Pop Warner Ban Kickoffs

[cloverleaf]

Pop Warner announced it will do away with kickoffs for its three youngest divisions starting
in the fall. The ball will be placed at the 35 yard line at the start of each half and after each
score in divisions with kids ages 5-10.

Momies will be allowed to go into the huddle and serve milk and cookies after each first
down.

 

[cloverleaf]

Guess I should ask for the forums take on this. Kickoffs have been around since the
beginning of little league football...now...it's to rough.

Heavens, what's going on in this fucken country?

 

[RunLeeRun]

Throw the bodies upon the gears.

 

[cloverleaf]

Throw the kids in tough situations to grow up.

 

[MackDonald]

Clover: It goes deeper than banning kick-offs in Pop Warner (Jr.) Football. Several years back they banned "dodge ball" on grade school play grounds and in P.E. classes. Little league Baseball has evolved to where it is nothing more than a "feel-good session" in a dugout where little boys (and few girls) go thru the motions of playing a game where everyone gets a trophy at the end of the season. Heaven forbid if one of the managers would "chew" one of the kids-out if he botched a play or didn't keep his head-up...and stay alert while running the bases. Most likely you would hear from the family's attorney or at the least, hear the wrath of the kids mother from the bleachers. We are nurturing a generation of "wimps" whose sexual identity is being taken away from these boys beginning during early childhood.

Banning kick-offs is just the beginning......Football is the one sport that girls can't play and that is why there are many women (feminists) who would love to see the game itself abolished; You think that is hard to believe; Think again. There are women in power who resent the money being spent on college football; never mind that the sport subsidizes all most all of college women's sports through the revenue it raises.

Let "Boys be Boys" for gosh sakes and keep social engineering away from athletics/spots and cut-out he Crap. I got a little "heavy" here but this banning
and whittling away at the games of long tradition sticks in my "crawl".

 

[cloverleaf]

+ 1000 Mr. Mack.

Long traditions are important to me! Gays, Fags, Lesbos and the other silliness going on now in
this country devalues what this country is all about.

Amazing Christians who believe in Jesus and doing what's right are the enemy in todays world.

Screw the leaders who are trying to destroy this country. Fuck you liberal dirtbags.

 

[2ese]

Agree...lets get rid of those damn solid helmets and go back to leather...this is a mans game these 6 year olds are playing...suck it up son

 

[cloverleaf]

Agree...lets get rid of those damn solid helmets and go back to leather...this is a mans game these 6 year olds are playing...suck it up son

More young kids are hurt playing soccer than Pop Warner football.

I suggest you dress your kid in pink and let him play badminton!

 

[RunLeeRun]

More young kids are hurt playing soccer than Pop Warner football.

If that were true it's because there are twice as many kids playing organized soccer as organized football. And yet recent stats suggest it isn't true. Here is a USA today article 2011/2012 data.

Using data from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission's National Electronic Injury Surveillance System, the report focused on pediatric sports injuries related to 14 common sports activities, including football, cheerleading, soccer and basketball. More than 46.5 million children played team sports in 2011, says the report........Among other findings from the report: Football resulted in both the highest number of all pediatric injuries (394,350) and the highest concussion rate (40 per 10,000 athletes).

Or this link from Stanford School of Medicine us the 2009 data from the same commission.

Football. Almost 215,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for football-related injuries.
Soccer. About 88,000 children ages 5 to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for soccer-related injuries.

Whatever the "true" numbers are with youth injuries, three separate years show football is the winner and again, TWICE, as many kids play soccer, so I think the injury disparity is significant. I think you want that to be true because you are from a different era and pretty much every generation always calls out the next for what it sees as regression. I like watching football as much as the next guy. But these are kids. Most don't have a future in the game, but all of them have some kind of parent that doesn't want to see them hurt. It's easy from afar, when you look at a page of stats and say, "only x number get's injured." When you are part of said x, it's a lot different. Also, I don't agree it's about throwing them to the fire and telling them to toughen up. I thought organized sports was about building teamwork and trust. I guess that's another difference from your generation to the current.

 

[RunLeeRun]

Agree...lets get rid of those damn solid helmets and go back to leather...this is a mans game these 6 year olds are playing...suck it up son

I think you are being sarcastic.....but leather helmets might be the way to go. Those 7 on 7 camps where some sort of soft padded helmet very reminiscent of the old leather days. If we can get to teaching more of this rugby style of tackling that is gaining momentum and focus less of "blowup" hits, we might save more of the game that we all love. Reducing some of the "protection" on the body may deter more players from headhunting.

