Brett Favre seeks to end youth tackle football (1 Viewer)

[Ditkaless Wonders]

From my own personal, albeit limited, experience, most of the danger is due to the vast range of skills and physical abilities by the kids playing at that age.  It seems mose kids fall in the bell curve of strength and speed, but most teams have that one kid who is just a monster.  These players are involved in head and or neck injuries from tackles and stiff arms.  Regardless of rules aimed at reducing these injuries, or the emphasis put on propper tackling techniques, mistakes and poor coaching still happen and lead to injuries.

So play by weight class and not age.

 

[HellToupee]

Youth competitive cheerleading is another dangerous sport 

 

[Koya]

Youth competitive cheerleading is another dangerous sport 

Hell, any sport can be harmful if done with too much intensity, too young. 

Ironically, my parents didn't want me "lifting weights" until I was like 11 or 12.  But I was doing Gymnastics from the age of 5, by the time I was 7 it was 5-6 days a week.  The next step would have been moving to Arizona for top level training (with a still .1% of say, making the olympics but I suppose could have translated to a scholarship), and thankfully I wanted to also play baseball... then football etc, so I got to live a "normal life"

My point is, my parents made a choice - weightlifting too young bad.  But did they realize that the intensity of my workouts and the impactful nature of the sport (not to mention the various wipeouts) led to degenerative joints, ligaments etc? Hardened and lost cartiledge by the time I was 16.  Wrecked knees and issues all around?  On one hand, it set me up with tremendous balance, an understanding of work ethic and dedication, ability to work through pain and with my body type and quick twitch, was probably the reason a 5'6" white dude from the burbs was recruited for college football (DII, played DIII).... 

but at what cost? And I'd imagine doing it 2 times a week might have got me on that path, without the damage and pain that I've lived through just about daily, since.

Should the gov't come in and say "this is dangerous, this is the limit" - or should that be up to the individual / family?  I can see both sides, and while ####ed up knees and chronic pain are not the same as neural damage, it's an approximate situation that I myself have lived through. Perhaps my parents should have used their "no weight lifting" approach to a less intense regime for me at a very young age (and I loved it and wanted to do it - when I lost interest there was zero pressure to continue, though starting football as a 118 lb freshman was a tough battle to win - but I was far more suited to make a choice at 14 than 5, 6 or 7), but I don't hold it against them. And certainly wouldn't want the government making that call.

 

[Bull Dozier]

So I have young sons..  i don't want them to play football either... but I wonder what to do about the hypocrisy...  I want to continue watching football for the time being.. I still play fantasy football..   the only thing i watch as much as football is tennis and mlb.

How do you balance the "i like this sport I think it's awesome.. i played it.. but you shouldn't"

In addition to boxing and MMA like Da Guru said, I love war movies, but I wouldn't want my boys to be a soldier.

So play by weight class and not age.

That's not always the anwer.  Two of the kids I am thinking of weren't significantly larger (or larger at all) than the other kids, they were just stronger, quicker, more athletic.  We have "blue stripe" rules where if you are over a certain weight, you can't carry the ball.  The four most obviously physically dominant players I saw when my boys played tackle all were under the ball carrier weight limit.

 

[NotSmart]

 <  Also to be banned soon will be this emoticon.

If nothing else, it should be renamed to  :cte:

 

[SHIZNITTTT]

