Dugout
The sheltered bench area beside the field where a team's substitutes, coaches and staff sit during a match.
Definition
A dugout is the covered seating area, set just off the field of play, from which non-participating players and coaching staff watch and manage a game. In association football it holds substitutes, the manager and support staff and usually sits beside the technical area. In baseball, each team has a dugout — often literally sunk below field level, which gives the name — running along the first- or third-base side, where players wait to bat or take the field.
The dugout is functional rather than decorative: it provides shelter from the weather, a base for equipment and medical staff, and a defined place from which coaches may direct play. Its position off the field keeps personnel clear of live action while keeping them close enough to communicate and to send on substitutes quickly.
Meaning by sport
This term is used differently across sports:
- Football
- The covered bench beside the technical area holding substitutes and coaching staff.
- Baseball
- A shelter, often sunk below field level, along the first- or third-base line where the team waits between turns.
Where you’ll hear “dugout”
Sports that use this term:
Football
The world’s most popular team sport — endless running, teamwork and community in one game.
Baseball
A bat-and-ball team sport where two sides alternate between batting and fielding to score runs.
Cricket
A bat-and-ball team sport where sides take turns to bat and to bowl and field, scoring runs.
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Follow the threads that connect Dugout to the rest of SocialSportHub.
Exercises
- Wall sitA holding exercise where you sit against a wall with no chair, holding a squat position still.
- Bulgarian split squatA single-leg squat where the back foot is raised on a bench behind you.
- Tricep dipA pushing exercise where you lower and raise your body using your arms on parallel bars or a bench.
- Sit-upA classic core exercise where you lift your torso from the floor toward your knees and back down.
- Kettlebell swingA dynamic hinge where you swing a kettlebell to shoulder height using a snap of the hips.
Decision making
Tactics
- High pressA football tactic where a team hunts the ball high up the pitch to win it back close to the opponent’s goal.
- Zone defenceA defensive system where each player guards an area of the court rather than a specific opponent.
- Serve and volleyAn attacking tennis tactic where the server follows their serve to the net to finish the point with a volley.
- Offside trapA defensive football tactic where the back line steps up together to leave an attacker offside.
- Serve-receive formationHow a volleyball team arranges its passers to receive the serve and set up a clean first attack.
Strategies
- Game managementAdapting how a team or athlete plays to the scoreline and time remaining — protecting a lead, chasing a result or seeing out the closing stages.
- Using Width and SpaceA side's plan to stretch the playing area and open gaps when attacking, then shrink and control that space when defending.
Facilities
- Football pitchThe large rectangular grass or artificial-turf field on which football (soccer) is played, with a goal at each end.
- Badminton courtA rectangular indoor court, divided by a high net, on which badminton is played as singles or doubles.
- Tennis courtA rectangular marked court, divided across the middle by a net, where tennis is played as singles or doubles.
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How this page is maintained
- Content type
- Term
- Provenance
- Tier A — evergreen educational
- Verified external sources
- 0
- Content updated
- 2026-08-04
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