Terminology... Two-A-Days

This is article #20 in a series covering the origins of football’s terminology. All are available under the Terminology tab above. My book, Hut! Hut! Hike! describes the emergence of more than 400 football terms.

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Few football terms combine a sense of joy and horror as does “two-a-days.” The term brings delight and optimism in that every team begins practice anticipating a winning season, but the start of practice comes with the knowledge that difficult times on dusty fields are ahead.

Unlike some football terms, there is little mystery about the term since it simply refers to teams undergoing two daily practices.

The first mentions of teams practicing twice a day appear just before the forward pass became legal when Harvard’s 1904 preseason schedule included “two sessions a day.” Trinity held two practices daily in 1905, but Harvard seems to have been the only school to consistently gain attention for their double sessions until Cornell stepped up in 1913.

Harvard’s 1923 football team warming up for practice. (United Newspictures, Personal Collection)