Another thing that makes football great is the discipline the game teaches all of the football players. Every position on the field takes an incredible amount of focus and mental discipline to do the assignments correctly. Bert Browne, when talking about the receiver position, specifically said, “You can't have one without the other playing wide receiver go hand in hand. Receivers must know their assignments, have good hands and good speed, play with pain, and, most important, have the mental discipline to block out everything and concentrate on the football“ (par. 1). Being a receiver especially takes a lot of concentration because not only does the ball need to be caught, but it has to be caught without the defender interrupting the pass, and the receiver must know how to get around the defender to get to the end zone. Being a receiver is not the only position that requires high mental focus, for example the quarterback must know everyone's assignment, plus his own, in order to know how the defense will react to the other ten guys so he can make a precision pass or call the correct audible. In addition, lineman must know what the backs are doing and where they are going in order to successfully block for them. Not only do they have to know what to do on one play, they have to know how to adjust to the defense. Due to the fact that the defense move around so much, a lineman could easily block the same play four or five different ways. The lineman must also have the mental discipline to not jump offsides by going on the wrong cadence. In order to be prepared for the defensive shifts, receivers do a specific drills known as the bad ball drills (Browne par. 2-5). They can vary from having to rip through a defender to get into open field, adjusting to a bad pass, how to play through a double team, and the list can go on and on over things that go wrong. The last part of football that requires incredible self-discipline are the distractions. In a game a player could have to block out many different things ranging from the crowd, the weather, the opponents, the referees, etc (Browne par. 1-5). If the weather is too cold or hot, the player has to not worry about the heat or cold and just do his job. It also takes a good deal of focus to focus on the guy across the line of scrimmage instead of the people in the stands that yell and are being overly obnoxious because the think they know more than the coaches. The same goes for when an opponent if being stupid trying to pick fights between plays in order to hurt another player, in this case the athlete must keep calm and simply tell his coach who will inturn tell the referee. Many football players believe that it is the hardest to stay disciplined when another football player is being overly aggressive.
Keeping in mind about some players being overly aggressive, some parents do not let their kids play football because they believe that football only teaches aggression. In a sense, all athletes have some sort of aggression in order to maintain a competitive edge. According to Derek Kreager, "Players are encouraged to be violent outside the sport because they are rewarded for being violent inside it” (qtd "Sports Machismo May Be Cue To Male Teen Violence” par. 4). I agree that football players must be aggressive during the games, by my experience confirms that a great majority of football players are not violent in everyday life. When football players are with their friends, they may enjoy a little more rough play than other, but in no way do football players brainwash their friends into thinking violence is good. In the article, "Sports Machismo May Be Cue To Male Teen Violence", it claims that not only football players are violent outside of the sport, but it also claims friends of football players are overly violent in everyday life (par. 5). That claim is a generalization that is completely false, while the football players may be friends with non-football players because they both enjoy a bit of rougher activities, that does not at all insinuate that football players and their friends will commit a violent crime.
Keeping in mind about some players being overly aggressive, some parents do not let their kids play football because they believe that football only teaches aggression. In a sense, all athletes have some sort of aggression in order to maintain a competitive edge. According to Derek Kreager, "Players are encouraged to be violent outside the sport because they are rewarded for being violent inside it” (qtd "Sports Machismo May Be Cue To Male Teen Violence” par. 4). I agree that football players must be aggressive during the games, by my experience confirms that a great majority of football players are not violent in everyday life. When football players are with their friends, they may enjoy a little more rough play than other, but in no way do football players brainwash their friends into thinking violence is good. In the article, "Sports Machismo May Be Cue To Male Teen Violence", it claims that not only football players are violent outside of the sport, but it also claims friends of football players are overly violent in everyday life (par. 5). That claim is a generalization that is completely false, while the football players may be friends with non-football players because they both enjoy a bit of rougher activities, that does not at all insinuate that football players and their friends will commit a violent crime.