What's Right About Youth Football

Competitive youth football, in addition to all youth sports in general, gets a bad rap in the general media. Unfortunately, the public usually only hears about incidents that occur with bad parents and bad coaches. What doesn't get reported are the success stories.

Many of you either participated in youth sports when you were younger and/or are involved in your children's youth sports organizations in some way today. Personally, for me, I played youth baseball and football back in the late 70's and early 80's. Football was the sport I enjoyed the most. Unfortunately, a brain injury (insert joke here) prevented me from continuing to play the sport as I entered High School (don't bring up the topic with me -- it still a sore spot with me :icon_cry:).

Youth sports has grown in popularity since I was a youngster and there are now many choices for children/parents of varying sports and leagues. Within each sport, each league can vary in intensity and competitiveness. As many of you know, I have been coaching my youngest son's competitive football team and have coached girl's softball and boy's baseball previously for my kid's teams.

Have I seen instances of bad parenting and bad coaching? Of course. I've seen parents scream at their kids in the middle of a game. I've seen parents 'coddle' their kid at a critical point when the kid was on the verge of breaking through and 'getting it'. I've seen coaches handle kids improperly, either verbally or physically. I've seen fistfights between parents and coaches on more than a few occassions right in front of the kids.

However, these instances are much fewer than the success stories. I have coached kids who were never allowed to play organized sports because their parents couldn't afford it and the team covered their costs. I've coached kids who needed male coaches in their lives because their fathers either left them or were in jail. I've coached kids who never thought they were good enough to compete on a playing field and when the light bulb goes on for them and they finally believe their coaches, you couldn't wipe the permagrin off their face.

I've had to cut kids that my kids go to school with and that my wife and I know their families. In most cases, it actually motivates most kids to work harder. Contrary to what they are taught in the rest of society that 'everyone is a winner' and the other bullcrap that is spouted, for many of these kids, this is the first time in their lives that they have personally been handed a challenge that THEY can control the outcome. To see how many of them take the bull by the horns, make another roster, and work their asses off to get better, is what makes it all worthwhile. It teaches them and helps them practice getting up off the ground when they're knocked down in life. Unfortunately, society no longer teaches people how to do that in most avenues of life. That's why there are so many people that fail to launch. The first time they are knocked down in adulthood, they don't know how to get up because they were never in a situation where they could learn it.

Youth sports IS a good thing, especially with good parents and good coaches involved that understand the deeper meaning.

 

YES

i played football for 11 years and all i ever wanted to do was win and hurt people. but hey my mom was a drug addict so it was kind of therapeutic in hind sight.

could have played at monmounth or RMU as a walk on but chose a better school

 

exactly my point and sorry to hear about your mom when you were younger.

thanks .............. i know you're coaching the kids properly in FB because you get the bigger picture ............... and I also have kid's sports that i stay out of the way, specifically basketball and swimming because I'm horrible at both ............. :icon_cheesygrin:

 

I played football for a total of 3 years (4th grade, and practice squad 10th and 11th grade), when I played youth football, we didn't have that "everyone is a winner" deal, you played, if you lost, you lost, plain and simple. We went 0-8 that year, we got no constellation prizes, just "Try again next year", it never bothered me, in fact, it made me want to play again (different circumstances prevented me for the next 6 years) just so I could try and reach what I never was able to reach.

My last two years of high school, I was a volunteer coach for the local youth league, and in my first year, we ended up 3rd place after the season was over and played in a constellation bowl (there were bowls for all teams so that everyone got an equal amount of games, 1v2, 3v4, etc.). We lost the bowl we were in, and still got a trophy (reads Sugar Bowl runner up), most of the kids I've talked to recently hated that trophy, because they wanted to win, they didnt' want anything handed to them. The very next year, we went undefeated and won the whole thing. The main thing I learned is that youth football is about teaching the basics of the game and to get them to see whether or not it's for them. Some coaches take Youth Football WAY too serious, while some take it WAY too light, the general age I coached was around 9-11 years old. The ones who's parents were pushing them to play wre reluctant to continue, the ones who's parents just let them go try what they wanted ended up loving the game, and most of them are still playing today in their respective middle schools (I think maybe 3 are Freshmen in HS now).

