Time to eliminate youth tackle football

[CP87]

Researches looked at head acceleration (a way of measuring the severity of head impacts) in 7 and 8 year old football players (summarized in this ESPN article). They found that these players sustain head impacts of equal severity to college players, probably due to decreased neck strength, resulting in more "whipping" of the head. The majority of the severe impacts actually occurred during practices, not games.

Authors suggest that youth football teams should restructure their practices to follow the example of NFL teams, largely eliminating contact outside of specific, game-simulation drills. I would go a step further: eliminate youth tackle football.

Kids grow at such different rates that youth football is mainly an exercise in early-developers pounding on late-developers. Form is usually flawed because the kids are not strong enough to carry the pads and execute the proper technique. And on top of that, these kids are getting an early start on brain trauma, something we know is a greater risk in younger athletes.

Teach young kids how to run, throw, catch, and get into proper blocking technique, all of which can be done without pads and without contact. Ease them into contact around junior high (minimize practice collisions). If they want to risk their brains at that point (which I would and did because football is awesome), let them save the real brain-rattling for high school and beyond.

[H8IAST8]

Just get rid of helmets and pads. I played tackle football growing up and never got hurt.

[hawkeye12345]

And it continues......

We played flag football through 5th or 6th grade. I broke my arm (was in traction at a hospital for month) and I got bit above my eyebrow going up for a pass that required 9 stitches.

Kids are going to get hurt even playing tiddly winks. Its part of life. You pick your *** back up off the ground and keep moving forward. If it is too much for you then you get out of the way. Nobody has to play football. Its a choice. If you don't like it then go play something else.

The market is telling us that kids like to play football and we like to watch it.

[DuffMan]

And it continues......

We played flag football through 5th or 6th grade. I broke my arm (was in traction at a hospital for month) and I got bit above my eyebrow going up for a pass that required 9 stitches.

Kids are going to get hurt even playing tiddly winks. Its part of life. You pick your *** back up off the ground and keep moving forward. If it is too much for you then you get out of the way. Nobody has to play football. Its a choice. If you don't like it then go play something else.

The market is telling us that kids like to play football and we like to watch it.

Suggest you would be sad if you son gets a bullet to the head and turned into a drooling vegetable and you get all ******.

Suggest not playing football to avoid turning into a drooling vegatable and you get all ******.

[theboat]

Just get rid of helmets and pads. I played tackle football growing up and never got hurt.

Ditto. I played all the time, two hand touch was for wussies.

[Section136]

And it continues......

We played flag football through 5th or 6th grade. I broke my arm (was in traction at a hospital for month) and I got bit above my eyebrow going up for a pass that required 9 stitches.

Kids are going to get hurt even playing tiddly winks. Its part of life. You pick your *** back up off the ground and keep moving forward. If it is too much for you then you get out of the way. Nobody has to play football. Its a choice. If you don't like it then go play something else.

The market is telling us that kids like to play football and we like to watch it.

Do you understand the difference between playing flag football and having 7 and 8 year olds playing tackle football? They really arent even close to being comparable.

I dont think anybody is asking for flag football to be banned.

[CP87]

And it continues......

We played flag football through 5th or 6th grade. I broke my arm (was in traction at a hospital for month) and I got bit above my eyebrow going up for a pass that required 9 stitches.

Kids are going to get hurt even playing tiddly winks. Its part of life. You pick your *** back up off the ground and keep moving forward. If it is too much for you then you get out of the way. Nobody has to play football. Its a choice. If you don't like it then go play something else.

The market is telling us that kids like to play football and we like to watch it.

Broken arms happen. Cuts and stitches happen. They generally heal, and you get on with your life. Head trauma has a cumulative impact that can negatively impact the remainder or your life, and the evidence is becoming too overwhelming to ignore.

I would also disagree with your assertion that 7 and 8 year old kids are making an informed choice. They do not yet have the capacity to make an intelligent choice. More likely, their parents are making a choice for them.

And I am not saying football should be eliminated. It is a great sport that I played in high school and college, and I think it can teach valuable lessons. However, the fact of the matter is that youth tackle football is not necessary to develop the skills to excel at football. Those skills can be developed in more intelligent ways until the brains become a little less delicate, then the kids can start knocking heads (judiciously, of course).

Another way to think about it: do you feel like you ultimately would have been a better football player if you had played tackle football in 5th and 6th grades instead of flag football? Have you ever talked to a college FB coach about youth tackle FB? I have heard several discuss it, and none of them were in favor of it.

[CP87]

Ditto. I played all the time, two hand touch was for wussies.

Me too. You do a much better job of keeping your head out of harms way when it isn't surrounded by a helmet.

[truehawk]

Well that's why girls don't play the game. If your scared take your kid and your purse somewhere else.

[CP87]

Well that's why girls don't play the game. If your scared take your kid and your purse somewhere else.

I am fine if you take this attitude with your own brain. However, this seems like a pretty cavalier attitude to take towards the brains of 7 and 8 year old kids.

And still no one can make a convincing argument for why kids this age should be playing tackle football. If anyone can find a single high-level football coach (college or above) who advocates tackle football below junior high, I would be very surprised.

If it isn't necessary to develop football players, and it is putting kids in harms way, why would we do it? To prove how tough our gene pool is?

[ColumbusHawk]

I have no trouble with youth tackle football. Most programs do have weight restrictions. My concern is with coaching fundamentals. If you are going to play football at any level you have to know & practice the basic rule of football: "See what you hit. Hit what you see."

Chris Spielman brings this up at least once during every broadcast. If your kids are playing football & don't know what this means they better stop playing.

[bighawkeyedaddy]

Have you ever watched a 7 and 8 year old football game? Unless there is one freak kid who is bigger, stronger and faster than the rest, the collisions are closer to patty cake than football, they usually pull someone down by their shirt or by grabbing their ankles and hanging on.

[CP87]

Have you ever watched a 7 and 8 year old football game? Unless there is one freak kid who is bigger, stronger and faster than the rest, the collisions are closer to patty cake than football, they usually pull someone down by their shirt or by grabbing their ankles and hanging on.

That was the whole point of the initially linked article. Although these collisions seem minor, the head accelerations are actually fairly equivalent to those experienced in college football. Also, the most severe collisions do not occur in games, but rather within the practice setting.

[DuffMan]

Have you ever watched a 7 and 8 year old football game? Unless there is one freak kid who is bigger, stronger and faster than the rest, the collisions are closer to patty cake than football, they usually pull someone down by their shirt or by grabbing their ankles and hanging on.

Just as important as the player to player impacts are the player to ground impacts. One of the thing the article talks about is the whiplash type helmet to ground hits being particularly dangerous. For adults they have neck strenght to hold thier heads up and reduce the impact. For 8 year olds, when you add the weight of a helmet, falling over backwards and stricking the base of your helmet on the ground is a particular dangerous and damaging blow.

I agree that I see no earthly reason why 7-8 year old kids should be playing tackle football. Football above all other sports requires educated and knowledable coaching to be played safely. I encounter youth basketball coaches on a weekly basis. Many couldn't find thier own as5 with two hands. There is no way on earth I would let one of them try and teach my kid football.

Many middle school coaches are at best marginally better, but at least there is an element of school and IAHSAA supervision.

[hawkeye12345]

Suggest you would be sad if you son gets a bullet to the head and turned into a drooling vegetable and you get all ******.

Suggest not playing football to avoid turning into a drooling vegatable and you get all ******.

Looking forward to making it to North Liberty some day soon.