Youth Football

[onewhippedpuppy]

Anyone else at this stage with their kids? I absolutely love it. More importantly though, my son loves it. He's going into 5th grade and just started tackle football practice last week. He's a very low key kid that rarely shows much emotion, but he always has a smile on his face playing football. Except when it's over, then he's usually in tears. This is year 3 of tackle after 3 years of playing flag, I just enjoy the hell out of watching him. He's 1st string OLB on defense and bounces between FB and HB on 1st string offense. He doesn't care about scoring touchdowns, his favorite things are tackling on defense and lead blocking on offense. Good stuff, I love this time of year.

Doing what he loves (gray jersey neon yellow laces).



Good open field run.

[weseeeee]

That is great. Enjoy as much time as you can with him because before you know it he'll be off to college.

[ckelly78z]

My son is a starting lineman in high school as a Sophmore, he has been in tackle football since the third grade and we love watching him play. Of course the weather isn't always good, we have baked in the sun, and froze in windy rains, but we still love it.

[Seahawk]

Originally Posted by onewhippedpuppy

More importantly though, my son loves it.

All you need to know. Excellent.

Originally Posted by weseeeee

That is great. Enjoy as much time as you can with him because before you know it he'll be off to college.

Bingo.

[berettafan]

youth sports have really become a huge thing in our house. happens to be baseball for us but the point I think is to be in a competitive sport that teaches hard work and effort to bring results.

[bivenator]

I am glad that I have daughters and don't have to make the call on whether to let my son play football. Hearing my patients complain of all the aches and pains caused by football injuries would make it a hard decision for me. Throw in the concussions and I can see why some parents opt out. I played organized sports all during my formative years and well into my 30/s so I understand the importance and the fun.

My friends son is undersized and plays corner. My buddy tells me he has to turn away when the 170lb running back turns the corner and his kid has to make the play.

[porsche4life]

youth sports have really become a huge thing in our house. happens to be baseball for us but the point I think is to be in a competitive sport that teaches hard work and effort to bring results.

I disagree with this. You can learn this in other ways. I didn't play sports, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone around me who thinks I haven't worked hard to get where I'm at.

[berettafan]

there isn't anything to disagree with. I just pointed out that sports can teach effort=results.

[Moses]

Most of us spend our lives on "teams". Family, a sales team, a construction crew...

Team sports taught me how to be a better teammate in life. When your friend drops the game winning touchdown pass or strikes out to lose a game, we learn to be supportive and encouraging instead of critical and judgmental. Great life lessons. I'm not saying these attitudes can only be developed through team sports, but it sure helps.

[on2wheels52]

Perhaps a thought for any parent whose kid hasn't yet committed to a particular sport, consider steering them to an activity where boys and girls compete together (but separately) such as track, tennis, swimming and others. I don't think it's as testosterone (or estrogen) rich as some of the other sports where the only student involvement is boys on the team and girls as cheerleaders. At least for my kid it was a great way to hang out with members of the opposite sex while being a competitive part of the school team.
Jim

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by bivenator

I am glad that I have daughters and don't have to make the call on whether to let my son play football. Hearing my patients complain of all the aches and pains caused by football injuries would make it a hard decision for me. Throw in the concussions and I can see why some parents opt out. I played organized sports all during my formative years and well into my 30/s so I understand the importance and the fun.

My friends son is undersized and plays corner. My buddy tells me he has to turn away when the 170lb running back turns the corner and his kid has to make the play.

My wife has 7 sisters. One has had two eye surgeries due to an ATV accident and detached retina. Another tore her ACL/MCL twice while playing basketball and volleyball. Per a report I read a while back, the highest rate of concussions in high school sports is in girl's soccer, but the total number is lower than football due to the lower number of kids playing. Every activity has risks. It's a bit of a sore point for me, as my parents didn't like sports and didn't allow me to play football. So instead of playing the only sport that I was really any good at, I spent my high school drunk. Guaranteed that I put my life at greater risk (a lot) than anyone on the football team. I'm sure I would have still drank in high school, but the risk of being kicked off of the team has a way of keeping kids straight. It also would have given me something to be a part of, which was the underlying issue.

Originally Posted by berettafan

youth sports have really become a huge thing in our house. happens to be baseball for us but the point I think is to be in a competitive sport that teaches hard work and effort to bring results.

Originally Posted by porsche4life

I disagree with this. You can learn this in other ways. I didn't play sports, and I think you'd be hard pressed to find anyone around me who thinks I haven't worked hard to get where I'm at.

Originally Posted by Moses

Most of us spend our lives on "teams". Family, a sales team, a construction crew...

Team sports taught me how to be a better teammate in life. When your friend drops the game winning touchdown pass or strikes out to lose a game, we learn to be supportive and encouraging instead of critical and judgmental. Great life lessons. I'm not saying these attitudes can only be developed through team sports, but it sure helps.

Amen to that. Lots of ways to learn those life lessons, but sports are a great teacher.

Sid, you were an Eagle Scout, right? That's another organization that (when done well) can teach some fantastic life lessons.

[berettafan]

Back on topic I do also love watching my kids compete or do any skilled activity. Used to be the cool early fall nights playing soccer. We are hopefully doing flag football again this fall too. More chilly nights on the field watching my son and chatting with my neighbor about the next mornings hunt....just a special time of year.

[onewhippedpuppy]

Originally Posted by berettafan

Back on topic I do also love watching my kids compete or do any skilled activity. Used to be the cool early fall nights playing soccer. We are hopefully doing flag football again this fall too. More chilly nights on the field watching my son and chatting with my neighbor about the next mornings hunt....just a special time of year.

Exactly, that's what spurred the thread. My oldest loves sports and plays year round between football, basketball, spring flag football, and baseball. My daughter is the middle child and is still looking for what she really enjoys, which is ok too. Youngest son already tries to play with the big boys, so I think he'll be fine. He runs with his big brother at football practice when they do conditioning, it's funny to watch him outrun the linemen.

[gacook]

I've had my kids in several activities. I've been a life-long athlete (started playing baseball around the same time I started walking, lol), so am a big proponent of youth sports. In my family, you HAD to play baseball. Anything else you did was gravy, but if you weren't good at baseball, you were pretty much useless.

So, with my kids, I wanted them to find activities THEY enjoy. My girls have done softball, soccer, dance and scouts. They love scouts and dance. My oldest daughter (13) is doing cross-country this year. She's the least athletic of my 3 kids. My son has played soccer when he was 5, and has been doing Tae Kwon Do since about the same time--he's 7 now. He'll be playing football starting next year--I really hope he likes it.

You do learn many life lessons playing sports, and you can also make life-long friends. I've tried to get my step-sons involved in sports, but they have no interest. One is REALLY not athletic, so he hates doing it; the other is extremely athletic, but just doesn't want to be part of a team--I haven't figured out why, yet, or how to get around it.