What's considered too young for contact football?

[elhosel]

I am like Gerry B.... I played all the way up through college and coached high school. I would like to see contact to begin no earlier than 10 yr old or 5th or 6th grade. You can learn plenty of fundamentals in that time slot before high school. It is still an unknown what kind of effects concussions have on players long term. So in my opinion, anywhere you can reduce the number of hits a kid takes, the better. Point 2 is that, after seeing several youth programs playing and practicing. I see a lot of coaches that mean well in the younger age groups that are not very good with fundamentals. I am not saying all programs are that way, there are several that have long time coaches and not a parent that floats up through the age groups with their kids. Just a humble opinion from an old ball coach.

[wingman10]

had 4 boys that all played football thru college, one coaches on a high level and one is a ref in a well known league and i still go by old school, start in jr high (not many schools have jr high snymore, but still in that age range)

Edited October 2, 2016 by wingman10

[footballover]

In Huntingdon flag is K-2 tackle starts in 3rd grade. We usually have 1 3rd 1 4th 1 5th and 1 6th grade team. Try to teach the same philosophy as middle and high school

[ItsAlwaysSunnyInAtwood]

Nothing wrong with that at all.I did the same thing about lifting weights,I said eighth grade.It worked out great.Also some kids get burnt out on doing something for such a long time.Mine started playing when he was 10 but I worked with him at home when he first showed signs of wanting to play just so he would have a little knowledge of the game before he suited up.

You also gotta go by the kid. Lord knows all of them aren't the same

[wildcat89]

Another back in the day post LOL...So back in the day we didn't start till 7th grade. I can count on one hand of the folks I played with that ever got hurt,players just didn't get hurt like they do today.We also didn't it the weights like they do today. I had a friend who was a sucessful college coach tell me that the biggest concern he had was starting kids out to early on the weights. He thought their muscles needed to develope first and he contributes a lot of injurys to that.

Coach Rice helped get our youth league going and the seniors on our 2011 team where the ones that were four years old the year the league started. Also unless it's changed in our league you can't line a defensive player head up on the center. My oldest didn't play until he was 10 but there were some circumstances that were the reason. My other two started at four and never had any problems. As for weight training, I know this sounds weird but not all the kids are the same, I started letting my boys lift when they started getting hair on their legs. That came from an old doctor who said that was when their muscles were starting to mature. My middle son graduated benching 485 pounds. My youngest is a young sophomore (15) and is benching 300 pounds and I used the same method. I agree with what someone else posted about it depends on the kid. There's a fine line between to early and getting behind but better late than early on this issue. Edited October 3, 2016 by wildcat89

[team69]

Coach Rice helped get our youth league going and the seniors on our 2011 team where the ones that were four years old the year the league started. Also unless it's changed in our league you can't line a defensive player head up on the center. My oldest didn't play until he was 10 but there were some circumstances that were the reason. My other two started at four and never had any problems. As for weight training, I know this sounds weird but not all the kids are the same, I started letting my boys lift when they started getting hair on their legs. That came from an old doctor who said that was when their muscles were starting to mature. My middle son graduated benching 485 pounds. My youngest is a young sophomore (15) and is benching 300 pounds and I used the same method. I agree with what someone else posted about it depends on the kid. There's a fine line between to early and getting behind but better late than early on this issue.

Man 485 is alot to be pushing

Edited October 3, 2016 by team69

[PiRaTe._.MiKe]

If they start early you gotta have the right coaches in place that know what they are doing. I agree, depends on the kid. Don't get me wrong, I do like the idea of starting them at age 7 or 8, maybe even 10 or 11, but in my lifetime I have seen great success from starting early. Maybe it's a smaller school thing. We have to many times "create" good football players by great coaching and fundamentals. Oh yea, it helps if they can run fast too

[orngnblk]

If they start early you gotta have the right coaches in place that know what they are doing. I agree, depends on the kid. Don't get me wrong, I do like the idea of starting them at age 7 or 8, maybe even 10 or 11, but in my lifetime I have seen great success from starting early. Maybe it's a smaller school thing. We have to many times "create" good football players by great coaching and fundamentals. Oh yea, it helps if they can run fast too

That's it!LOL.

[pujo]

Coach Rice helped get our youth league going and the seniors on our 2011 team where the ones that were four years old the year the league started. Also unless it's changed in our league you can't line a defensive player head up on the center. My oldest didn't play until he was 10 but there were some circumstances that were the reason. My other two started at four and never had any problems. As for weight training, I know this sounds weird but not all the kids are the same, I started letting my boys lift when they started getting hair on their legs. That came from an old doctor who said that was when their muscles were starting to mature. My middle son graduated benching 485 pounds. My youngest is a young sophomore (15) and is benching 300 pounds and I used the same method. I agree with what someone else posted about it depends on the kid. There's a fine line between to early and getting behind but better late than early on this issue.

Experts are fine with kids and weight training at nearly any age. They have do's and don'ts but its actually a good thing if done right. Whats funny is thinking kids can do pull ups but can't allow them to lift 10 pound dumb bells. Back in the day ,most kids done hard manual labor and it consisted of lifting heavy objects. Point is ,if it stunted growth,we would live in a world of midgets. Like I said,its not a magic age but they need to be able to take instruction.This is not my opinion ,this comes from the Field of sports science. Playing sports at the young ages is actually much more dangerous.

[Waker]

There is no reason to have a 4 year old play tackle football. If they are, it is only for the dads. I don't think they should start hitting until 4th or 5th grade. The 1st and 2nd graders in Huntingdon kids are like herding cats. Maybe 2 or 3 on a team that really want to play.

[pujo]

There is no reason to have a 4 year old play tackle football. If they are, it is only for the dads. I don't think they should start hitting until 4th or 5th grade. The 1st and 2nd graders in Huntingdon kids are like herding cats. Maybe 2 or 3 on a team that really want to play.

Don't care if they play flag or tackle. Just put something on their head.

[horse]

Coach Rice helped get our youth league going and the seniors on our 2011 team where the ones that were four years old the year the league started. Also unless it's changed in our league you can't line a defensive player head up on the center. My oldest didn't play until he was 10 but there were some circumstances that were the reason. My other two started at four and never had any problems. As for weight training, I know this sounds weird but not all the kids are the same, I started letting my boys lift when they started getting hair on their legs. That came from an old doctor who said that was when their muscles were starting to mature. My middle son graduated benching 485 pounds. My youngest is a young sophomore (15) and is benching 300 pounds and I used the same method. I agree with what someone else posted about it depends on the kid. There's a fine line between to early and getting behind but better late than early on this issue.

wildcat89 485?