Changes to Youth Football?

ColoradoHusk

ColoradoHusk

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https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/31/sports/youth-football-wants-to-save-the-game-by-shrinking-it.html

Some interesting thoughts by USA Football to make changes to youth football. I think a smaller field and fewer players would make sense. Youth soccer clubs have always used smaller fields and fewer players, and increasing the field size and number of players as the kids get older.

I know that most youth football games are on a smaller field, but still at 11 on 11, it becomes a jumbled mess of a bunch of kids just smacking into each other.

 
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I think it is worth trying. It's funny they mention flag football; that has gotten much more popular around my area the last few years at the expense of traditional youth football. When I coached competitive youth league, I was amazed at how much play there was in some of the equipment. It has gotten much better but I think that is still part of the problem. I had a few kids that outgrew their equipment by the middle of the season. Rugby is also taking a huge toll on youth football numbers out here. For the parents, the issue is child safety but also $$.

 
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My son is almost 11 years old, and has shown no desire to play tackle football. He loves throwing and kicking the football, but he thinks football is "too rough" and doesn't want to get hurt. I took him to a friend's football game a couple years ago, and I didn't see how the game being played at that age is anything like the game being played at the high school level or beyond. Kids below high school (or junior high) might as well be playing flag football and developing their love for football and their skills that way.

 
I think if my dad raised us today, his opinion on playing youth football would be to wait rather than need to play it. Personally, I think kids need to play sports. Don't care which and if flag football was my son's interest, I'm fine with that. Football is a complex sport and requires a lot of confidence; as long as kids are doing some type of sport, they can start tackle football in middle school and be fine, imo. I think your approach is a good one.

 
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I'm a huge proponent for kids playing sports, and my son has played numerous sports growing up. It keeps him active, learns how to be a part of a team, and learns how to deal with winning and losing.

 
The league I played in from 3rd-6th grade played on our high school field, we just didn't have any special teams.

 
My son played flag at 9 and tackle at 10 (last fall). I would love seeing a smaller field and less players, like 9-man. A lot of the time whoever had the fastest running back would easily score on end-around and fly-sweep type plays. The kids' leg and arm strength limits kicks above 25 yards and throws above 15 yards for the most part. You'd probably see more scoring, too, which is exciting for young players.

From a safety standpoint, you might see less full-speed collisions, too. Heck, just leave out the kickoffs.

*edit: just read the article and they made the same points - oops.

 
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IA State Husker said:
My son played flag at 9 and tackle at 10 (last fall). I would love seeing a smaller field and less players, like 9-man. A lot of the time whoever had the fastest running back would easily score on end-around and fly-sweep type plays. The kids' leg and arm strength limits kicks above 25 yards and throws above 15 yards for the most part. You'd probably see more scoring, too, which is exciting for young players.

From a safety standpoint, you might see less full-speed collisions, too. Heck, just leave out the kickoffs.

*edit: just read the article and they made the same points - oops.
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Ha!!! But, it shows that you agree with a lot of ideas that are being proposed, which I think is a good thing.

 
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