Lesson Plan #: AELP-TSP000
Submitted by: Robert J. Vrklan
Endorsed by: Don E. Descy
School/University/Affiliation: Mankato Sate University Date: February 26, 1998

Subject(s)

• Physical Education/Team Sports

Description: This is a fun activity that will run from the beginning of the football season to the end of the regular season. Students will construct a team, make decisions as a group, and collect data. They will compete with other people in the league. This could be set up through a newspaper league or you can create your own league between your class. Goal: Students will learn how to make simple decisions and collect statistics as a group.

Objectives:

Additional Information: If it is possible join a Fantasy League that some newspapers put out for free.  It will be set up well and all  you and your students may need to do is pick the players and follow their stats.  I am going to base this lesson plan on the format of a league that would be from a newspaper.  Most leagues score points by a quarterback’s touchdowns and yards.  By 2 wide receivers for their yards and touchdowns.  By 1 tight end and he is scored by yards and touchdowns.  You score the running back the same way by yards and touchdowns.  You also pick one defense like Minnesota’s or Detroit’s and they earn points by interceptions, defensive touchdowns, and safety’s.  It is very simple to do.  You will also want to choose a couple of back up players in case someone gets hurt or a team is in a bye week.

Concepts:

Materials:

• Fantasy Football guide
• enrollment into a free football league
• newspaper (statistics)
• notebook or a computer to keep statistics

Procedure:  1.  Explain to the students what a Fantasy Football League is.
 
 2.  Have a list of players at the quarterback, wide receiver, tight end, and the running back positions. You will also have a list of all the NFL teams so they can  choose their defense. (The Fantasy Football Guide gives stats on the hottest players and defenses to pick.  It should have a complete list of all the players in the NFL that you can choose from.)

 3.  You can give your students a list of players and they can take it home and decide which ones they want for their starters: 1-quarterback, 2-wide receivers, 1-tight end, 1-running back, and one defense.
(The number of players for a position might vary from league to league.)

 4.  After the students have had time to take the list home and decide, you can then have your draft day.  You can do this out loud or you can have them write down which players they want and then you can appoint some students to tally up which quarterbacks, running backs, wide receivers, tight ends, and defenses get the most votes.  If there is a tie between players you can have a class vote which player will get the starting position.

 5.  Now you can have a couple of students keep a log of their starters and back up players stats.  Students can take turns from week to week.  The league in which you are in should place you each week against an opponent.

 6.  Students can decide each week whether or not they want to substitute players.

 7.  Throughout the season you can have students give a small presentation on which players are doing well for your team and which ones have not.

 8.  At the end hopefully you have had a good team and did well.  You can ask students which were there favorite players, which ones helped win games for your team, and which players were flops or got hurt.
 

Assessment:

 1.  You could have a simple quiz about certain positions that football players  play.

 2.  You could give them a worksheet that has some other subject with different statistics and you can relate those to the statistics your football team had.  You can stress how important it is to keep correct data.

 3.  You can ask questions out loud about why it was important to cooperate and make decisions as a group.  You can also have them do an essay and have them explain why they needed to make group decisions.

If there are no leagues in your area to join,  the Fantasy Football League Guide explains how to set up your own.  You could have your students break up into groups and have competitions between themselves.  That way will probably take more time and effort rather than doing it as a class and  competing in a league that is already set up for you.  Many of you may have been in a league and know that it would be fairly simple to incorporate it into your classroom.