5. In football, repetition is honorable.

In the curriculum, we continually move forward with not much opportunity to do things a second time. and get better. Students have to do new things every time they get to class. In football students do the same drills over and over all season long-- and in fact, get better at them. The skills get easier, and players start to use those skills to do things that are more complex

6. In football, the unexpected happens all the time. Every player will line up across from the same opposing player dozens of times during a game, but he knows that each time, his oppon- ent could do something different, and he'll have to react to it right in the moment. There's no opportunity to coast, to tune out, to sit back and watch others work. Every player is required to be involved and absorbed in his work, and a talented player who holds back is typically held in lower regard than his less talented but more engaged teammates.

Contrast that with a normal class period,scripted by the teacher with the idea that a successful class is one that goes as planned. with the fewest disruptions and its clear why apathy can be a problem in the classroom.

7. In football practices generally run a lot longer than 50 minutes. And when they end there 's a reason to stop; the players work until they get it right or until they're too tired to move anymore. There's no specific reason that a school class should run for 50 minutes instead of 35 or 85, and there's no reason why classes should run the same length of time every day. The class- room schedule responds to pressures that come from outside the classroom --state laws, other classes. even bus schedules. The football practice schedule is more internal. the coach and team quit when they're done.

8. In football, the homework is of a different type from what's done at practice. Students do worksheets in the Classroom and then very often are assigned to do the same kind of worksheet at home. Football requires a lot of homework that comes in the form of running and weight training, things not done at prac- tice. Players work at home to find and build their strengths and then bring those strengths to practice to work together with their teammates on specific skills. The work done at home and the work done in common are two different jobs, and each is incomplete without the other.

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