Welcome to Our Forums. Once you've registered and logged in, you're primed to talk football, among other topics, with the sharpest and most experienced fantasy players on the internet.
The thing I have tried to get my son to understand is that passion/hard work usually will beat out natural athletic talent if you have a lot of one and average of the other. So many athletically gifted kids through it away because they think they are already so good and they develop bad habits. Meanwhile, the hard workers are out there putting the work in and getting better.... and then.... sometimes their body changes to catch up with that hard work. Not always but is certainly does happen.
This seems a rather odd thing to do. If he is enjoying the game and learning from the experience, why do you find the need to incentivize making plays with money?
He’s getting him used to taking money for football so he will be better prepared for NIL money. That’s solid parenting right there.
Just a little fun extra incentive, and he likes to save his money in a fun little bank in his room, and then he pays me or his mom for "upgrades" on the games he plays on the computer/Switch. I don't see the harm in it.
Why odd? I mean, perhaps it is not needed if he is already driven but I don't see how it hurts anything. Building some good father/son interaction and getting him excited. What is the downside?
This was me when I played defense for the first time my Junior year of HS. I was a basketball player first and foremost and had only played TE/WR on the football team in 8-10th grades. Up until then, I'd never tackled anyone in a game and then found myself starting on varsity at cornerback. I did a lot of "grab and hold on until they fall down" tackles. I got much better at it by senior year and moved to free safety and ended up having a great season there. I never got to where I was blowing RB's up, but I definitely learned how to attack and come in a little bit lower. Just wanted to let you know there is hope for him to develop that skill a bit (although MLB is a different animal than DB).
. Best of all, he had a moment of redemption intercepting a pass. It was great seeing his DB coach go crazy for him on the sidelines. Coaches recognize him as a smart player who knows what to do even if his physical abilities lag behind other players. The varsity team was really good last year and they were loaded with seniors. Since those guys are gone, some of the better juniors transferred because they know the upcoming season is going to be rough. I think my son sees this as an opportunity for playing time. He's been lifting a ton this year and I can tell he's trying hard to get better. As of right now, my expectation is for him to start JV and be second string on varsity. Although, if one of the starting safeties gets injured, I wouldn't be surprised if they opt for someone from another position with a lot more football experience and aggressive play instead of promoting my son. We'll see where he is in the rotation soon enough. JV scrimmage tonight against the former TC Williams (Remember the Titans HS) and then varsity game tomorrow night. Looking forward to watching him play and see where he's improved.
Maybe unnecessary is a better word than odd? I did not mean to imply it is wrong or harmful in any way. Actually, nirad3's description of how the money can potentially be spent adds a few lessons of its own. It just isn't something I ever thought to do as my kid came through the ranks, nor have I ever noticed it being done by others in my long history of coaching, so it seemed a little odd to me.
Welcome to the club, Al!
Rocky start to last night's scrimmage with horrible angles and missed tackles. But, in the second half, he had some of his best tackles of his career. A couple nice, solid tackles where the ball carrier goes down right away rather than my son being dragged for several yards. He closed the game out with tackles on four straight plays (ok, one of them was the RB going out of bounds as he stiff-armed my son, but I'm counting it!). It was, by far, the most contact he's had in a game. I think he ended with 8-9 tackles. He came home with a few hurt body parts, but I think he's starting to see that he can survive some contact.
1st grade tackle? I don't think that is anywhere near an option around here. I think times have changed.
Last year there was a kid in 2nd grade and he was taking our 4th graders down... including my son who would give most 5th graders a hard time. He was playing flag football and his Dad said he kept hitting people instead of getting flags. He is now in 3rd on the tackle team. I don't see much of that team but I am sure he is a terror tackle machine.
Yes. The program was called Mighty Mights. There were 4 teams, all within our community. We did not play other cities until 3rd/4th grade level. It was a 7 vs 7 game with 4 linemen, 2 RBs and a QB.
Difficult at any level of football, but likely the most difficult thing to do effectively at the youth levels. And, inevitably, there will be some moron coach for an opponent that will send the house every play on defense just overwhelming the offense. Congrats guy, you win, but the kids didn't learn any football today...
Last year they did very well blocking. Of course, it was 9 running plays (or more) to every 1 pass play but they did well in both. The other teams D line was all 6th graders against two 6th graders and three 5th graders... two of which are giving up like 6 inches of height if not more. Our 2nd team boys did much better which feeds into what I was saying before about how I think every other year will be dominating and the off fighting to be competitive in that I believe that was all their best 5th graders going against our second string 5th graders and they were doing well in both run and pass blocking.