I have to think that if the numbers of youth football players are down in Oklahoma it is down everywhere. Could be wrong, but kids can start playing tackle in 1st grade here.  That is 6 years old.  Bobbleheads running around and into each other.  I agree there is nothing that can be learned in first thru 6th grade that cannot be taught from 7th grade on.  I have coached youth football for over 10 years starting with my friends' kids, and then my own twins.  In fact, one of my twins quit playing football after 6th grade and I could have coached him for another season.  He was just too small.  5'5 120lbs in 6th grade. So many "dad coaches" that want to win more than they want to teach fundamentals and don't put player safety first.  I have had teams we have played against that had kids in playing casts on their arms.  Who lets their kid play football in a ####### cast? We do in Oklahoma that is who.  We played kids in the INFC here in Oklahoma that weighed over 250lbs in 7th grade.  The heaviest was a man-child that was so obese at 356lbs and around 6'2" I was worried that he may land on someone awkwardly and break a wrist or ankle.  But, the heavy kids is not what you have to worry about with injuries.  It is the 165lb RB that runs like a deer and hits like a mack truck.  Those are the kids that are getting and getting "their bells rung!"  I saw so many broken collar bones, radius, ulna, and fibula breaks during my coaching that I was thinking the kids must be weak.  I just think the kids are stronger and faster today.  They practice 4 nights a week with contact.  Scrimmage once a week usually against another team (may have some dad's trying to relive their glory days and the scrimmage turns into a full out game of **** measuring) with refs in attendance, and a game on Saturday.   Way too much contact and wear and tear.  

My neighbor has a kid in 3rd-grade football that is in a study that does a CT scan every year of his head through high school.  They are trying to monitor to see if any changes are happening due to head injuries.  

No one really knows what the damage is to the brain of a 2nd grader who gets his "bell rung" will be 20, 30, 40 years down the road. 

 

[fightingillini]

I got lucky in that a few years ago, I took my son to the Well Fargo Championship pro-am.  He got Dan Marino and John Elway's autographs.  My son noticed that both Marino and Elway walk with a pronounced limp.  Son asks me...."Dad, do all former NFL players walk like that when they're done?"  I said that they all for the most part live in pain, could be their knees, their hip, their shoulder, or from concussions.  He says....how about your friends that played HS football?  I told him some of them have knee problems but not all.   He asks me, "Dad, you didn't play organized football, how are your knees feeling?"  I said great.

Son decided not to go to football conditioning for middle school football that summer.  He now has no interest in playing football.

 

[NotSmart]

I got lucky in that a few years ago, I took my son to the Well Fargo Championship pro-am.  He got Dan Marino and John Elway's autographs.  My son noticed that both Marino and Elway walk with a pronounced limp.  Son asks me...."Dad, do all former NFL players walk like that when they're done?"  I said that they all for the most part live in pain, could be their knees, their hip, their shoulder, or from concussions.  He says....how about your friends that played HS football?  I told him some of them have knee problems but not all.   He asks me, "Dad, you didn't play organized football, how are your knees feeling?"  I said great.

Son decided not to go to football conditioning for middle school football that summer.  He now has no interest in playing football.

He's a smart kid... it's so difficult at that age to ever imagine yourself being 40, 50, 60 years old.

 

[Dedfin]

Bigtime respect to Favre here. I hope others join him to improve chances of success.

 

[Ditkaless Wonders]

I have to think that if the numbers of youth football players are down in Oklahoma it is down everywhere. Could be wrong, but kids can start playing tackle in 1st grade here.  That is 6 years old.  Bobbleheads running around and into each other.  I agree there is nothing that can be learned in first thru 6th grade that cannot be taught from 7th grade on.  I have coached youth football for over 10 years starting with my friends' kids, and then my own twins.  In fact, one of my twins quit playing football after 6th grade and I could have coached him for another season.  He was just too small.  5'5 120lbs in 6th grade. So many "dad coaches" that want to win more than they want to teach fundamentals and don't put player safety first.  I have had teams we have played against that had kids in playing casts on their arms.  Who lets their kid play football in a ####### cast? We do in Oklahoma that is who.  We played kids in the INFC here in Oklahoma that weighed over 250lbs in 7th grade.  The heaviest was a man-child that was so obese at 356lbs and around 6'2" I was worried that he may land on someone awkwardly and break a wrist or ankle.  But, the heavy kids is not what you have to worry about with injuries.  It is the 165lb RB that runs like a deer and hits like a mack truck.  Those are the kids that are getting and getting "their bells rung!"  I saw so many broken collar bones, radius, ulna, and fibula breaks during my coaching that I was thinking the kids must be weak.  I just think the kids are stronger and faster today.  They practice 4 nights a week with contact.  Scrimmage once a week usually against another team (may have some dad's trying to relive their glory days and the scrimmage turns into a full out game of **** measuring) with refs in attendance, and a game on Saturday.   Way too much contact and wear and tear.  

