Would you let your kids play football?

Below a certain age the kids are just running around randomly or all instantly heading towards the ball anyway, might as well be playing smear the queer if you just want them to learn about toughness.

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no wonder there is so much bad tackling in college and the pros.. in all those clips, not one kid was wrapping up.

poorly coached.
 
Here in North Carolina (and in my county in particular), the youth coaching is really piss poor. My son played a couple of years in 3rd and 5th grade before he gave up, mainly because of poor coaching. This is fully realized at the high school varsity level where even though the high school here would be a 3A school in Texas they only field about 18-20 players on the varsity squad (and they only have a JV and varsity team). By comparison the high school I went to in Texas which is similar in size has 2 freshman, a JV and fields about 30-35 for the varsity.

So while I would love for my son to play..I just can't push him that way because the system here is not really set up to teach good fundamental football including how to keep yourself safe during the game.

One thing I notice quite a bit here is that many parents hold their child back a year, I've seen parents who have held their son back 2 years so they are more "physically mature" then their peers.
 
I'll probably called a pansy or a helicopter parent, but i see those spinal cord injury / paralyzation stories of HS football players and it just send chills down my spine. I know those are low percentages, but I will steer my kids toward soccer, baseball, and basketball.

The Link

There was a great story about this organization on HBO's Real Sports last week.
 
Way too often the entire pee wee football experience is more about the adults and trying to one up each other than it is about teaching kids the fundanmentals of a sport and getting in some excersize. Pee Wee Homecoming, Bonfires, $200 uniforms, Pee Wee Super Bowls, and the accompanying rings (I ain't kidding), coaches who think they are Buddy Ryan, have run off WAY more potential athletes than they have created. Quite often kids have done it all before they are even in JH and they see no reason to play in HS.

First of all it is not neccesary or essential or anything else for a kid to play pee wee football if they are wanting to be a football player in HS. It MAY set them back a little bit in the 7th and 8th grade but that is about it. More often than not the kids who have played pee wee spend their JH years being untaught the really stupid stuff their pee wee coaches have taught them. I mean it... REALLY STUPID. I could write a book about all the stupid crap I have heard pee wee football coaches say and the REALLY stupid techniques they have taught the kids. What is it about a normal, intelligent, succesful, good family man, that turns him from a great guy to raving boob just because he has a pulled a polo on that says "Coach" on the back?

My sons were allowed to play as fifth graders with much reluctance on my part! After their first practice they came home with a playbook five times thicker than the HS I was coaching that year used. Everything from Wishbone, I, Power I, Split Back, etc........ And a hundred plays to go with the twenty formations. Asinine.

I would never do it over.

I do this for a living and I think 7th grade is plenty young enough to start kids on full contact tackle football.
 
My son is 9 (3rd grade) and has played 2 years of flag football. After last season he proclaimed that he was ready for tackle football. I was fine with it but mom said no, it's too dangerous. I decided to check with the head coach of a local high school team (5A team that made the playoffs) who happens to live a few doors down from us and see what he thought.

He said he'd suggest staying in flag football until at least junior high. He said if he had his way, the first year of junior high football would be flag football too. He said with the way offenses work these days, guys need to work on skill positions, running catching, covering in space, etc. He says the kids that come into his program know more about tackle rules but don't have the skills that the flag guys have.
 
I've broken a pelvis and a foot in baseball, as well as received a black eye, lots of bruises from balls that hit me. I've also broke my nose playing basketball (well placed elbow). Never got hurt playing football.

having said that, I just finished coaching my 11 year old's tackle football team this fall. It was a great experience. You'd probably be surprised how hard these kids hit even at this age. You'd also be surprised at the intensity of the game even at this level. My son sprained his ankle pretty badly early during the season, and had some bruises on his arm throughout the season. One kid broke his wrist in a game and another broke his arm. that was the extent of injuries.

I would highly encourage any kid interested in playing to play regardless of their size. We had little pint sized kids that salivated at the thought of getting to hit someone! What came out of it was the lifelong effects of teamwork, discipline, reaching goals, etc.
 
Yes. Let but not force to.

Severe football-related injuries to younger boys are rare. I have seen a catastrophic hip injury in a 14-year old, but nothing bad in kids younger than that which I can recall.

Football, if one includes all kids and all sports, is the #1 injury causer, with cheerleading #2. As stated in the above-linked study, however, injury severity tends to worsen as the kids age.

Major spinal injury in otherwise well football players is typically caused by a powerful tackling blow with the helmet down (i.e., the spearing tackler is the one who is himself hurt). A boy who wears pads and doesn't spear is highly unlikely to sustain a life-changing injury in his prepubescent career.

Wrist and forearm fractures are not too rare but their prevention is no reason IMHO to hold a kid out.

I would strongly counsel my sons to consider switching to something like golf as they get older because of the significant pain many higher-level football players (especially collegiate and above) have from middle age onwards.
 
I thought about this: hell yes I'd let my kid play football if he wanted to. Just keep him away from the steroids.
 
Anyone who wouldn't allow their healthy 3rd grade boy to play tackle football is un-by God-American. What have we turned into, ******* France?

As someone said above, let's just start wrapping them in bubble wrap the moment they get up in the morning.
 
Junior football is not for every kid. I have an 8yr old son that played tackle football for the first time this year. He's the middle of my 3 sons. This son is a very physical kid that was described as a "human bowling ball" by his soccer coach. The kid would run into the scrum in soccer and every other kid would fall down as he'd come out with the ball. The same would happen when going for a rebound in basketball. He's not a "big" kid for his age but very solidly built.

The league he joined has an age/weight matrix that keeps the young and small kids from playing the big and old kids. The smallest kid we had was 7yr/60lb (league minimum to play). The biggest kid was 9yr/90lbs (needed to weigh in before each game...90.1lbs mean kid doesn't play). My son was on the smaller side at 8yr/65lbs.

I coached my sons team and ended up as OC. I was allowed to be on the field and call the plays in the huddle. This is a learning league. Kids are learning how to play the game and hopefully picking up a few fundamentals. The roster sizes are purposely very small (17-20) kids to ensure everyone gets significant playing time.

Were there some hard hits? Yes but mostly in practice. All football coaches in the State of Washington are required to get certified in recognizing the symptoms of concussions. We didn't have any all season but I pulled kids out several times to check.

Will my son be playing again next year? It is his choice but he enjoyed the contact. He ended up being one hell of a NT using his quickness to fly past the OL.

If he wants to continue to play I'll support him but will constantly be on the lookout for concussion symptoms. The moment I see those he'll be done for the season.

My 8yr old and 7yr old sons just completed their first season of wrestling (Folkstyle). In each of the last 2 tournaments a kid was taken away in an ambulance due to a severely broken arm and unknown injury for the second. I don't think kids should be raised in a bubble. They need to be tought how to play sports safely. Sports are THEIR choice rather than the parents.

Oh...my oldest son is 10yrs old and
 
Played 4-12, well 11 and 12 were injury years with little time on the field.

HELL yeah I'd let them play.

If you got wiped out by a player 50 lbs heavier, your technique was probably bad. That's all.
 
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