Writing hypothetical football match

I want to write a piece about a hypothetical match between two Texas HS football teams. I want to structure it in a way that catches the readers’ attention rather than a boring, dry analysis.

How would you structure it and make it more attractive?

OR a piece on one team. It would be about the season, their legacy, how they stack up all time and stuff like that.

 

Have you read Friday Night Lights?

 

I think to make it interesting there has to be a connection between the reader and the story. Possibly take one character from each team (the coach, the quarterback, the center linebacker) and view the game primarily through their eyes, alternating between them. Or maybe two from each team, so that when possession changes you can still have opposing perspectives -- maybe the quarterback and a linebacker from each team.

 

Is the game part of a larger story, or a standalone piece?

 

Just a thought but could it be based on a MC who was a rejected player (not selected). I can imagine a conflict between wanting your team to win while at the same time wanting it to lose due to your omission.

Or may be the MC could be the ball.

Or maybe I am way off track.

I had a friend who wrote a book and used a whole chapter on a cricket match. "Boring, dry analysis" was an understatement. But of course as a cricket fanatic he thought it was great.

I hope we get to see your result.

 

I have not. I will check it out though! Sounds like it would be a major help for generating ideas.

 

It’s a stand-alone. Here’s a problem I will run into...

One team will either be from either 2007 or 2008. The opposing team is from 2021.

So 2007 OR 2008 v. 2021

Is this going to be an issue? It will be strange, in a way.

 

I like this. Maybe the QB and HC of both teams. Then bounce back and forth between the two sides throughout the story.

Kind of like Game of Thrones, where you see a lot of show time of what’s going on in one area of the story with certain characters while there’s a totally different set of characters on the other side of the world at the same time.

 

Wait, are they two different story arcs that somehow merge? Or is it some fantasy setting?

 

Are they story arcs... no, if I understand the definition correctly. Maybe I have misunderstood.

Two different teams from different years that play each other and no dates will be mentioned in the story.

So probably closer to fantasy setting?

 

Well, I'm not sure what you mean by 'from 2008'. Usually that means the team played in the 2008 season, then some graduate and move on to other things, etc.

Are you saying the team from 2008 reunites years later to play the roster from the 2017 team? This doesn't really happen in real life.

 

Yes played in 2008 season. The 2008 team plays the 2021 team. That means the 2008 team will be the same age and all as they were that year. Not older. If that makes sense

 

Basically the 2008 team and 2021 team go into a time void and play each other.

 

The personalities of the players or coaches/managers will be the crucial factor, I think. Think of the great rivalries and how they almost transcended their sports. Frazier v Ali, Coe v Ovett, Prost v Senna, India v Pakistan, Ferguson's United v Wenger's Arsenal etc. The best rivalries aren't just because they are the two best at their sport though, it's also because they have differing ideologies, styles or clashing personalities. You need to make your game more than a game in some way.

In fiction, look at Quidditch in Harry Potter. The game itself is a backdrop to the rivalries, Griffindor v Slytherin, Potter v Malfoy. Good v evil.

Try to give double meaning to each action. Two players go in over aggressively for the ball. Are they aggressive just because they want to win, or do they want to hurt each other physically? A coach makes a surprising tactical change. Does the other coach respond sensibly or does he panic, worried that his rival has out thought him?

 

2008 vs 2021 -- I'm old enough (and then some) to remember pro football from 2008 (and well before that). Of course, you didn't specify "pro" football, so it could be college, high school, or Pop Warner football. I'm not really a fan of football (American football -- I played the game the rest of the world knows as "football" but which we Americans call "soccer"), but it seems to me that one aspect that could contribute to your story is the changes to the rules in the 13 years between 2008 and 2021. I don't know what rules have changed, but I'm pretty certain they change a bit every year.

Wasn't there a change within the past couple of years to prohibit "spearing" or "head tackles" or whatever it's called? Find that and a couple of other rules changes that might be difficult for an experienced player to have to suddenly adapt to, and make the adjustment part of the story.

Or maybe you allow each team to play according to the rules that applied in their respective years -- so the 2008 team can make head-first tackles, but the 2021 team can't.

Then look at the overall size, strength, and conditioning of the 2021 players compared to the 2008 players. On average, I'm going to guess that -- particularly for linemen -- the 2021 players will be bigger, stronger, and faster pretty much across the board.

 

He did say:

I believe HS means high school.

 

Oops. My bad -- apologies. Back to Remedial Reading 101 for me.

 

There have been rule changes in those years, and every two years UIL - the Texas Athletic organization for high schools - realigns the districts, based on student population changes. Another thing - they don't play "matches" on football fields but do play "games".

Friday Night Lights mentioned earlier, is a book about football, specifically at Odessa's Permian High School. They were a dominant power for close to 2 decades until a lot of their practices were made illegal. Like buying cars or arranging jobs for parents of promising young athletes if they move to the Permian district. I haven't read the book nor watched the movie, so don't know for sure, but somewhere I had the impression that a lot of the book was about that type of corruption going on down there.

 

In addition to the new rules about targeting and such, there have been some seismic shifts in offensive and defensive theory since 2008. The popularization of the RPO, increased willingness to blitz with cornerbacks or safeties, analytics influencing coaching decisions, etc.

I second the idea of using POVs from each team. Making the game really pop may require a very technical understanding of the sport. How familiar are you with formations, theory, etc., OP?