nor do most schools I know. It's geographically influenced. As to the basic rules of football -- google?

Actually most schools in the country do have football with some small schools opting for 7 man football which has minor changes to the rules 11 man teams use. To get you best idea I'd suggest there are presentations of games and many things about football on youtube, Observation might be the best teacher. I once attended a Rugby Football game in Singapore as the people on either side of me explained the rules. You wouldn't know they were talking about the same game. If you have access to video on NFL football, HS football looks the same with similar skill but at lower level. On a very good HS team two or three (sometimes a few more) of 60-70 players each year will play major college football. With a few hundred college teams (just over 100 at the top level) a few dozen of those several thousand players will make Pro teams. Still the games is played like the pro's do and it looks the same because the talents match.

Almost all teems have cheerleaders and there a examples of what they do on youtube as well.

Games are played in the fall when school opens and the seasons ends before Christmas

Generally season have one game per week for 8 weeks or so then the top teams play off for championship against similar sized schools. Most states have three or four state champions. The playoff are usually played starting with 8 or sixteen teams in a single elimination format (Winner moves on ... loser's season is over)

leahutinet said:

I'm not from America so I know next to nothing about everything related to football in American high schools. Can someone explain to me how it all works?
How many players in a football team?
When does the season start and end? How many games per season?
Also about cheerleaders: how many cheerleaders? Are their uniforms portrayed accurately in TV shows or do they get everything wrong?

Feel free to tell me more about football in case I forgot some questions.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I can't explain it all, but I can tell you what I know.

In a standard football game, there are 11 men on the field at once (per side). Most teams have enough players for a full offensive team and a full defensive team, plus backups for each position. Depending on the size of the school they may have kids pulling double duty as punters or field goal kickers, or they may have specialized players. The total number of varsity football players will probably be in the 25-40 range. The school may also have Junior Varsity and/or Freshman teams of similar size.

Practices start in the summer, or earlier, especially for those hoping to make the Varsity team. In places like Texas, where high school football is practically a religion, some kids never stop practicing.

The first games are generally in late August or early September. High school football is generally on Friday nights, though games may be scheduled on other day, particularly at playoff time.

Teams play 8-10 regular season games through the year then have a bracketed single-elimination tournament for the state championship. My son's school is currently in the playoff process. They play their first tournament game this Saturday afternoon. If they win that, then it's on to the semi-finals the next Saturday and the championship game the week after that.

Cheerleaders vary by the size, location and type of school. My son's school is larger than the entire town where I grew up. They have about 5 male and 20 female cheerleaders who do the acrobatic-style routines and towers and such, and about 20 "poms" who are basically a dance squad with little pompoms. In my high school, which was about 300 students, we had 6-10 Varsity cheerleaders (all girls) and they mostly just did what it says on the tin - lead the crowd in cheers.

Cheerleaders in my area never wear what I see cheerleaders wear on TV. They'd freeze their butts off. By this time of year, our cheerleaders are in long sleeves with a coordinated turtleneck underneath and leggings under their short pleated skirt. I can't speak to whether cheerleaders in warmer climates wear less, but even in the warm August and September games, our cheerleaders don't wear crop tops.

I don't think it's most -- according to the h.s. participation survey, something like 15,000 schools have football, and you can see how tilted it is by state. Like D.C. has only 25 schools with programs. There are also nearly 40,000 high schools in the U.S.

Also in the participation survey you can see the number of cheerleading squads that compete, which s much lower, and even adding one that don't. I can't imagine they'd make up the difference.

This is this year's football schedule from the school I graduated from: http://www.maxpreps.com/high-schools/mansfield-tigers-(mansfield,tx)/football/schedule.htm

It's fairly indicative of a large-district (5-A) public school that puts a major emphasis on sports. keep in mind that before the official schedule, you've got try-outs to make the team (in summer) and practices (all summer, 110 degree heat and all) and scrimmages / tournaments (games that don't count toward the season) which usually start a couple of weeks before school's first term and end at the first official game. Varsity games (top players) usually play on Friday or Saturday; JV (Junior Varsity) usually play on Thursday or Friday. Depending on the team's win/loss ratio, they can advance to state and national level championships, usually played in bigger or even professional arenas.

