re: Little League Football: No thanks!

Football for four months is better than travel ball for 10 months

There is no safe age. It's football and the hits get harder and more violent as they get older. If your kid has talent and athleticism it also doesn't matter if you start them late. They will either pick it up or won't, and if they don't then you don't have to worry about concussions because they will be the ones cheering the team on, and handing water bottles to their teammates who are playing.

quote:

---

Good luck on him making a team at 13 with no previous experience.

Coaches love that.

---

Coaches like size and athleticism, pretty much period. If you've got that at 13, they could give a shite if you've ever played a down of organized football.

But if it makes you sleep better, keep telling yourself your kid's got a leg up cause he's been strapping on pads since he was 5.

My parents never let me play because I was very short and skinny and also had asthma

I started playing at 6 and until I graduated HS. I was the permanent offensive captain my senior year and an all county selection for OL. But.....I was as 5.0 40 180lb OG who was the smallest guy on our line by 40lbs. I had no option to play college ball as my metrics were not exactly in high demand.

But I did get fortunate to stay in the game when my HS HC asked me to be the OL coach of the 8th grade when I was 19 and a year out of of HS. I was working weekends to pay my tuition at Kennesaw State and had evenings open to coach. In my second year the HC had to resign 3 weeks before the first game due to health issues and I was asked to assume HC duty. I was 20 coaching 13-14 year olds at one of the biggest schools in Georgia.

I am now 46 and other than a few years off when my children were young, I have coached this age group for over 23 years. Coached several former NFL players and one current NFL player and at least 50 P5 players and even more FCS and D3 players. Have managed rosters of 60-80 kids on average.

I mention all this not to boast about coaching but to lend some credibility to my opinion.

My experience has led me to believe that 5th grade is the prime age to start contact so long as the kids are being taught properly. Our local recreation dept requires every coach to be certified in USA Football Heads Up Tackling. These properly taught kids are always at an advantage when they start into the middle school program after a year or two of contact football. It is best to get any kid over the fear of hitting and to understand the physics of contact before he gets to a level where collisions are more violent.

To get them to understand and trust that the shoulder pads are designed to absorb the impact. That it is the act of seizing up or decelerating at impact that makes getting hit an unpleasant experience. It is natural for a kid who has no experience to at first get timid and even turn their body at impact which exposes unpadded areas like ribs.

The seminal moment for any player new to contact is when he finally crosses the trust threshold and goes properly and full bore into impact. It is that moment when he "gets it." I have seen it take 2 to 8 weeks for some 6th-8th graders who have never had full contact to reach that threshold. I have seen many who quit before they ever got there. They just got tired of getting blasted and bruised and in many cases humiliated by their peers.

I am a big proponent of fleshing these issues out before they get to a level where they are just as likely to give up than to cross the threshold. No need to have contact at 5-9 in my opinion as it neither helps nor really hurts a kids potential but I would not hold a kid back if he wanted to be in pads. But I do believe based on years of observation that a kid is given a great advantage when he starts contact a year or two prior to the 7th grade.

quote:

---

Coaches like size and athleticism, pretty much period. If you've got that at 13, they could give a shite if you've ever played a down of organized football. But if it makes you sleep better, keep telling yourself your kid's got a leg up cause he's been strapping on pads since he was 5.

---

What you just said was total bullshite. You look at any successful program and you will see those kids did not start playing football when they were 13. Farmerville won a state championship a couple years ago with kids that had played together since they were 8 years old.

I help coach peewee for 4 yrs and there was a big difference in the kids that had played in previous years verses first year kids. They were also turned out to be better highschool players. Football is not just about lining up and hitting, it takes years for kids to learn proper techniques. They don't play 80 games a year like baseball.

They'll be doing pageants soon so you don't have anything to worry about.

quote:

---

Yet more and more ignorance disguised as being knowledgable because they "coach".

Guess what? The highest level of the NFL knew they had the answers too.........granted they did know and it's why they settled the law suit.

I respect the love that a few of you have for the earlier stages of the game and you represent the responsible/honorable crowd. But, your position is irrelevant because it doesn't address the medical realities which none of you understand or are qualified to do so. You defend what you know and that's the problem. What you know is wrong.

---

If I weren't willing to let my kids play at a young age, then I certainly wouldn't let them play when they are older.

Everything is worse at the middle school age. They practice different (more repetitive contact). They hit harder. It's everything you are worried about.

Rightttttttt 5 year olds dude. That's the real world I am glad I don't live in your shitty arse real world dude.