Declining participation rates in high school football

[gerryb323]

I had this discussion with my wife yesterday as we have 3 little kids now. One of her co-workers has a 5 year old that he is holding out of organized tackle football (at 5!) because they aren't teaching the "right" way to tackle.
We'll likely discourage the boy (2 girls and a boy) from football by encouraging other activities. Honestly the country club sports have more appeal to us as spectators, basketball being the exception to that.

[BACONWAVE]

I had this discussion with my wife yesterday as we have 3 little kids now. One of her co-workers has a 5 year old that he is holding out of organized tackle football (at 5!) because they aren't teaching the "right" way to tackle.
We'll likely discourage the boy (2 girls and a boy) from football by encouraging other activities. Honestly the country club sports have more appeal to us as spectators, basketball being the exception to that.

Around our area we have a huge amount of flag football players. From my observations I see the balance shifting for 3 reasons:

1. Obviously CTE, concussions, head & neck, body trauma being out in the open more. Kids helmets are too damn heavy & force them to put more pressure on their necks to hold them up. They naturally want to drop their head to tackle.

2. I know multiple people who have kids playing tackle at young ages. I have been to games. I have seen 1st hand how kids are not being taught the correct way to tackle. That leads to not only tacklers getting hurt but the ball carrier.

3. Flag football around us has been blowing up. You have less kids per team & all kids have a chance to play & learn. They don't have to sit the bench & only be tackling dummies for others like tackle football. The games are fast paced & the kids are way more interested & focused knowing they are getting in soon. Flag surprisingly runs many of the same plays traditional tackle football runs....but with far less chance of injury.

I wish more states would do like Texas is starting to do more of. They are pushing flag football till kids reach high school age & then they can correctly learn how to play traditional football.

[GretnaGrn]

I wish more states would do like Texas is starting to do more of. They are pushing flag football till kids reach high school age & then they can correctly learn how to play traditional football.

The Catholic schools down here are flag football only until 8th grade.

[TUPF]

I wish more states would do like Texas is starting to do more of. They are pushing flag football till kids reach high school age & then they can correctly learn how to play traditional football.

The Catholic schools down here are flag football only until 8th grade.

I think that’s a great idea. I’m 62 and I put pads on for the first time in 8th grade and even then participation was restricted by max/min weights. Peewees started well after my days.

And as an official, I see first hand well-meaning parents coaching peewees with only a passing familiarity with proper techniques, rules, etc. The helmets are so big relative to their bodies so they look like bobblehead dolls. Tackles consist of kids dragging each other until they fall down. Spectator behavior (parents) is far worse in my experience at the peewee level, which is a whole other level of discourse.

So we have overly involved, Black Hawk parents, with nominal familiarity with technique, sportsmanship, wanting to wrap their kids in bubble wrap from sun up to sun down, running 6-10 year olds around as if they expect to one day be taking selfies with the NFL commissioner, all the while screaming at each other and officials over rules they probably have never read. No wonder participation rates are declining.

[OGSB]

Healdsburg High Football Team Calls It Quits After Crushing Shutout Losses

The team started the season with 18 players. After losing its first game 41-0 and then being shut out 61-0 in its second game, two players quit.

Then two more dropped off the team, followed by the team’s quarterback on Monday.

That was when Head Coach and Healdsburg HS Athletic Director Dave Stine had the kids make a decision.

“We decided to do a blind vote and seven of the thirteen said no, they didn’t want to move forward,” said Stine. “So we went ahead and disbanded the varsity team at that point.”

School officials said the coaches, community and student body are disappointed about the abrupt end to the football season. But when contacting future opponents to cancel upcoming games, Principal Halliday discovered their struggle isn’t unique.

[windywave]

Healdsburg High Football Team Calls It Quits After Crushing Shutout Losses

The team started the season with 18 players. After losing its first game 41-0 and then being shut out 61-0 in its second game, two players quit.

Then two more dropped off the team, followed by the team’s quarterback on Monday.

That was when Head Coach and Healdsburg HS Athletic Director Dave Stine had the kids make a decision.

“We decided to do a blind vote and seven of the thirteen said no, they didn’t want to move forward,” said Stine. “So we went ahead and disbanded the varsity team at that point.”

School officials said the coaches, community and student body are disappointed about the abrupt end to the football season. But when contacting future opponents to cancel upcoming games, Principal Halliday discovered their struggle isn’t unique.

Pathetic slackers. Every one of those quitters should be prepared for an underwhelming life