My neighbor has a kid in 3rd-grade football that is in a study that does a CT scan every year of his head through high school.  They are trying to monitor to see if any changes are happening due to head injuries.  

No one really knows what the damage is to the brain of a 2nd grader who gets his "bell rung" will be 20, 30, 40 years down the road. 

I was 5'2 and 126 lbs at the end of my sophomore year.  Hard to imagine a 6th grader with another 3 inches being too small.  (That summer I literally grew an inch a week and added 8 pounds a week.  I was a revelation to the coaches upon my return.  By Christmas my junior year I had filled out a bit more and was my full 6'3 and 250 lbs.

 

[Pipes]

From my own personal, albeit limited, experience, most of the danger is due to the vast range of skills and physical abilities by the kids playing at that age.  It seems mose kids fall in the bell curve of strength and speed, but most teams have that one kid who is just a monster.  These players are involved in head and or neck injuries from tackles and stiff arms.  Regardless of rules aimed at reducing these injuries, or the emphasis put on propper tackling techniques, mistakes and poor coaching still happen and lead to injuries.

While I agree this gap is significantly worse at age 12 so this ban really doesn’t do much.  Most 10-11 year old monsters are just big and not that athletic.  It’s those boys that hit puberty first that are wrecking havoc with the undersized kids.

 

[Ilov80s]

Youth competitive cheerleading is another dangerous sport 

The most I think. 

 

[E-Z Glider]

So I have young sons..  i don't want them to play football either... but I wonder what to do about the hypocrisy...  I want to continue watching football for the time being.. I still play fantasy football..   the only thing i watch as much as football is tennis and mlb.

How do you balance the "i like this sport I think it's awesome.. i played it.. but you shouldn't"

"Look son, it's like this... Your brain cells are like disposable income. They're limited. Some people waste them by leasing cars they cant afford and playing football at a young age, but around here, we drive our cars for 10 years and play tennis. Now run along. And stay out of my scat-vids you sick-o."

 

[Ilov80s]

While I agree this gap is significantly worse at age 12 so this ban really doesn’t do much.  Most 10-11 monsters are just big and big that athletic.  It’s those boys that hit puberty first that are wrecking havoc with the undersized kids.

Yep. In 5th-6th grade Catholic League basketball we had a kid who was about 6-1 and built like an adult. He was also a pretty mean kid. It wasn't even fair what he did to the other teams centers. Also, our coach was pretty ruthless because I remember another team had a little guard who kept driving in the paint and scoring. Our coach specifically told our big guy next the time the kid drove, pretend it's football and let him know who owns the paint. Of course this SE Michigan during the Bay Boy era so that is what we thought basketball was. Needless to say the strategy worked. 

 

[HellToupee]

The most I think. 

I was on our board when my son play ball and my girls cheered and for those 8 years the cheerleaders had more injuries. Don’t let your kids be a flyer 

 

[Ilov80s]

I was on our board when my son play ball and my girls cheered and for those 8 years the cheerleaders had more injuries. Don’t let your kids be a flyer 

Yep, the cheerleaders at school constantly are on crutches, have hands wrapped, arms in slings, etc. 

 

[Pipes]

I'm glad there is concern over this and the more people are aware of CTE the better but a vast majority of kids can play football for a few years of their youth without any issues and in fact end up having a positive experience out of it.  Football is safer now than it's ever been with improved helmets(equipment in general), improved tackling techniques and most importantly concussion base line testing and protocols in place for kids that get or suspected of having a concussion.  The days of sniffing smelling salts and going back out there are long gone yet all of my friends who played high school ball in that era are all mid  to late 40's, most are successful and have really good jobs and no one really has health issues that's atypical of a normal 40 something.  Some of this concern is over the top imo. I'm not saying football isn't dangerous, it is, by let's not get carried away here. 

 

[Bull Dozier]

While I agree this gap is significantly worse at age 12 so this ban really doesn’t do much.  Most 10-11 year old monsters are just big and not that athletic.  It’s those boys that hit puberty first that are wrecking havoc with the undersized kids.

