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Post by fballcoachg on Jan 19, 2019 16:42:21 GMT -6
Despite our HS numbers going up the past few years, our youth league is hemorrhaging kids and has seen drastic reduction. I’ve never been a firm. Eliever in tackle youth football to begin with but think this would be a prime opportunity to get some changes to the younger ages. That said, I’ve been here 4 years and have tried talking to the youth organization about changing to keep young kids interested but they’ve had a very staunch opinion that what they are doing is best despite them complaining constantly about the drop in numbers.
There is a successful program in the state that has flag up until 5th, rookie tackle until 7th, and tackle after that. Their numbers across the board are high and climbing, their HS HC attributes it to the change they’ve made at the younger levels. They have been copied by similar communities and the model would do very well where we are.
my question is two fold.
1-How do I get the youth league to see what they are doing may need changed, it’s not just “soft a$$ kids”? 2-If they still won’t change, how hard would it be to start our own youth organization?
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 19, 2019 16:46:52 GMT -6
What are they doing (that you disagree with)?
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Post by fballcoachg on Jan 20, 2019 16:30:02 GMT -6
In my opinion, they are being very reluctant to adapting
They start tackle in 2nd grade. It’s what they’ve always done but they have seen a significant drop in participation the past few years. I beleive this year they offered flag and tackle to 2nd grade but after that it’s all tackle.
What I’ve tried talking to them about is pushing tackle back and also considering some of the rookie tackle.
Not that it makes a huge difference but we are in a very affluent community, without adapting to the mood of our community those numbers will just continue to drop and the kids will become more likely to specialize in a sport such as lacrosse or basketball earlier (something we’ve seen happening to where they aren’t even considering football bc they don’t want their kid s playing organized tackle at such an early age).
We’ve done a solid job of getting some of the kids back at the HS and to a lesser extent MS level but I really liked the youth model the other community had and think it would fit ours. In the other similar community, kids are still involved in football as well as the other sports, parents are more at ease, etc.
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Post by coachd5085 on Jan 20, 2019 18:38:13 GMT -6
In my opinion, they are being very reluctant to adapting They start tackle in 2nd grade. It’s what they’ve always done but they have seen a significant drop in participation the past few years. I beleive this year they offered flag and tackle to 2nd grade but after that it’s all tackle. What I’ve tried talking to them about is pushing tackle back and also considering some of the rookie tackle. Not that it makes a huge difference but we are in a very affluent community, without adapting to the mood of our community those numbers will just continue to drop and the kids will become more likely to specialize in a sport such as lacrosse or basketball earlier (something we’ve seen happening to where they aren’t even considering football bc they don’t want their kid s playing organized tackle at such an early age). We’ve done a solid job of getting some of the kids back at the HS and to a lesser extent MS level but I really liked the youth model the other community had and think it would fit ours. In the other similar community, kids are still involved in football as well as the other sports, parents are more at ease, etc. I don't know what "rookie tackle" is. As far as the drop in participation, that very well may be because of fear of head injuries. That said, I am not sure what the matriculation rate would be for those who would play flag as youngsters to tackle football when it is available, nor am I sure what the retention rate is for those who play flag once they start playing contact football. I do think you make a good point that the kids might just become lax rats or gym rats or sunflower seed spitting rats (lol) and never play ball.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 20, 2019 18:45:32 GMT -6
If you don’t control that league, they’re going to do what they choose to do. You can present your case as best you can, but ultimately it’s on them.
If you want to start a flag league of your own, the existing league is going to be threatened and push back, but it’s doable. You can start by contacting one of the national youth league organizations for info on what to do to start an affiliate league, then find some coaches and hopefully someone else to run the league, since it’s a lot of work.
You should probably try to do this in the spring, if possible. The good thing about a flag football league is that equipment expenses are much lower since you don’t need helmets and pads. For marketing reasons, you could tie it in with your varsity mascot, like if you are the Pioneers, you could call it the Junior Pioneer League and sell it as preparing them for varsity.
Youth leagues nationwide are struggling. Some of it is because of concussion hysteria, some of it is from a declining birth rate that’s really showing up now in youth sports (and especially football), and some of it is a cultural shift away from football. It is what it is. I wouldn’t be too hard on your youth org.
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Post by CanyonCoach on Jan 21, 2019 13:10:39 GMT -6
I have been incredibly fortunate with our situation. It is all about people. Go to the meetings, get to know the people, understand the concerns the best you can, do as much as possible and give them as much support as you can and provide information.
We went from flag in 3/4 grade and tackle in 5/6 to tackle all the way through. The biggest factor was that there were more injuries in 3/4 flag than any other level from 3-12th grade. More concussions, more soft tissue injuries, and more bone and joint injuries. We sat down and said we need to be proactive in reducing all injuries. 1. Tackle in grades 3-6 with specific tackling instructions- 2. New equipment across the board-- helmets, shoulder pads, 7 pad integrated pants. 3. neck strengthening regimen for all groups 4. improve referring training and promote the "quick whistle" in youth football. 5. Get more people involved... 6. make it fun..for everyone---even parents.
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Post by bobgoodman on Jan 21, 2019 20:11:28 GMT -6
promote the "quick whistle" in youth football. Any evidence that reduces injuries? I mean, has anybody determined when injuries are occurring, and do they happen disproportionally "late" in play? Then has anybody seen whether whistling early leads to a reduction in those injuries?
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Post by CanyonCoach on Jan 22, 2019 5:31:03 GMT -6
It was pretty anecdotally inferred that in the younger grades a scrum would occur and the mass of kids would fall on a kid or two and one of them would come out crying. The quick whistle for us has been about whistles when forward progress has stopped.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 22, 2019 6:13:27 GMT -6
Produce a winning program theyll come
But you cant make them do anything they dont want
Ive been to hs teams that had feeders and have met with youth teams that have absolutely refused (some pretty rudely too) to have anything to do with the hs program
Middle schools can be the same way
My solution was to just walk away and offer things to other programs
Some guys look at it like an invasion, others welcome it
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Post by Coach Bennett on Jan 22, 2019 7:03:45 GMT -6
I became involved with our youth league last fall when my son entered flag, grades K-2. It is full contact for grades 3rd-6th.
For the parents/kids who don't want to play contact, I'm attempting to run open flag days at times that don't conflict with the youth league. For instance, Sunday morning we went flag at the local college gym for 4th-6th graders.
Time will tell...
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Post by bobgoodman on Jan 24, 2019 23:29:34 GMT -6
It was pretty anecdotally inferred that in the younger grades a scrum would occur and the mass of kids would fall on a kid or two and one of them would come out crying. The quick whistle for us has been about whistles when forward progress has stopped. Funny, because in my experience very young children enjoy being part of a pile-up more than they enjoy football!
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