Should Responsible Programs Eliminate Tackle Football at the Youth Level

[madpolecat]

Let's ask the tough questions...

Is it irresponsible (in the light of health and safety concerns) for high school coaches to continue endorsing pee-wee and youth football program?

I have talked to high school coaches who would rather just see kids play flag until middle school, and there are good reasons...

1. Is any possible gain in skills at the high school level worth the risk of concussive impacts to pre-teenage skulls? Is such a risk justifiable in any way?

2. Given the un-even nature of youth football coaching, is the potential of learning bad habits which will have to be un-taught worth it?

3. Is it possible that kids get their fill of football by starting too early, or that they develop a bad taste for the sport because of their experiences with bootcamp-style pee-wee practices.

I have had this discussion with coaches from more than one school. Most of them feel that they are caught in an arms race, though, where even though they question the consistent benefit of youth programs, they continue to endorse them because parents insist on having 10-years run full-steam into each other like adults.

Another coach put it like this... we have to have youth tackle, because if we don't, the parents will take their kids to where they do offer it, and then we will never get those kids in high school.

I would love to hear thoughtful opinions on this.

[BurgGrad6]

I don't know about other area school. However, at wheelersburg the high school coaches hand pick pee wee coaches and are involved in everything that is taught. Teaching proper techniques on how to tackle can eliminate many injuries at the pee wee level all the way up. This is what pee wee football is about at burg. I think at burg the pee wee program is great. It introduces the kids into what it is to be a pirate football player. They learn basic plays and formations. Most of all, it is fun for the kids!!

[Sportsman]

Coldwater has no Tackle till Jr High.

[BurgGrad6]

Coldwater has no football till jr high. They also have no soccer after 6th grade...

[fbnut]

No

[Blitz]

I like the way Burg is set up. Starts at 5th grade and is ran very well. NO dads! Very good instruction on fundamentals and low emphasis on winning. All intermural with 4 teams of 13-14 kids. As far as big concussive type hits I watched every game played at Burg pee wee this season. There was only one hit that I can remember all season that was really hard. It was a peel back block on a QB scramble which was called as an illegal hit by the ref (ref is the only person who didn't like it) everyone else went ooohhhh!. Other than that I don't recall any. maybe other posters on here saw some I missed. I think 5th grade is about right to start. JMHO

[countywide35]

touchy subject.........instead of eliminating the programs find a way to make it better, safer, and keep the kids interest up.....yes, flag football does a WONDERFUL job at teaching techniques, throwing, catching, running, etc......but the thing it cannot teach is the most important aspect of the game of football and that is to HIT.......football is a collision sport....... this is a topic that can have an ocean of opinions and everyone is entitled to theirs and the freedom of making a decision of what they feel is best.........but as most things in life pee-wee football has both its good and bad sides.......

[1987chieftains]

I don't know about other area school. However, at wheelersburg the high school coaches hand pick pee wee coaches and are involved in everything that is taught. Teaching proper techniques on how to tackle can eliminate many injuries at the pee wee level all the way up. This is what pee wee football is about at burg. I think at burg the pee wee program is great. It introduces the kids into what it is to be a pirate football player. They learn basic plays and formations. Most of all, it is fun for the kids!!

This IMO is what needs to happen at Logan and should have been going on at Logan for years.

[moonshine]

I don't know about other area school. However, at wheelersburg the high school coaches hand pick pee wee coaches and are involved in everything that is taught. Teaching proper techniques on how to tackle can eliminate many injuries at the pee wee level all the way up. This is what pee wee football is about at burg. I think at burg the pee wee program is great. It introduces the kids into what it is to be a pirate football player. They learn basic plays and formations. Most of all, it is fun for the kids!!

This IMO is what needs to happen at Logan and should have been going on at Logan for years.

Hopefully, this will be addressed after the current season at Logan maybe with the new coach?

[1987chieftains]

I don't know about other area school. However, at wheelersburg the high school coaches hand pick pee wee coaches and are involved in everything that is taught. Teaching proper techniques on how to tackle can eliminate many injuries at the pee wee level all the way up. This is what pee wee football is about at burg. I think at burg the pee wee program is great. It introduces the kids into what it is to be a pirate football player. They learn basic plays and formations. Most of all, it is fun for the kids!!

This IMO is what needs to happen at Logan and should have been going on at Logan for years.

Hopefully, this will be addressed after the current season at Logan maybe with the new coach?

When my boy was coming through the Tomahawk program I was floored to find out that the Logan football staff had NOTHING to do with the peewee program.

[madpolecat]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/spor ... youth.html

What about things like this?

[thebarlowbandit]

Responsible youth programs will not have seasons that are as long or longer than the High School season, they will not begin at the 2nd grade or in some cases younger.

[Uncle Creepy]

I think it's great that Ironton High School has went to 2 Hand Touch at the high school level. Very progressive! Hats off to you Fighting Tigers!

[BurgGrad6]

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/spor ... youth.html

What about things like this?

Again.. teach proper tackling techniques and head injuries will decrease dramatically. Also being properly fitted for equipment is a must. I know the wheelersburg program does these things and head injuries are very few and far between.. just like any sport though there is a risk.

[bbtrucking.inc]

No tackling takes the fun out of the sport, therefore if we eliminate tackling, we should just eliminate the sport. And good luck with that.

[Ballsmahoney]

Thats a hard question for most pee wee coaches,because most pee wee coaches are DADS who think they are coaching to win the title of greatest pee wee coach of all time....ive even heard of pee wee coaches watching films....somebody break the news to the DAD that his 5'6" full grown son aint going to the nfl.
I do believe tackle should start in jr high....but u will never get DAD(Vince lombardi)pee wee coach to buy in and even worse the pee wee parent who thinks jimmys is gonna play for the patriots someday.

[OSU22]

No tackling takes the fun out of the sport, therefore if we eliminate tackling, we should just eliminate the sport. And good luck with that.

Not sure I would take it that far but here is what I think. Taking tackling out of football would indeed take some of the fun out of the sport. Some kids who are gritty, hard nosed kids love contact, you take that away who knows if they'll play when they get the chance to actually tackle. Teaching proper technique is extremely important. Most teams do have dads who coach and some of those dads think they're coaching to win some huge title, but some dads also understand the importance of teaching the basics, fundamentals and how to play the game. I think keeping tackling in the game is important, just more emphasis on technique is essiential. Here's an idea. What if coaches from the high school team designated one coach to take a whole week during the first week of pass to go down to the youth fields and make sure the coaches are teaching proper technique and fundamentals. Idk, just my thoughts.

[Paladin]

Football 6th grade and below should be restricted to flag league play. Tackle should be introduced in 7th grade with kick offs eliminated until Frosh year. At that point, football as we know it should be O K. My own kids were in youth league tackle, good athletes but far too many backward kids and bad coaches at that level. The grandsons opted for flag leagues and it was night and day. Skill development much better at flag. Safer. Interest peaked to get to tackle football so numbers held up and are still high.

And the handwriting is on the wall. Want to keep football? Modify and survive or be a di ck and watch it implode.

[enigmaax]

My guess is that in the next 5 or so years there will be no tackle football before junior high and full pad practices with tackling will be minimal to non-existent.

Professional leagues are heading that direction and if guys getting paid millions of dollars to scramble their brains say it isn’t worth it, sooner or later someone at high school and youth levels is going to realize it and follow suit.

We know enough about the impact of concussions now, that the effects on skill level, quality of play, etc. are meaningless.

[dazed&confused]

Youth leagues operate separate from schools. While some schools may encourage or cooperate with them, schools in and of themselves can't stop these leagues.