The Brain Project

Josh Cooper

Cerebellum - balance is a huge factor when it comes to the game of football. It's

something each player must have, otherwise, on the football field you and your

team mates will fall all over the place. Thiscould cause many problems.

Medulla - as a quarterback all your

focus and attention must go into the

game, you must study the defense,

look for open players, and be able to

anticipate what's coming. You cannot

also have to control your heart

manually.

Pons - the pons is also VERY important to a QB, a good QB must be able to

know what's going on around him, so he can react and make the right call.

Reticular Formation - The RF is very important because it determines how quickly

you become alert. For example, for running backs the quicker they feel someone

beginning to make a tackle on them, then the sooner they can try and break free.

Thalamus - for a receiver it is important for them to signal to the QB that they are

open, either waving their hands in the air or yelling. This helps the QB determine

the best possible scenario. OR to tell his team mates what the defense might be

bringing, and signals an audible, changing the play.

Hypothalamus - What drives a football team in the fourth quarter with under 2

minutes to play and down by 5 points to play hard and fight for that game-

winning touchdown? What denys them to give up? Motivation. The Head Coach

has the same job as the hypothalamus, its job is to regulate motivation.

Amygdala - Troy Polamalu is a vicious Safety, a hard-hitting ruthless player who

enjoys inflicting pain. He brings fears to players on the opposing team, the

amygdala allows for them to experience this fear.

Hippocampus - All team mates

must have a strong memory,

when your coach calls a play

you must know what your role

is in that play, the

hippocampus allows you to

remember that role.

Corpus Callosum - This is like the coaches on a football team. The two sides of the

brain for example, would be the offense and the defense teams, they are

separate but with those coaches they merge as one team and come together on

the football field.

Occipital Lobe:

Visual cortex - the ability to see is obviously one of the

MOST crucial abilities in order to play football. You cannot play without it, fact. It

is used by all players, either by defensive backs and safety's whom watch the

quarterbacks eyes to see where they plan on throwing the ball so they can deflect

or even intercept the pass. Or the head coach who watches for the play and

decides whether to call the timeout or not. Or simply being able to see the ball in

order to catch it.

Temporal Lobe:

Auditory cortex - A perfect example of how your auditory cortex works, is

when a QB calls an audible, the players who much change their routes and such

must be able to interpret what their QB is telling them. Hes not just going to tell

them their route straight forward, he tells them in code.

Parietal Lobe:

Sensory Cortex - The best way to compare this to football is the tackle. You

feel the pain, wihout this cortex you wouldn’t know if during a tackle you got

injured. Playing with an injury could lead to severe damages. Feeling your injuries

tells your body when its time to leave the game, if you had a concussion and you

make this call, you could be saving your life.

Motor Cortex - This controls areas of the body that require precise control, such

as fingers, and mouth, and feet as well. All of these things are extremely

important, a running back uses his hands to hold on to the ball while running

through defenders, his feet require constant thinking because one foot step could

cost him a touchdown run.

Sensory Cortex - This

stimulates the action to which

the player reacts. If a

runningback for example feels

a defender begin to wrap

around him, he will drive his

legs and break free of the tackle. Using these senses that his brain receives,

he processes and takes action.