Huddle Games

The huddle is a way of people coming together in a close, small group either in the heat of a sporting game or in planning for a sport. The tactic is often used in team sports to form a plan of attack or plan a specific play. In most team sports you can expect some sort of huddle on occasion, although they may not necessarily refer to it as a huddle.

  1. Football

    • For Americans, the term huddle usually brings to mind the game of football. In football each team comes together for a huddle before a down (or play). It's so common there's a specific kind of offense called the "no huddle" to designate when teams don't come together. The huddle we know today was invented in 1894 by quarterback Paul Hubbard at Gallaudet University, a school for deaf and hearing-challenged students. According to sports writer Fred Bowen's website, "Hubbard worried that other teams -- deaf and hearing teams -- were stealing his hand signals at the line of scrimmage. So he gathered his players in a huddle to

      keep his sign language private."

    Rugby

    • Rugby (or rugby football as its sometimes called) has something similar to a huddle but it occurs during play and for different reasons. The scrum, or scrummage, occurs when the two teams gather en masse to fight for the ball. Set scrums occur by order of the refs while loose scrums, or rucks, occur on the fly when a ball is dropped or mishandled.

    Baseball

    • Although not as common as the football huddle, baseball has its own form. When a pitcher is struggling at the mound to throw strikes or get outs, a manager or pitching coach will sometimes approach the pitcher and temporarily suspend play. In addition, the catcher and several other players often join the manager for an impromptu meeting or huddle. The players and coaches tend to shield their mouths so that their conversation cannot be understood by any one watching. Once the huddle concludes, the pitcher may be replaced with another pitcher from the bullpen.

    Hockey

    • Hockey has a couple versions of the huddle that occur in most games. When a coach calls a time out, the 20-plus members of the team gather round the bench and huddle up for a message or strategy from the coaching staff. After the game ends, particularly in important playoff or Stanley Cup Final games, the team comes together to congratulate one another which could also be seen as another form of the huddle. After series wins in the playoffs, the team will come together and celebrate on the ice around their goaltender or the player who scores the winning goal.