Moms: Learn about what position your children are playing in terms of muscle and hustle

By Jen Welter | Posted 10/7/2014

Congratulations to everyone who started learning and loving football last week. If you missed it, I encourage you to check out last week’s blog and come back. If last week was lesson one for my football novices, lesson two is designed to get you engaged in your child’s football career by getting into football positons.

Last week, we discussed the basics: position, offense or defense, success terms and what to watch. This week, we are going to look at the diversity of different positions on the football field. As I like to say, there is a position for everybody on the field – meaning every body type – so it should not surprise you to hear that on a football field you will find the biggest muscle, the fastest hustle and everything in between. 

If you are a visual learner like I am, then the muscle-to-hustle visualization will help you considerably.

Let’s start with the muscle. The muscle on a football team is closest to the line of scrimmage. Hence, your muscle is the offensive and defensive lines. If you have ever heard someone say, “The game of football is won in the trenches,” that statement is referring to the battle between the offensive and defensive lines that occurs at the line of scrimmage.

On both offense and defense, back behind the muscle, you will find a combination of muscle and hustle. Behind the lines, you find the “backs.” On defense, you have the linebackers, and on offense, you have the running backs (tailbacks, fullbacks, & halfbacks) and even a tight end or two.

The tight end literally lines up tight with the end of the offensive line. The tight end is the ultimate combination of muscle and hustle because sometimes he stays in with the line to block, and other times he will go out for passing routes. Behind the line of scrimmage you find the running backs. They take the ball from the quarterback, have to combine muscle and hustle to run for tough yards in the wholes opened up by the offensive line and catch a pass from time to time.  

On the defense, the next group up after the defensive line is the linebackers. The linebackers are also a combination of muscle and hustle, and they tackle running backs and help with pass defense.

Now, we started with the muscle on the line, went back to muscle and hustle with the running-backs and linebackers, so last but not least, we need the pure hustle. The hustle players are primarily involved in the passing game. On offense, your hustle players are your receivers. On defense, your hustle players are your cornerbacks and safeties. It is their job to keep the receivers from catching passes and ultimately prevent the other team from scoring as the last line of defense.

Now that you know that a football team has everything from the muscle on the line to the hustle on the outside, the only players left are the quarterback and the kicker. So, the easiest way to introduce you to the quarterback and the kicker is to tell you: the quarterback has the arm to throw the passes and the kicker has the leg to make the kicks.

I hope this helped you get into football. Remember, the more you learn about the game, the more you will learn to love it, and the better able you will be to share it with your young footballer.

Dr. Jen Welter earned a master’s degree in sports psychology and a doctorate in psychology from Capella University. A women’s professional football for 13 seasons, she currently is a member of the Texas Revolution, a male professional indoor football league. A four-time league champion with the Women’s Football Alliance’s Dallas Diamonds, Welter played for the 2010 and 2013 U.S. Women’s National Team at the IFAF Women’s World Championship, helping the Unites States earn a pair of gold medals. You can follow her on Twitter @jwelter47.  

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