If you are new to high school football you may be confused by all the terminology. One of the terms we are often asked about is “jamboree”.
A jamboree in football is a meeting of several football teams in which each team will play a simulated game against one another in order to prepare for the upcoming season.
The best way to think about a jamboree is a football preseason fit into a single day. Instead of practicing against teams over the course of a few weeks, a single day will be dedicated to several short games.
You will find that different schools/regions will use different methods in order to play these practice games.
Some jamborees will involve a team playing two twenty-four-minute halves (the same time as a full game). While others involve each team getting a specified number of offensive and defensive plays.
In a football jamboree, each team will get a chance to have their offense and defense play against each team.
In most cases, the teams at the event are going to be the teams in your conference. This will allow each team to practice against the opponents they will be playing in the season.
Jamborees are mainly going to be a practice event for the players but some parents and fans may still find themselves tailgating in the parking lot.
Main Benefits Of A Football Jamboree
Now that you understand what a jamboree is in football you may be wondering what exactly the purpose is of this event. Below we are going to break down why jamborees are important for a football team.
Working Out The Kinks
One of the main reasons high school football teams attend jamborees is to get their team organized. In high school football, there is a huge roster turnover meaning new players are going to be starting every year.
When the season starts there can often be a lot of confusion and mistakes by these new players. In order to get the new team sorted a jamboree is used.
This way players will get some game experience on their new team without too much on the line. Coaches do not tend to care much about the scores in a jamboree but instead use it as a practice.
This helps to get teams to work out their mistakes in this non-consequential game so that when the season opener rolls around the team will be ready to go.
Getting Into Football Shape
Another reason that jamborees can be helpful for a football team is in conditioning. It is known by football players that there is no way to get into mid-season shape without playing some football.
As much as you can train in the offseason it is almost impossible to get into the proper conditioning to play a full football game.
By playing in this event players will get back onto the field giving them a chance to exercise at that level before the season starts.
This way when playing in the regular-season games the players will have already had a chance to improve their conditioning for the football season.
Though this event is not considered a real game a team will likely play the same number of snaps that they would play in a full football game.
This is going to give your players a good chance to work on their in-game stamina.
See Players In Game Action
One more positive aspect of this event is that a coach will have an opportunity to evaluate all his potential players in an in-game situation.
Usually, jamborees are going to take place when the majority of the team is selected but this practice can still have an effect on the depth chart.
As much as a coach can evaluate players in his practice and tryouts an in-game environment is totally different.
Additionally, since these are usually held with teams in their conference the coaches will also be able to see how players match up against their upcoming opponents.
This may give insight to coaches encouraging them to change how they may play their players against each opponent.
In high school football, it can be tough to determine which players are going to succeed. Seeing them during a live game will make it much easier for each head coach to see what he has with his roster.
That is all on Jamborees in football to learn about other football-themed events see our guide to football banquets or senior night football games.
