text file to list or dictionary

[redpython]

I have a text file (tackles.txt) that contains basic stats on high school football players - so far it is just last name and number of tackles. For example:
Jones 2.3
Smith 4.6
Dillon 7.8

How can I read that file and come up with the average number of tackles for all players? Should I try to create a list? A dictionary? I am new to python.

I would like to eventually add more data to the file - such as name tackles position year etc.

thanks in advance.

[vegaseat]

This thread was originally posted as a code snippet by mistake.
Code snippets are for completed working code only.

[baki100]

you can use a dictionary but it won't be wise to use the surname as the key instead use the position number. for the itemvalues you can use a list and you can append new values later if needed so basically you have a list in the dictionary.

[jice]

you can use a dictionary but it won't be wise to use the surname as the key instead use the position number. for the itemvalues you can use a list and you can append new values later if needed so basically you have a list in the dictionary.

It is not wise IF you are not absolutely sure that you won't have two guys with the same name. Otherwhise this is not a problem...
Having said that, you can use the position number as suggested which is about to be the same as using a list.
To be able to store as many datas as you want, concerning players, you can use a list of dictionary like this :

myPlayerList=[{"name":"Jones",
               "tackles":[5, 6],
               "somethingElse":["aValue", "anotherValue"]},
              {"name":"Smith",
               "tackles":[4, 2],
               "somethingElse":["aValue", "anotherValue"]}
             ]
# then you call a value like this
name=myPlayerList[1]["name"]
tackleNb2=myPlayerList[1]["tackles"][1]

Or, if you want to use the names as keys (considering what has been said about that) :

myPlayerDict={"Jones":{"tackles":[5, 6],
                      "somethingElse":["aValue", "anotherValue"]},
              "Smith":{"tackles":[4, 2],
                      "somethingElse":["aValue", "anotherValue"]}
             }
# then you call a value like this
listOfJonesTackles=myPlayerDict["Jones"]["tackles"]
smithTackleNb2=myPlayerDict["Smith"]["tackles"][1]

[redpython]

Thanks to all. This was very helpful and points me in a better direction than I was going. Cheers.