We started playing at 6.. We had weight classes and each player had to weigh in before each game. If you were over you didnt play..
My mom let me play for the first time in sixth grade. I had missed third, fourth and fifth grade before that. I don't think there is any question that football can result in pretty serious injuries. I would put it about on par with riding a bike or a skateboard in that aspect. I played baseball from the time I was 5 years old. We didn't start playing hardball until the age of 9. For those that claim that baseball is more dangerous than football, I definitely do not agree. Sure, I saw plenty of dudes get dinged. A few were knocked a bit woozy, but nothing too prolonged or scary. Most sustained a busted nose, a fat lip, a black eye or other minor bumps and bruises. I never saw anyone break a bone or jack up their knee or other such serious injury. That is not the case with football. I will say this, I never personally saw a serious football injury until 9th grade. After that, I witnessed other kids around me get injured with some consistency. I'm talking about things like broken arms and legs, busted knees and neck and back injuries. Fortunately, I was never one of them save for a few minor twisted ankles. I attribute this to the basic physics of bigger, faster kids generating more force in high school ball. Based on my experience, I believe that parents are better off letting their kids try football early on when the risks are lower and see if they take to it. I did see a kid on the opposing team break a collarbone in one of my son's football games at around age 12, so that sort of thing does happen. But, that is the only serious injury that I have personally witnessed in youth football and I have watched a bunch of games. Football is a tough game and a rite of passage. Ironically, that's the appeal in a "character building" sense. It's not for everyone, but that's kind of the point. I think if a kid is willing to get in there and mix it up in the early years he should be allowed to do so.
I coached LL football for six years i stressed stretching and proper technique. And in that time period i believe i had one child with a fractured wrist.
Another comment I will make on youth football has to do with coaching and parent variables. One year when my kid was 10 years old, he played for some boob coach who didn't play ball in high school and didn't have any kids on the team. He didn't know what he was doing and basically frustrated the kids by overemphasizing all kinds of trifling "technique" details instead of just encouraging hard-nosed aggressiveness, which is the most important component to succeeding at that age IMO. He also ran afoul of some parents for being "too tough" (he was a lot of things, but "too tough" wasn't one of them). The whole freaking thing was a fiasco. The problem with this deal was that the team was completely unprepared to compete with the other teams that did benefit from competent coaching that emphasized the aggressiveness in their kids above all of the other minutia. This disparity affected more than the wins and losses, it was downright dangerous. My son's football team was actually physically endangered by the timidity that resulted from sorry coaching and overprotective parenting. They were basically cannon fodder for the ruffians at the top of the league. Luckily, no one got seriously hurt as a result but they sure did take a lot of licks. The moral of this story is that football is a tough game. There's just no pussyfooting around that. A good youth football coach has to find a way to bring out the aggressiveness in his kids and minimize their timidity. That is accomplished through spirited, physical practices that challenge kids on a "tough guy" level and instill the requisite hardnosed attitude that supports success (and, ironically, actually keeps your kid safer out on the field). There will be some pain involved - no ifs, ands or buts. That is something that you are going to have to embrace as a parent. Anything less is actually dangerous because the other teams are not going to pull any punches when they line up across from your kid.
I don't have a lot to add that hasn't been said already, but I do have a short story from my son's first tackle football team. We still laugh about it even though it is a bit sad. The coach had a son who was a pretty decent running back, but he had a tendancy to fumble. After one such fumble the coach screamed at the top of his lungs, "YOUR NOT MY SON!" You could have heard a pin drop. I misspelled "you're" for effect because I'm sure that's how the coach/dad would have spelled it.
We still laugh about it even though it is a bit sad. Yeah i find it sad and in my six years of coaching i came across to many of these jock parents mothers included that didn't have a clue what effect they had on there childs self esteem and development.
I'm an orange-blooded, season ticket-holding Horn, but, when it came to our sons (now grown), my wife and I treated football as a gladiatorial sport. Attend the games, yell & scream, but let someone else break their bones...and believe me, we watched many of our boys' friends sustain injuries, some quite serious, on the gridiron over the years. Instead, we placed tennis racquets in our kids' hands when they were young, paid for their lessons, and carted them to tournaments all over the State, as they eventually went on to win All-District and All-State honors in high school. One went on to play on a national championship team in college. Golf was also high on our list with our children. We saw the value in encouraging "lifetime sports," like tennis and golf, that they could continue to play with friends, family, and business associates for the rest of their lives...not just the glory days of their youths. It was a good plan, and it worked out well. They continue to actively engage in these sports as adults, and neither has ever broken a bone, had a concussion, screwed up a knee, etc.
Played football and baseball through high school. Football was so exciting and just loved baseball. Sprained an ankle my senior year - that's the extent of my football injuries. If my son had a passion for it I would let him play. With that written.... ...I'm thankful my own son doesn't have an interest in team sports and especially football. I think some time in the future (25, 50, 100 years?) football will be reduced to a niche sport akin to boxing based on brain damage data coming out recently.
Absolutely, They're insured, but so was my wife who died in a mysterious Mango picking accident in Belize with her tennis coach Raul last spring.
We let two of our boys try flag football for the first time this fall. Our older son (a 4th Grader) really loves it - he has bonded with his teammates, and has a good coach. He even scored his first touchdown a couple of weeks ago. Our kids aren't exactly the most athletic, so it has been a really good thing for building up his self-confidence with athletics. Our younger son (1st Grader) seems to enjoy it as well, but I think he is too little for the game to really "click" for him yet. I don't think he fully gets it yet. Poor kid has a June birthday, so he is one of the youngest kids on the field. I think he will get there eventually, but it may take a few more years of playing. I'm a little wary of tackle football, too, with all the data about the long-term effects of head injuries coming out these days.
Maybe 20 years ago kids football was a good idea. Not today with all the whacked-out parents and the increasing evidence of traumatic brain injury. Letting your kid play football is a form of child abuse. As mentioned, football is now a gladiator sport. Would you want your kid to go into boxing? Unless your kid is a quarterback, football is mostly a sport for the lower socio-economic castes.
As someone said above, let's just start wrapping them in bubble wrap the moment they get up in the morning. _________________________________________________ i see them like this riding their bikes in the neighborhood.
I said mostly a sport for the lower socio-economic castes, not exclusively a sport. My statement stands.
Young kids, yes, soccer is more dangerous than football. High school and above, depends on what new rules/enforcements they put in place.