As a follow up to this...My little one had his first flag football game.
Each school had 4 teams. There are no refs and it is very "what do you want to do?" kind of thing. I had two late (the other coaches twins) so we had 8 and agreed to do 8 on 8. Then we agreed to 10 offensive plays then 10 defensive plays and vice versa. I am pretty sure the team we went against was all or close to all 2nd graders where I had half 1st and half 2nd with more than a couple of my kids clearly not wanting to be there (asking to sit out or when it was over etc). I am pretty sure they have been doing a flag football program for a while.
If we were keeping score... they destroyed us. I think they scored like 5 or 6 times where we did 1 or 2.
My co-coach is an interesting guy. I have ran into him a couple of times at bday parties and it is a chore to talk to him. One of those guys that is just very random, a lot of short thoughts but doesn't stop, doesn't pay attention to when you talk and cuts you off 99% of the time to complete your thought but is wrong. I am just trying to focus on teaching the kids who this was ALL of their first flag football game and likely for most of them their first organized sport game... he comes in and is like "I don't feel like we are trying to win. Do you guys even want to win?" so, I am like "uh, well, it's ok guys... we are all learning and trying to have fun."
It was a ton of work.
On the bright side, my son did pretty well when he had the ball. Most of our best plays were with him. And most importantly he did not have a meltdown. He got upset a couple of times and I was like "oh crap, here we go" but then he controlled himself. His biggest complaints were the other team was grabbing his shirt or grabbed/hit (not sure what) his neck.... and then he got upset that I yelled at him to get the ball when the QB pitched it to him and was not close to him... instead of going to get the ball he turns and complains to the QB. Then got a little upset that I yelled at him to get the ball. Sigh.
My son's JV season started last night. They play the same school every week that the varsity played on the Friday before. It was a school that used to be one of the best in the state, but have dropped back a bit and we beat them for the 3rd season in a row on Friday.JV scrimmage #2 tonight so I keep thinking today is Thursday. Multiple times I've thought, "Oh cool, tomorrow is Friday."
My son didn't get any varsity snaps last Friday, but the long snapper on punts short hopped both his snaps and my son's three JV snaps were really good so I'm wondering if he might be able to work his way into that job this season.
In the first JV scrimmage he lined up for punt return (they just drop their safeties back as PRs), but the punts were so bad there was no chance for a return. I asked him after the game if he was looking forward to returning punts and he said, "I had no idea I was going to be a punt returner. I guess I should ask if I should practice that." Well, as of yesterday he confirmed he's a punt returner! That should be interesting.
If he doesn’t grow I worry about 8th grade at ~90lbs (or playing on the 7th/8th grade rugby team come spring).
We kind of held my son back (July 14th birthday) but, just like his father, he was late to the puberty game. Didn't really hit until 10th grade which made 9th and 10th tough as the underdeveloped kid. He was decent size all that time but he had little quickness, speed and strength compared to his already maturing teammates. Now he is starting to catch up (11th), but some of those kids are grown men now at the varsity level.Now I just wish he’d hit puberty. I started between my 7-8 grade years so hopefully he’s on that track. He’s a “normal” age for his grade, but a lot of people around here hold their kids back a year. So he’s playing with many kids who are a year or more older and would have been in 8th grade in my day. He told me yesterday a classmate had a mustache and that is was “pretty awesome.”
Man... that is a rough ask at 85lbs and being at OLB. Good for him for working hard to get there.... he is going to have to work just as hard in some games. My 5th grader just did weigh in this weekend so he didn't end up a striper and could play WR. He came in at 93 pounds. He also plays OLB as well. They play 5th/6th and even though my son is bigger for a 5th grader, his birthdate is right on the line and we had the choice of keeping him back where he would be in 4th this year. He doesn't usually have issues with other 5th graders but some of the 6th grader linemen are significantly bigger than him.My son is in 7th grade, starting his 3rd year of football. It has been an adjustment going from 2x week practices in youth football to everyday, plus the locker room, buses, etc. He’s also had to learn to grow mentally and “be on his own.” In youth league he was a know quantity after his first regular season. All the coaches knew him. Now it’s a blank slate. He’s on the small side (~85 lbs) but he’s fearless and tough. He loves playing OLB, which is a natural fit for him. But with his size they stuck him at CB day one. He was willing to learn the position, but wanted a shot at LB. So it’s time to grow up and talk to your coaches. Helping him learn to talk to the coaches and how to talk to them (no whining, asking for their advice on how to get where he wants) has been a small process. He also has had to learn to pace himself. He’s an active kid. He’s been working out daily over the summer, and telling him he has to cut that back to 1-2x week has been a battle. Between that and going out after school to play with his friends, he exhausted himself the first week of school. He missed a practice that caused him to be behind that resulted in little playing time the first game. It’s been hard as a parent to let him make these decisions and watch the fallout. But a couple of weeks in he’s learned a lot.
