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Post by royalfootball on Apr 5, 2012 8:36:10 GMT -6
I've read where Pop Warner is making the proposal to allow contact in only 1/3 of practice time to help eliminate concussions and focus on player safety. Our league rules committee discussed this issue at length last night (non pop warner). Anyone have thoughts or planning to make this change in your leagues as well? Coach Cisar I'd especially like your input.
Thanks.
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Post by coachseth on Apr 5, 2012 9:52:47 GMT -6
I personally don't like the rule change myself.
I'm all for player safety, and I think that is one of the top priorities as well as teaching the game of football. However, it is so difficult to not have padded practices with kids ages 5-13. At such a young age I think it's important that kids have the contact as much as possible, not to injure them but to better prepare them. That's the thing about pros, colleges, and even high schools having some days without pads. Those kids have been playing for a while, they know what to expect and they've been tackling for years. One day away from it won't hurt them at all.
But to a kid that has never played before? Technique is everything. And learning to tackle might be the single most important aspect to youth football, even though you could argue blocking is up there too. Either way I think you have to have contact to teach the proper techniques, not giving them the right amount of time to do so could actually hurt them seriously during game time.
Just my two cents.
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Post by davecisar on Apr 5, 2012 10:55:19 GMT -6
We dont do full contact for more than 1/3 of our practice for the last 16 seasons
We work a ton on tech, progression steps, fits, footwork etc
We dont even have our helmets on for 1/3 of every practice
You can learn the basic fundamentals and scheme work without a ton of full contact work- of COURSE it has to eventually be repped at full tilt, but that portion of the learning proccess doesnt have to be more than 1/3 of practice
Also- note the teams I see scrimmaging the most- usually have the worst records, those that are perfecting tech and fundys are the very best
After the first month BTW we only team scrimmage about 10 minutes per week
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Post by Chris Clement on Apr 5, 2012 12:36:32 GMT -6
What are they calling "contact?"
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Post by bobgoodman on Apr 5, 2012 14:46:42 GMT -6
What are they calling "contact?" That's one thing I wanted to know. The other is how they count the time. If you have "contact" at this instant, and then again 3 mins. later, was that 3 mins. of a contact drill? If they want to make a limit, you'd think they'd measure it in reps rather than time. |
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Post by mahonz on Apr 5, 2012 15:02:14 GMT -6
What are they calling "contact?" That's one thing I wanted to know. The other is how they count the time. If you have "contact" at this instant, and then again 3 mins. later, was that 3 mins. of a contact drill? If they want to make a limit, you'd think they'd measure it in reps rather than time. Bob Seems like a rule that would be difficult to police unless you mandate 3 days per week, 2 out of pads....for example. |
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Post by coachschro on Apr 6, 2012 2:29:20 GMT -6
We dont do full contact for more than 1/3 of our practice for the last 16 seasons We work a ton on tech, progression steps, fits, footwork etc We dont even have our helmets on for 1/3 of every practice You can learn the basic fundamentals and scheme work without a ton of full contact work- of COURSE it has to eventually be repped at full tilt, but that portion of the learning proccess doesnt have to be more than 1/3 of practice Also- note the teams I see scrimmaging the most- usually have the worst records, those that are perfecting tech and fundys are the very best After the first month BTW we only team scrimmage about 10 minutes per week Similar to what we do... We never wore pants in practice, just the all in one girldes on shorts. Never blocked or tackled below the waste. We almost never scrimmaged or did much full contact. Everything was controlled. Our tackling drills were mainly with pads and even when we tackled close to 100% we were tackling into pads when they both landed... Anyone who has watched and read about long term damage from the continuous helmet to helmet contact would probably agree that when these kids are starting in 2nd & 3rd grade we need to take great care to protect the kids... |
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Post by coachseth on Apr 6, 2012 3:21:17 GMT -6
Oh I agree that the younger kids need to be limited. But when kids start pushing that 9-13 age bracket they need more contact. That's when they'll be ready to start pushing to be on the middle school/high school rosters, and most middle schools and high schools require you to hit daily.
When I think more about it, we wear full pads all three days of practice but truthfully we don't hit outside of some warm up tackling drills and Oklahoma at the end of practice.
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Post by coachiminime on Apr 6, 2012 9:01:48 GMT -6
The problem is alot of coaches of younge rkids do no tknow how to properly teach tackling. So they go back to yelling and screaming about hitting hard and doing drills that are not particulary controlled.
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Post by coachguy83 on Apr 12, 2012 17:01:40 GMT -6
Prior to last season I would have thought this crazy, but my thoughts on "contact" practices has been changed. I coaches a team last year that was low on numbers so we very rarely had live hitting. We finished second in the league and we were a lot more fundamentally sound than teams I had been around in the past.
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Post by coachrobpsl on Apr 30, 2012 11:20:30 GMT -6
We are in full pads 3 days(out of 3 practices) a week until games begin, 2 days in season. That does not mean that we are full contact all the time. We run through plays and scout team at about 65% contact. We want our kids to practice tackling and blocking every time we run a play. We stress that we are hitting and wrapping and not bringing to the ground. Explosive hits are not allowed and punished. We practice proper technique, head placement, grabbing cloth, footwork etc. Our board pretty much tells us that if we have any contact more than patty cakes we will be in pads. Full contact all the time is just dangerous and outdated, imo. We want our kids to be physical. I strongly believe that one of the best ways to bring that out in them is for them to get used to being hit(again, not 100%) and believing in the protective equipment and technique. We very rarely go 100%. Only 2 season ending injuries in the last 7 years(one kid made it back deep into the playoffs).
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Post by fantom on May 1, 2012 11:44:01 GMT -6
I think the kids will hate it. Full contact is scrimmaging and scrimmaging is playing football. That's the reason that kids are there-to play football.
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Post by Chris Clement on May 1, 2012 12:26:56 GMT -6
It annoys me when the solution to bad coaching is to inhibit any coaching at all, but it's the easier fix, rather than train all the coaches. We always show up in full gear, not because we do hitting every day (though we do, to some greater or lesser degree of intensity) but because I don't want to be reminding kids what they do or don't need to bring. If I want to do something wiothout helmets, we just put them on the sideline.
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Post by jrk5150 on May 1, 2012 16:00:48 GMT -6
Actually, I disagree with a couple of the posters about the younger kids.
At least from a purely football/learning perspective, they need to be hitting MORE, they have to get used to the idea of contact, and how to incorporate the techniques you're teaching into full speed contact.
From a safety perspective, I'm not disagreeing. Frankly, I just don't know enough to have an informed opinion.
I can say that I'm not sure you need tackle football at all below the age of 9 or 10. This is the age I coach, and by the middle of the season, you can't tell the difference between a kid who's played for years, or a kid out for the first time.
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Post by coachbuck on May 3, 2012 8:01:18 GMT -6
Taking hitting out of football? HMM, sounds like soccer. Cclement, you are correct. Always punish the good coach. Its so typical of youth sports.
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