American Football: High school, College and Professional Football

The major forms of football in the United States are high school football, college football and professional football. In high school football, the teams generally play only with the other teams in the same state. Majority of the colleges and universities in the United States have their own football teams and college football is administered by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). The said schools play at the NCAA’s divisional system with four divisions: Division I Bowl Subdivision, Division I Championship Subdivision, Division II and Division III. The Division I Bowl Subdivision which is the largest among the aforementioned divisions does not have a structured tournament to be able to determine its national champion; hence the teams are requested to play in numerous post-season bowl games. The National Football League comprised of 32 teams is the highest major professional league in the United States. There is also the United Football League with only 5 teams and several other semi-professional football leagues like women's semi-professional football, and indoor football leagues are also played all throughout the country. Traditionally, football is an autumn sport which typically starts in mid-to-late August until January. Early professional teams also shared the same field with baseball teams which is the reason why the end of the baseball season marks the start of the football season. Playoffs for NFL is held until January while the Super Bowl is usually played in the first week of February, thus covering a wide range of weather conditions, from the heat and humidity of late summer, to the cold winds and snow in mid-winter. Compared to other popular sports in the United States, American football seasons are typically far shorter because of its toll on the human body. This is also the reason why football teams very seldom play more than one game in a week. Eligible college football players are selected by NFL teams during the NFL Drafts usually held in April. It has been a tradition in the United States to play high school football games, college games and professional games on Friday, Saturday and Sunday respectively. However in the 1970’s NFL began to schedule one game every Monday and in 2006, games are scheduled on Thursdays and on Saturdays at the end of the season. One of the players in the NFL is Steven Heyer. He has been playing football since high school and college. Steven Heyer started his professional football career in 2007 as part of Washington Redskins. In 2011, he played for the Oakland Raiders and currently he is a part of the New York Jets team.