Challenge

Challenge is another word for ‘tackle’ and used in football to describe when a defensive player forces the offensive ball carrier to the ground in order to stop the play from continuing.

Tackling is an essential and vital skill set when playing defense in football. Although it may seem easy to simply tackle an opponent, there is a correct technique to tackling a player in order to bring them down with ease.

To help bring down a player with a tackle, it is easier to stop their opponent by wrapping up their legs and focusing on the lower part of the body. A player can first try to grab the jersey of the ball carrier in order to slow them down, but then should try to wrap them up and focus on slowing down their legs so that they cannot break the tackle. Although a player can try to tackle the player by wrapping up their upper body, it is also much harder to bring them down since they can still push forward with their legs, and even drag the defender.

It is to note that it is illegal to grab the opponent’s face mask when tackling, as this is called a face mask and will result in a penalty. It is also illegal to grab the back-inside collar or shoulder pads of a player, also called a horse-collar tackle.