 

[2ese]

I was....Google tommy Clark boca,,, raton fla....my son was playing next to him ....maybe he should have been wearing pink

 

[clowncar]

Maybe early football head injuries explains why most athletes are so stupid.

I am fine with all the rule changes as long as we call the sport something other than football.

 

[sendacash]

I think that's a good idea for kids 5-10 year range as that's one the most violent plays in the game as evidenced by the NFL moving the kickoff location in order to create more touch backs. In Pop Warner football there are no touch backs because kickers don't have the leg. Some folks believe that 5-10 is too young to be playing tackle football anyways, including some who know quite a bit about the game.

 

[CoachCB]

In all honestly, you have to believe the kickoff will be done away with all together sooner or later. Even the players union (in the NFL) is bitching about it.

I agree w/ CL and Mack's sentiment though. It's football, and it's being watered down - especially at the NFL level.

 

[MackDonald]

No doubt about it Coach.....The game is being "watered down" especially in the NFL, which usually filters-down to the college ranks & below. (zealous QB protection), (receivers and running backs receiving interference/roughness calls), Remember when the kick-offs were from the 40 yard line and the kickers began to boot the ball in the stands; They had to move the kick off yard-line back to allow (encourage) more kick-off returns. The 104 yard kick-off return was always one of the high lights of the game (maybe the season).

Todays equipment plays a leading role, resulting in more injuries in all aspects of the game, not just kick-off/returns; (The high-tech helmets), the disappearance of the knee pads, and the "watered-down" (lighter) hip and shoulder pads which, today, are about the size and weight of a woman's bra and girdle, high-tech uniforms (jersey's and pants) all of which allows for more speed which is the real (injury) culprit today. Each NFL prospect and all college recruits today are clocked for seed.....
What are we going to do next, rule-out or penalize excess speed.........If speed was curbed it would cut down on the injuries (considerably).

We can't have it (both ways) in the game of football (a contact sport). Quoting John Madden, "Football is a game played by Warriors"....That is why
football is the most popular (idolized) game/sport in America today, attested by the fans who are willing to pay the price of admission to watch the game........as we know [it].

 

[rolltide]

in soccer they just outlawed heading the ball for kids 10 or younger. not sure if anyone has seen a game involving 9 year olds but if the ball does get off the ground, it's by mistake.

 

[cloverleaf]

A recent clinical report from the American Academy of Pediatrics says injury
rates in youth SOCCER (14 and under) are higher than other contact sports.
Soccer has a higher injury rate than many contact/collision sports such as
FOOTBALL, rugby, basketball and field hockey.

Maybe they should ban the goalie in soccer or maybe use a beachball to
kick around. Helmet and pads should be mandatory in this brutal sport
for our little biddie children.

 

[sendacash]

If we are talking about 5-10 year olds, I think there needs to be some precautions taken, it's just common sense. We don't need to be putting 8 year olds in Oklahoma drills to toughen them up and there might be some uneducated coaches out there pretending that they are some sort of Vince Lombardi.


At a larger level I think the primary motivation here is the all mighty dollar bill, trying to manage potential liability issues brought on via lawsuits from former players. That's just the way it is in America today, turn on the TV for more than 5 minutes and you're likely to see some lawyer in a commercial bragging about how much money they got for their clients. We've already seen this at the NFL level, what's going to happen when they start bringing litigation to the college ranks?

 

[MackDonald]

Interesting view "Senda".....We're back to that damn "money/liability" thing again which is constantly looming in ALL facets of our society today.
Of course your right, we don't want 10 year-olds & younger getting injured for any reason; Caution is definitely called for. The conundrum is trying
to incorporate injury prevention in with how the game is meant to be played.

 

[cloverleaf]

More children are INJURED and KILLED in car accidents than anything else. Unless
it is an absolute emergency, all children should be BANNED from riding in cars. No
trips to McDonalds, no going to movies, no riding to grandma's house. It's too bloody
dangerous for them. Safety helmets should be mandatory when kids ride in cars.
Yeah, that's the PC ticket...........

Ban football kickoffs....give me a fucken break.