I've seen instances where parents were down right crazy, one lady and her son tried to jump her other son's coach because he didn't give "her boy enough playing time"....her son was terrible to be honest.

I've seen instances in HS football where there's personal bias, hell, I was a victim of it, having gone through whatI went through, if I didn't already have a passion for the game, I would'v been crushed.

 

My woman wants to have a child.

It's playing football boy or girl.

 

Good read Capt., I also agree that not everyone is a winner, sports as in life some people aren't good enough for a certain sport or job. Since I don't plan on having children all you coaches and other parents out there are safe from my wrath.

 

i love coaching D with the young kids. and, yes, i understand, i try to stay away from my boy as much as possible to avoid any conflict.

i'm glad you didn't lose your passion for the game because of a bad situation.

hahaha. actually, there are usually a couple of girls in our league each year. they hold their own.

the thought of facing the wrath of sweets on the football field coaching her kid scares the crap out of me. :icon_cheesygrin:

 

I stopped coaching when our local leagues wanted to put in a no score keeping policy. It passed because so many parents are raising pussified children these days.

 

Everyone plays, everyone gets a trophy man.

 

did the cat parents succeed in making all of the leagues no scoring? holy crap. where do you live?

even the pop warner leagues around here keep score even though no one gets cut and every kid gets to play.

 

the soccer leagues keep no score, the basketball leagues everyone wins
the only things that keep score are the baseball and softball teams. they're uppity elitist who dont let kids play who are no good. that starts at tee ball and carries on all the way to high school ball.
there is no place for losers in baseball aroujnd hre

 

I played in my youth in the late 80's and then through out high school in the early 90's mostly on defense as a DB and special teams and as a back up receiver. I also would sometime help in the summer leagues on D which is Awesome and receivers. I totally agree Capt you hear more of the horror stories the n the successfull ones which is the way society is just turn on the news and tell me which one you hear more of.I come from the inner city ( the hood ) so I have seen my share of terrible parents coaches fighting coaches to kids actually throwing up gang signs etc because of bad parents and bad coaches setting bad examples. But I also have seen the fruit of good coaching and good parenting. What ended up happening in the neighborhood I grew up in is some of the Bad parents who were coaches were also coaching the basketball league and after there first summer coaching football they were going to do away with the FB league.Instead parents who wanted to see there kids play another year and ministers from the neighborhood got together the funds and became some of the coaches.Some of the older coaches didnt like the way the kids were being coached but they seen how productive it was compared to there way.Like a freind asked me (ex coach) how did you get them to do that I simply said team work and freindship kinda like when we played then he understood. I actually love the saying everyone is a winner because its true I guess it all depends on your perspective of a bigger picture. For example K train sry to hear about your mother was theraputic for him wether they won or lost this help him with his situation as for atlanta I am glad you kept your passion as well wether you win or lose things like passion,team work, self esteam etc that are priceless.I know I have the most respect for my youth coaches our team sucked but what stuck with me was the freindships and the hard work they put in me and self esteam I sucked early but they kept playing me which help my self esteam through out highschool the bigger picture without these there wouldnt have been high school ball.Awesome write up Capt!

 

thx reign and thx for sharing your experience of youth sports. more good news and less bad news is always a good thing!

 

It builds character.

 

I actually played Baseball all throughout my childhood up until High school. When I got to High school and everyone of my friends had changed, instead of having fun all they wanted to do was win and show that they were the best on the team. I like competition but the game wasn't fun anymore, instead of going to practice and "practicing baseball" all we ever did was run and if you ever showed weakness or stopped running you practically got kicked off the team. So I quit, I like to have fun and be competitive but not like that.