From gaining exposure to honing your skills, here are the top seven reasons to play 7-on-7 football. Yes, fun is one of them.

1. Exposure

While college coaches aren’t allowed to attend 7-on-7 tournaments per NCAA rules, they do watch game tape from some of them and evaluate recruits based on their performances. There is also a lot of media exposure, and many national scouting services rate players based on their performance at the tournaments.

2. Simulation

NFL teams use 7-on-7 and/or skeleton passing drills as part of their offseason training regimens. If you’re a high school skill position player, there isn’t a better way to work on in-game scenarios than playing 7-on-7.

3. Repetition

Doing high-repetition drills to fine-tune your skills during the offseason is the perfect way to prepare for the games that count. Whether you’re a wide receiver working on your cuts, a quarterback perfecting your quick-out or a defensive back trying to get a better jump on the ball, 7-on-7 gives you the chance to work on those parts of your game over and over again. 

4. Timing

In football, timing is everything, and 7-on-7 provides plenty of opportunities for you to perfect it. Practice the right time to come out of a break, when to throw a skinny post so a defensive back can’t deflect it and when to break on a slant for an interception.

5. Competition

Competition breeds excellence and 7-on-7 is one of the few platforms where you can test your skills against some of the best players in the nation. That’s not only going to help you learn what you need to work on to get better, but it should also push you to work harder to reach the top level.

6. Training

The fast-paced style of 7-on-7 keeps you in good cardiovascular shape and helps build the muscles you use most often playing football. For a quarterback, throwing the ball over 100 times a day is going to make your arm stronger. For a receiver, tapping your toes on the out route is going to make that technique second nature in a game.

7. Excitement

Touchdowns are exciting, and in no other game of football will you score as much as in 7-on-7. If you’re looking for a fun way to do all of the things mentioned above in the offseason, 7-on-7 is for you.