Less kids playing football

[diehardg8r]

I live in NE Louisiana, and it is happening at an alarming rate here. I help coach my son's 10 yr old team sponsored through the YMCA, and the league numbers are dropping drastically.
The problem at least here is baseball, particularly travel baseball played year round. Where every kid gets to be a star. Where teamwork and being a good teammate isn't very important. Where you don't have to relentlessly test your will for the entire game. Where Mommy and Daddy can find you a team where you can start and shine if you really suck, and if you are talented the organization will pay your way. It really sucks and I fear for the type of adults this will create. Getting off my soapbox now.

That ain't happening just in Louisiana brother. I've had 3 coaches come to me about my son (10 y.o). Pitcher in rec ball and pretty much dominates. I've had taking lessons from a former MLB pitcher who is just awesome and really teaches the game from a pitchers standpoint. I absolutely refuse to let him go to travel ball for those very reasons. He love baseball right now and I plan to keep it that way.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

For the longest time, I hoped to have a son and have him grow up to be a great football player. Now I'm not so sure I want that. The risk just isn't worth it. I've watched my older brother need knee replacement surgery at age 33 because of a football injury, I've seen what the repeated concussions have done to so many former NFL players, and I just wouldn't want that kind of future for my son (if I have one). I'd definitely encourage him to play sports and be competitive, but I don't think I would actively persuade him to try football anymore.

 

[MJMGator]

For the longest time, I hoped to have a son and have him grow up to be a great football player. Now I'm not so sure I want that. The risk just isn't worth it. I've watched my older brother need knee replacement surgery at age 33 because of a football injury, I've seen what the repeated concussions have done to so many former NFL players, and I just wouldn't want that kind of future for my son (if I have one). I'd definitely encourage him to play sports and be competitive, but I don't think I would actively persuade him to try football anymore.

I'm with ya, Sas. I just plan on being supportive of whatever sport(s) he decides he likes...as long as it isn't soccer.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

I'm with ya, Sas. I just plan on being supportive of whatever sport(s) he decides he likes...as long as it isn't soccer.

If nothing else, he'd be in spectacular shape. He just wouldn't be one of those pansy ass floppers.

 

[Durty South Swamp]

Compound this with the ever skyrocketing ticket prices of college and pro games and the public suffers from repetitive sticker shock over watching those that do choose to play. Then add in the douchebags that want to use a game to make grand political statements and you further erode and piss off your clientele. Sorry but sports are fun to play and to watch, they are entertainment and are intended to be an outlet for our daily lives. Turning on a game or paying the money and showing up in person only to be preached at by the Bob Costa's or Colin Kaepernick's of the world is going to result in people simply tuning out completely. I know a lot of people that already have for these specific reasons.

 

[Gator Fever]

Is the youth soccer fad still going on where the white parents take their kids to be a star.

 

[Gator98MD]

I want my sons to pick up golf,can play forever and possibly get a scholly to school. Plus we can go on golf trips together. Man that'd be sweet!

 

[oxrageous]

For the longest time, I hoped to have a son and have him grow up to be a great football player. Now I'm not so sure I want that. The risk just isn't worth it. I've watched my older brother need knee replacement surgery at age 33 because of a football injury, I've seen what the repeated concussions have done to so many former NFL players, and I just wouldn't want that kind of future for my son (if I have one)..

We've also seen what repeated concussions have done to you.

 

[Zambo]

I remember growing up playing football in Orange Park. It rained all the time of course and we'd still be out there at practice every day of the week, lining up as fast as we could to bash the hell out of each other snap after snap. Our parents would have to drag us home we had so much fun. Our coach was a big fat mean guy who yelled and cussed and grabbed our facemasks and demanded perfection. Total blast. None of us minded a bit, especially when we went undefeated two years in a row. I'm sure he'd be crucified for his behavior today.

 

[Lake Gator]

This is what I was talking about in my post (#3 above) about the year-round leagues.

When most of us were kids, we played whatever sport was in season....hung up the gear and played whatever sport was in season.

There's a great article in the WSJ about it, the numbers are alarming:

http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-baseball-is-losing-children-1432136172

But MLB faces headwinds that have been years in the making and forces that are outside its direct control. In 2002, nine million people between the ages of 7 and 17 played baseball in the U.S., according to the National Sporting Goods Association, an industry trade group. By 2013, the most recent year for which data is available, that figure had dropped by more than 41%, to 5.3 million. Likewise, youth softball participation declined from 5.4 million to 3.2 million over the same span.

They're all still playing sports...just in front of a computer screen or drone racing.

 

[divits]

I played organized tackle football for ten years. I've had two knee surgeries, have no disks in my neck to speak of and have permanent numbness in three fingers on my right hand. Like an idiot I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. I just freakin' loved football.

 

[Captain Sasquatch]

We've also seen what repeated concussions have done to you.

I never had a concussion, thank you very much.

 

[78]

I'm conflicted on the subject. Football is a tremendous tool toward helping kids learn how to work together as a team to accomplish something meaningful. Preventing a kid who wants to play, or worse still, a kid who wants to play and has the skills to play seems like unreasonable punishment. And yet the risks we know of make us pause and think.

Not sure what is right.

 

[Swamp Queen]

I'd encourage another team sport before sending a son out to play football.

 

[divits]

I won father of the year once when my son hurt his arm and pulled himself out of a Pop Warner game when he was around 10 or so. I told the team mom taking care of him on the sideline that he had a history of being a bit of a drama queen and that he's fine to go back in the game. When he pulled himself out again a few plays later the team mom overrode me and told the coach he was done for the day. Yada, yada yada....of course he had a broken arm.

I never interfered with him in sports again. He played a few more years and lost interest and took up swimming and volleyball. Being 6'6" and 185 pounds also probably played a part in that too.

 

[NavetG8r]

You gotta remember also, kids can compete online in video games now. They don't have to exercise or do any physical exertion for that. We live in different times.

 

[divits]

You gotta remember also, kids can compete online in video games now. They don't have to exercise or do any physical exertion for that. We live in different times.

Yet one more sign of the apocalypse.

 

[NavetG8r]

Yet one more sign of the apocalypse.

Times have changed.

 

[Fishon]

time to start finding a favorite MLS team to root for. The upside is that if talent shifts from football to futbol, you might actually see the US win a World Cup pretty soon

 

[Zambo]

Perhaps the helmets are too good these days. It used to hurt like hell to hit your head. The helmet wasn't a weapon, it was just there to keep your head from caving in. Now it seems guys have no fear of running head first into another player. And why are the pads suddenly so small? Just better tech I guess? Seems like that lets them run faster and hit harder.