It starts earlier than puberty.  In my area, flag goes through 2nd grade.  Third grade is the first year of tackle (though many second graders play up).  2nd grade, this other team has a little kid who is quicker than anyone on the field.  His dad was the coach.  They would run a play on first, second, and third down giving three different kids a chance to run a play, or run the ball.  We'd stop them.  Then on 4th down, he just ran a QB keeper, and he ran for a touchdown....every....single....time.  We literally could not touch the kid he was so fast.

Fast forward a year to third grade.  The family moved so now we are playing against them in tackle.  The kid is still the fastest by far, but at least we have more kids on the field, so we can get close to him.  No problem for him though because he delivers a devastating stiff arm to the forehead of anyone who gets within arms reach.  I pleaded my case to the refs that our league outlawed stiff arms to the helmet by ball carriers after a kid was sent to the hospital with a back injury after a ball carrier grabed his facemask and rode him to the ground.  Both the refs, and opposing coach laughed at my pansiness in thinking a ball carrier can't protect himself with a stiff arm.

Again, this kid wasn't the biggest, strongest or tallest.  He was just a very naturally athletic kid gifted with more strenght and speed than most kids his age.

These are not rare exceptions.  Every neighborhood, team, school, whatever has that one kid that is above the curve.  I see it all the time.  I grew up with these kids, and I see them all the time with my kids teams.

 

[Short Corner]

This, to me, is a better answer.  I understand and recognize that the gov't must step in to protect those who are not of an age to make their own decisions / understand the ramifications thereof, but it concerns me when the Federal govt, especially, looks to make such dictates when families can make these decisions as they see fit.

Now, there's a lot of grey matter... err, area... here, so I understand the point here and it's hardly a mountain I'm willing to die on, but just legislating away behaviors and choice has farther reaching ramifications.  Don't like the gov't telling me what's good for me and my family (recognizing again that with Children, there's a fine line whereby gov't should step in - i.e. corporal punishment is ok, child abuse is not.  where is that line? For me, I'd never hit a child. It's cruel, counterproductive and can do lasting harm to both the child and those they encounter in life as they mature.  Others feel differently.  Is it up to me to deny someone else the ability to slap a wrist or spank? Is it up to the government? Same can be said with this issue, in a not quite parallel analog)

Your insurance company will be telling you soon enough if the government doesn't.

 

[Short Corner]

Yep. In 5th-6th grade Catholic League basketball we had a kid who was about 6-1 and built like an adult. He was also a pretty mean kid. It wasn't even fair what he did to the other teams centers. Also, our coach was pretty ruthless because I remember another team had a little guard who kept driving in the paint and scoring. Our coach specifically told our big guy next the time the kid drove, pretend it's football and let him know who owns the paint. Of course this SE Michigan during the Bay Boy era so that is what we thought basketball was. Needless to say the strategy worked. 

That ### clown shouldn't be allowed to coach kids.

 

[Pipes]

It starts earlier than puberty.  In my area, flag goes through 2nd grade.  Third grade is the first year of tackle (though many second graders play up).  2nd grade, this other team has a little kid who is quicker than anyone on the field.  His dad was the coach.  They would run a play on first, second, and third down giving three different kids a chance to run a play, or run the ball.  We'd stop them.  Then on 4th down, he just ran a QB keeper, and he ran for a touchdown....every....single....time.  We literally could not touch the kid he was so fast.

Fast forward a year to third grade.  The family moved so now we are playing against them in tackle.  The kid is still the fastest by far, but at least we have more kids on the field, so we can get close to him.  No problem for him though because he delivers a devastating stiff arm to the forehead of anyone who gets within arms reach.  I pleaded my case to the refs that our league outlawed stiff arms to the helmet by ball carriers after a kid was sent to the hospital with a back injury after a ball carrier grabed his facemask and rode him to the ground.  Both the refs, and opposing coach laughed at my pansiness in thinking a ball carrier can't protect himself with a stiff arm.