So he talked to his coaches, got some suggestions and has been working on things. At his size shedding blocks is a big hurdle as he’s giving up usually 30-40 lbs to most players (way more to OL). We had a B-team game Monday, and he played both ways almost whole game (he’s the back-up RB). He came home last night to tell me he was named starting ROLB for Thursday A-team game. Proud Dad moment.
Now I just wish he’d hit puberty. I started between my 7-8 grade years so hopefully he’s on that track. He’s a “normal” age for his grade, but a lot of people around here hold their kids back a year. So he’s playing with many kids who are a year or more older and would have been in 8th grade in my day. He told me yesterday a classmate had a mustache and that is was “pretty awesome.”
Sometimes they seem like grown men in Middle School!We kind of held my son back (July 14th birthday) but, just like his father, he was late to the puberty game. Didn't really hit until 10th grade which made 9th and 10th tough as the underdeveloped kid. He was decent size all that time but he had little quickness, speed and strength compared to his already maturing teammates. Now he is starting to catch up (11th), but some of those kids are grown men now at the varsity level.Now I just wish he’d hit puberty. I started between my 7-8 grade years so hopefully he’s on that track. He’s a “normal” age for his grade, but a lot of people around here hold their kids back a year. So he’s playing with many kids who are a year or more older and would have been in 8th grade in my day. He told me yesterday a classmate had a mustache and that is was “pretty awesome.”
He’s just small. Around 4’8” and he’s thin. Thankfully he is really fast, which helps. He’s also shredded, which helps offset some of the size disadvantage. I told him until puberty hits, he will have to use technique and football smarts to win. To his credit he’s a hard worker. After a game Monday night he wanted to go outside and practice block shedding techniques and only quit when it got dark. He also will watch film.Man... that is a rough ask at 85lbs and being at OLB. Good for him for working hard to get there.... he is going to have to work just as hard in some games. My 5th grader just did weigh in this weekend so he didn't end up a striper and could play WR. He came in at 93 pounds. He also plays OLB as well. They play 5th/6th and even though my son is bigger for a 5th grader, his birthdate is right on the line and we had the choice of keeping him back where he would be in 4th this year. He doesn't usually have issues with other 5th graders but some of the 6th grader linemen are significantly bigger than him.My son is in 7th grade, starting his 3rd year of football. It has been an adjustment going from 2x week practices in youth football to everyday, plus the locker room, buses, etc. He’s also had to learn to grow mentally and “be on his own.” In youth league he was a know quantity after his first regular season. All the coaches knew him. Now it’s a blank slate. He’s on the small side (~85 lbs) but he’s fearless and tough. He loves playing OLB, which is a natural fit for him. But with his size they stuck him at CB day one. He was willing to learn the position, but wanted a shot at LB. So it’s time to grow up and talk to your coaches. Helping him learn to talk to the coaches and how to talk to them (no whining, asking for their advice on how to get where he wants) has been a small process. He also has had to learn to pace himself. He’s an active kid. He’s been working out daily over the summer, and telling him he has to cut that back to 1-2x week has been a battle. Between that and going out after school to play with his friends, he exhausted himself the first week of school. He missed a practice that caused him to be behind that resulted in little playing time the first game. It’s been hard as a parent to let him make these decisions and watch the fallout. But a couple of weeks in he’s learned a lot.
So he talked to his coaches, got some suggestions and has been working on things. At his size shedding blocks is a big hurdle as he’s giving up usually 30-40 lbs to most players (way more to OL). We had a B-team game Monday, and he played both ways almost whole game (he’s the back-up RB). He came home last night to tell me he was named starting ROLB for Thursday A-team game. Proud Dad moment.
Now I just wish he’d hit puberty. I started between my 7-8 grade years so hopefully he’s on that track. He’s a “normal” age for his grade, but a lot of people around here hold their kids back a year. So he’s playing with many kids who are a year or more older and would have been in 8th grade in my day. He told me yesterday a classmate had a mustache and that is was “pretty awesome.”