Cheerleaders (also varsity and JV) likewise have their try-outs over the summer. We usually fielded 18-24 at a time, competition-level girls (never had guys on the cheer squad) Those chosen attend a summer camp to gain experience (in theory) and learn new skills. The uniform usually consists of 2-3 matched sets of sleeveless tops and short skirts (also a sweater for when it gets cold and leg warmers). The skirt is either a fly-away/knife skirt (meaning the panels flare into individual pieces of material during jumps and aerial stunts) or they will have alternating panels matched to the school's colors. Competition squads often opt for knife skirts, regular games are usually a (very) little more conservative. Under the skirt are bloomers / spanky pants which are school-color underpants (literally) meant to be seen during routines. Often the butt will be embossed with the school's mascot, name, or the cheerleader's name. Aerial stunts can get insane, but the oft-used "helicopter" toss used in most movies has been illegal since the 80's due to the high incidence of injuries.

In addition to cheerleaders, there's a drill squad of dancers that will perform at half-time while the players and cheerleaders are taking a break.

also many schools have drill teams and marching bands

While top players usually find camps for playing during the summer, few if any states allow team practice before August, and many cancel practice if the temp gets over 100. But, yeah, they practice in some hot weather considering the days they play in full equipment. (Hot days helmets and shoulder pads are often the uniform)

Maybe I should have said most large schools have teams rather just most. I'm guessing most of those that don't are fairly small, though some areas have decided it is too expensive to maintain a program. Some schools have had local "clubs" take on their programs but they meet the National Fedreration and State branches of it standards of being limited to one HS, or in rare instances a group of small schools in the same area.

The sport gets intense enough they invite us officials to referee fall practice as the season gets close.

Sat Nam! (literally "Truth Name"--a Sikh greeting)

A high school that has a large enough playing field and access to a stadium or similar will probably have a football program. That means most school in NYC and tiny schools in tiny towns won't have it...for opposing reasons: NYC lacks the land and tiny schools lack both the people and the access to a stadium.

And yes to marching bands, pom-pom people (they were always girls in my day, but that may have changed), as well as cheerleaders.

San Diego schools also had mascots: a boy and a girl who dressed up in costumes suitable for whatever the team name was. Maybe they still do this.

Blessings,

Siri Kirpal

Mascots are definitely still a thing. They can be a *big* thing. Sometimes the mascot's a cheerleader, sometimes it's a random kid who signs up for the job.

Out here (North Texas, so naturally FOOTBALL) every school has a stadium with bleachers. Most towns with significant student bodies have professional-grade stadiums with press-boxes, brick walls, and massive player areas incorporated into the buildings. Entrance to the field is almost always "through the chute," meaning that there's either a balloon or inflatable archway that the teams (at the very least the home team) run through to reach the field at the start of the game. News coverage is common. Arguments are waged over who gets to take the field those nights, as well as when scouts are watching. Some teams are literally dynastic, if the families have been in-district long enough for someone's grandpa, dad, uncles, cousins, siblings to have played.

A couple things that might not be covered with all the other posts.

* most high schools with football teams also have a pep band that plays at the event - so there is student participation from that as well. Sometimes that band is marching, sometimes there are two bands.
* Some schools share facilities - in my school district all the schools in the district play at the same pretty nice stadium and take turns being the 'home' team.
* Some states like Texas, Alabama, etc are just crazy in regards to football and it isn't uncommon to have a fully paid staff, ie coaches, etc - full facilities like weight rooms, etc and amazing stadiums. all at the high school lvl.

leahutinet said:

I'm not from America so I know next to nothing about everything related to football in American high schools. Can someone explain to me how it all works?

Click to expand...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High_school_football

Jeff