Again, this kid wasn't the biggest, strongest or tallest.  He was just a very naturally athletic kid gifted with more strenght and speed than most kids his age.

These are not rare exceptions.  Every neighborhood, team, school, whatever has that one kid that is above the curve.  I see it all the time.  I grew up with these kids, and I see them all the time with my kids teams.

Quick is one thing but youth football in my area kids over a certain weight had to play offensive or defensive line.  Yes they could still man handle kids but they aren't getting a full head of steam and allow to run over kids. Stiff arms to the helmet should be an absolute no no I agree.

I guess my youth football experience is vastly different than yours.  It was like a bunch of kids in fat suits the first year or two.  Noone was really moving too fast with all the gear they had one.  Occasionally there would be a big hit but it was just the pads making noise.  First year of middle school is where I started seeing the biggest discrepancies amongst the athletes.

I coached my sons flag football team and by 3rd grade and we had a couple pretty violent collisions because like I said in a previous post kids just don't reach nicely for the flag.  

 

[Ilov80s]

That ### clown shouldn't be allowed to coach kids.

I doubt he is anymore, he's pretty old. He was a great coach too. That was the only time I ever remember him being like that. We rarely ever needed to play rough. We just destroyed teams we ran several full court and half court presses, motion offense. He actually came from Indiana and I'm sure loved Bobby Knight. Anyway, things were definitely different back then. We all loved the Bad Boys given the time and location so for us basketball was always a physical sport. 

 

[Short Corner]

I doubt he is anymore, he's pretty old. He was a great coach too. That was the only time I ever remember him being like that. We rarely ever needed to play rough. We just destroyed teams we ran several full court and half court presses, motion offense. He actually came from Indiana and I'm sure loved Bobby Knight. Anyway, things were definitely different back then. We all loved the Bad Boys given the time and location so for us basketball was always a physical sport. 

If your player injures one of mine in this scenario you are going on a twelve week soup diet.

 

[Ilov80s]

If your player injures one of mine in this scenario you are going on a twelve week soup diet.

Nobody got hurt. It was always tough because there was a definite Shaq effect. Other kids were allowed to hack and push our center all day because they were so small it didn't look bad. If he lightly bumped into a kid, they would be bowled over so he got a lot of fouls called on him. The other teams were in on it too- some of them played dirty. CYO basketball was taken very seriously by everyone involved. 

 

[Short Corner]

Nobody got hurt. It was always tough because there was a definite Shaq effect. Other kids were allowed to hack and push our center all day because they were so small it didn't look bad. If he lightly bumped into a kid, they would be bowled over so he got a lot of fouls called on him. The other teams were in on it too- some of them played dirty. CYO basketball was taken very seriously by everyone involved. 

That's all well and good, just know you will be defending your argument with your jaw wired shut.

My son lost 3 months last season because some uncoordinated dork was 'coached up' to play bully ball.  Then his first game back he gets blown up on consecutive ball screens where the defender launched shoulder thru chest where the coach was obviously instructing them to hit the screener.  Feel free to teach your kids to play dirty but if they cross the line, intentional or not, you are the one I'm coming after.  I guarantee you I take the health of my kids more seriously than you take your CYO basketball.

 

[Ilov80s]

That's all well and good, just know you will be defending your argument with your jaw wired shut.

My son lost 3 months last season because some uncoordinated dork was 'coached up' to play bully ball.  Then his first game back he gets blown up on consecutive ball screens where the defender launched shoulder thru chest where the coach was obviously instructing them to hit the screener.  Feel free to teach your kids to play dirty but if they cross the line, intentional or not, you are the one I'm coming after.  I guarantee you I take the health of my kids more seriously than you take your CYO basketball.

I don't coach basketball

 

[SHIZNITTTT]

I was 5'2 and 126 lbs at the end of my sophomore year.  Hard to imagine a 6th grader with another 3 inches being too small.  (That summer I literally grew an inch a week and added 8 pounds a week.  I was a revelation to the coaches upon my return.  By Christmas my junior year I had filled out a bit more and was my full 6'3 and 250 lbs.