Is he tall and lanky or just short? Technique is lacking a lot at that age so if he really focuses on it he can still defeat bigger kids.
In the long run, commitment, hard work, being hungry for learning and while being coachable will win over size and natural athleticism. It may not even win on the football field but it absolutely will in life. Sometimes the size comes later and super charges all of that. For those with the size and athleticism, it often is harder to develop that same level of work ethic and being teachable so it ends up working against them. It is a big fear that I have for my son that I try to work against.He’s just small. Around 4’8” and he’s thin. Thankfully he is really fast, which helps. He’s also shredded, which helps offset some of the size disadvantage. I told him until puberty hits, he will have to use technique and football smarts to win. To his credit he’s a hard worker. After a game Monday night he wanted to go outside and practice block shedding techniques and only quit when it got dark. He also will watch film.Man... that is a rough ask at 85lbs and being at OLB. Good for him for working hard to get there.... he is going to have to work just as hard in some games. My 5th grader just did weigh in this weekend so he didn't end up a striper and could play WR. He came in at 93 pounds. He also plays OLB as well. They play 5th/6th and even though my son is bigger for a 5th grader, his birthdate is right on the line and we had the choice of keeping him back where he would be in 4th this year. He doesn't usually have issues with other 5th graders but some of the 6th grader linemen are significantly bigger than him.My son is in 7th grade, starting his 3rd year of football. It has been an adjustment going from 2x week practices in youth football to everyday, plus the locker room, buses, etc. He’s also had to learn to grow mentally and “be on his own.” In youth league he was a know quantity after his first regular season. All the coaches knew him. Now it’s a blank slate. He’s on the small side (~85 lbs) but he’s fearless and tough. He loves playing OLB, which is a natural fit for him. But with his size they stuck him at CB day one. He was willing to learn the position, but wanted a shot at LB. So it’s time to grow up and talk to your coaches. Helping him learn to talk to the coaches and how to talk to them (no whining, asking for their advice on how to get where he wants) has been a small process. He also has had to learn to pace himself. He’s an active kid. He’s been working out daily over the summer, and telling him he has to cut that back to 1-2x week has been a battle. Between that and going out after school to play with his friends, he exhausted himself the first week of school. He missed a practice that caused him to be behind that resulted in little playing time the first game. It’s been hard as a parent to let him make these decisions and watch the fallout. But a couple of weeks in he’s learned a lot.
So he talked to his coaches, got some suggestions and has been working on things. At his size shedding blocks is a big hurdle as he’s giving up usually 30-40 lbs to most players (way more to OL). We had a B-team game Monday, and he played both ways almost whole game (he’s the back-up RB). He came home last night to tell me he was named starting ROLB for Thursday A-team game. Proud Dad moment.
Now I just wish he’d hit puberty. I started between my 7-8 grade years so hopefully he’s on that track. He’s a “normal” age for his grade, but a lot of people around here hold their kids back a year. So he’s playing with many kids who are a year or more older and would have been in 8th grade in my day. He told me yesterday a classmate had a mustache and that is was “pretty awesome.”
Is he tall and lanky or just short? Technique is lacking a lot at that age so if he really focuses on it he can still defeat bigger kids.
Tonight they play what has (historically) been one of the bigger teams size-wise. I helped the coaches break down last year’s game and the team loves to pull their guards. I gave him the heads up so he could prep mentally. Cross my fingers.
Well... that sucked.
Severs Disease by any chance? Pretty common at this age during growth spurts, usually presents as very similar to Plantar Fasciitis or Achilles Tendonitis if it's affecting the ankle/heel area or like a patellar tendinitis if it's affecting their knee. Basically it's what happens when their bone structure is growing so fast that the tendons and ligaments can't keep up and are in a constant state of tension/inflammation.
I think the Severs was it. It was an ankle but he was healthy and at practice with no noticeable favoring of his ankle as of Monday.
I am not sure of that was meant to be punishment but I like to think it was.
Well said. I get annoyed at anyone in the stands critiquing the kids out loud for any level below Varsity. Even on varsity, I don't see too many times when it would be beneficial to voice frustration at 16-18 year olds.
Just wait til you get to the age where it's a bit more competitive for playing time. In general, parents (and grandparents) are the least capable of comprehending skill level of players. They are not there for the hours and hours of practice, but clearly their kid should be starting - and they will nit pick every other kid out there - friend or not - and find a way that their own kids mistakes aren't really their fault.
