Horseless1 - 2014-05-13 9:38 PM I think you are making the right decision. My young son wanted to play and I decided not to let my overprotectiveness get in the way of him doing what he really to do. I couldnt even watch practice and minutes into his first game he was knocked unconscious. Many many tests later he is okay but no more football for him. Trust your instinct.

Morab76 - 2014-05-13 10:50 PM Your child, your choice.  I know it was highly sensationalized, but after watching a season of Friday Night Tykes, I could not believe what so many parents are allowing their young children to go through.  Proper equipment that is well cared fo does not protect from all concussions, and we are learning that repeated head injuries   (even minor ones) cause irreparable damage that is not seen for decades.



I think it is great your husband is not going behind your back and enrolling your son in tackle.  Flag will still build on him learning the fundamentals of the game and conditioning without as significant a isk fo head injury.  Your son will be angry, but you need to make the decision that is best for him and his future.  Hang in thee, and many hugs to you!

 

Herbie - 2014-05-14 8:58 AM I'm an advocate for the flag football and 7 on 7 programs for all kids.  We live in a community that has only offered tackle football for the kids for years and it shows in the middle and high school programs BIG TIME!!!  Children under a certain age are not mature enough to understand that tackle football hurts, so what happens is we put these kids in the tackle football program, they get hit hard one time and it hurts bad, and they quit.  Then what we have is a smaller group of kids trying out for the football teams because they were exposed to early, experienced the pain when they weren't ready, and said no thanks.  Alot of good athletes are lost early due to this and your high school program suffers due to the lack of athletes coming out. 



Secondly, tackle football programs hold kids back from being skill players.  There are some kids who are pudgy and BIG as youngsters that grow up to be big, lean, strong young men.  In a tackle football program, these bigger, pudgier kids are going to be put on the line rather than given the shot to play a skill position.  Then when they grow and are now athletic teenagers, their skills haven't been developed as they should have been because they were considered linemen. 



Lastly, most youth tackle football teams primarily run the ball.  You've got one or two really fast kids and the QB hands off to one of them and those are the only kids that get much action.  There is very little passing or catching, which are the two most difficult skills to develop as a football player.   In a flag program, this is the basis......developing SKILL players no matter their size or shape as children.  The objective of flag football is to teach these kids the basics of the game....the route tree, passing and catching, as well as running the ball.  In flag a larger kid can play QB or running back or any other position on the field because he isn't limited by his size.  The flag program is a confidence building program and will allow many more kids to come into the middle and high school ranks with the skills needed.  What the coaches will have is 15 kids that are potential quarterbacks, rather than 2 maybe 3, because these kids have been throwing and catching since they were young rather than just handing the ball off to the fastest kid on the team....it's not something new to them.



Take into account the best programs in the state of Texas and look at what their youth are doing.  South Lake Carroll.....they are State Flag Football champs or contenders every year at the State tournament.  Same with Stephenville, Aledo, San Angelo.  You see kids out there that are able to throw and catch like high schoolers as 9 and 10 YO's.  All of these schools have flag programs that fill their schools with SKILL players that can be used in any position on the field, and instead of having a varsity and JV team, they have a varsity, junior varsity, A team, B team, and C team.  The number of kids triples when they aren't eliminated as youngsters due to fear.  The tackling will come, and now as middle schoolers, they are mature enough to understand and deal with the pain. 



That's my 2 cents, and I have personally seen the value in the flag program first hand.  It's pretty amazing to see a kid that is oversized and a little on the tubby side develop into a 6'5" stud quarterback just because he wasn't made to stand on the line or be a blocker....

 

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.