The INFC is a very large football organization.  As a football team from our city, we played teams from all over the state.  Some teams had kids that may have had coaches bend the rules here and there.  Some kids had full-grown beards in 7th grade.   Never saw a kid drive himself to a game but it wouldn't have surprised me.  Our city had 8 teams alone.  It is now down to around 3 in a span of 4 years.  

Youth sports are great for early bloomers not so great for late bloomers.   Was never really upset he didn't want to play.  The other twin is "ate up" with football but his mother told him that his first head injury would be his last.    

Our offense and defensive lines averaged over 200lbs in 7th grade would have been more but the league put in a rule only so many "two strippers."  Strippers = kids over 175lbs in 7th grade are 1 stripe.  Kids over 200lbs = 2 stripes.   We had several players that were over 6 feet tall.   Hell, most of our kids, if the parents held them back, would have been able to play another year in the same grade. Even bigger, stronger and faster.   Crazy man. 

 

[Hastur]

Favre has been recently diagnosed with Parkison's disease.

"Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others," Favre said during opening remarks. "And I'm sure you'll understand why it's too late for me, because I've recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's. This is also a cause dear to my heart."

 

[SWC]

Favre has been recently diagnosed with Parkison's disease.

"Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others," Favre said during opening remarks. "And I'm sure you'll understand why it's too late for me, because I've recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's. This is also a cause dear to my heart."

and so because of this please look over here and ignore that i stole from those most in need and also i texted my wiener all over and ran around on the lovely dianna and broke wisconsins heart signed bert farve take that to the bank brohans

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

While a funny comment I don't really think that was his intent there. I've been doing some googleing and I'm confused about how he even got TANF funds. And if its fraud why are there no criminal charges? And the Auditor writing a book (and profiting on it) about it just seems kinda shady.

 

[the moops]

While a funny comment I don't really think that was his intent there. I've been doing some googleing and I'm confused about how he even got TANF funds. And if its fraud why are there no criminal charges? And the Auditor writing a book (and profiting on it) about it just seems kinda shady.

He did pay 1.1 million back from improper speaking fees. I doubt his hands are clean

 

[Desert_Power]

While a funny comment I don't really think that was his intent there. I've been doing some googleing and I'm confused about how he even got TANF funds. And if its fraud why are there no criminal charges? And the Auditor writing a book (and profiting on it) about it just seems kinda shady.

He did pay 1.1 million back from improper speaking fees. I doubt his hands are clean

This is my impression too.

Still, I don't really want to say anything if I can't say something nice in this situation. So I'll just mention that he really could sling a football like few have and the Saints robbed him of another Super Bowl.

 

[CletiusMaximus]

While a funny comment I don't really think that was his intent there. I've been doing some googleing and I'm confused about how he even got TANF funds. And if its fraud why are there no criminal charges? And the Auditor writing a book (and profiting on it) about it just seems kinda shady.

He did pay 1.1 million back from improper speaking fees. I doubt his hands are clean

It’s a bad look for Favre in many ways but is a more complex situation than most of us understand and the fact remains that he hasn’t even been charged much less convicted of a crime. He is being sued civilly for some things related to this mess but there are a lot of moving parts to it. I’ve never been a fan of the man but loved the football player more than any other. I’m sure I saw him play in person over 100 games and it was an absolute joy for me that nothing will ever match.

 

[BLOCKED_PUNT]

I doubt his hands are clean

I don't think my post was suggesting he was...

 

[bigbottom]

Favre has been recently diagnosed with Parkison's disease.

"Sadly, I also lost an investment in a company that I believed was developing a breakthrough concussion drug I thought would help others," Favre said during opening remarks. "And I'm sure you'll understand why it's too late for me, because I've recently been diagnosed with Parkinson's. This is also a cause dear to my heart."

and so because of this please look over here and ignore that i stole from those most in need and also i texted my wiener all over and ran around on the lovely dianna and broke wisconsins heart signed bert farve take that to the bank brohans

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[Mrs. Rannous]

Ah, the classics. Maybe I should pick you for my next MAD draft. Probably not on Spotify, though.