azsun - 2014-05-14 11:40 AM Charles Youvella, the young man who lost his life last year playing high school football in Arizona is the child and nephew of high school classmates of mine and my husbands. His father is the Athletic Director at the school he went to, thus this young man had access to the best equipment … If you were responsible for purchasing equipment and your kid was on the team … wouldn't you make sure they had the best? He DIED after sustaining a hit on the field. One minute we were getting text messages about how the game was progressing and then one that said he got hit on the field and he was going to the hospital as a precaution. (He got up after getting hit to continue to play and fell walking to the sidelines). The next text we got was that he was on life support and if he didn't show improvement they were going to have to make a decision to take him off life support. This occurred over a matter of a few hours. I cannot imagine what the family was going through as it was tough enough for us to watch as long time family friends. I also cannot imagine what the boys from the opposing team went through who hit him. My son just finished the Larry Fitzgerald Football Camp and there were physicians from Banner Hospitals that put on a seminar for the parents. The doctors STRONGLY encourage parents to WAIT until your child is older to allow them to play tackle (or any contact sport). In addition to the brain not belong fully developed, the neck muscles supporting the head usually aren't strong enough to support the head if a kid falls, thus increasing the chances of the head hitting the ground (add the weight of a helmet to that). Banner Hospitals also has a clinic devoted to concussions and here in Arizona offer baseline testing so that you can know where your child is before anything happens. We will do that. However, my husband and I firmly agree that our son will not play tackle until he has learned the fundamentals of passing, receiving, rushing, etc in flag football first. There is plenty of time to learn about tackling later (that's the easy part … kinda like running back to the alley or gate after turning the 3rd barrel). I wouldn't put my child on a 1D barrel horse before they've learned how to ride a horse properly. Same goes for football. It may be no consolation to the OP … but as a mom, I support your decision.