Friday night tykes

It's all about ratings. Look at some of the shows out there and what they promote.

Disgusting if this is what you say is going on, but I am not surprised.

It will push more moms (and dads) away from letting their sons play football. Very unfortunate but what do you expect from "coaches" and "parents" that don't get the concept of childhood and ruin what could be a positive experience. For a multitude of reasons my son will most likely not play youth football, "coaches" and leagues like this being top of the list.

[br. I'm with you on this one I believe junior high should be the first time kids play football.

good god, they hold their kid back to get a competitive advantage are you fricking kidding me? What is wrong with these parents. Would rather see them play flag then this crap. The unfortunate thing is that most of these "coaches" are a joke and as long as they have that type of place they will continue to think that they are "great"

And then if you don't play little Johnny at linebacker or qb "where he played when we won 4 straight super bowls" then they just flips&$T and then we don't know what the he!! We are doing because Johnny was a superstar in little league football... Hate this type of stuff !

Wisconsin has an excellent youth program in the AAYFL. VEry strict weight restrictions on ball carriers

The tooth fairy is more real than "reality" television.

The question is how many people will watch? Will people refuse to watch because of their objection to the content?  Will people cave to their curiosity?  That is yet to be seen.  What is certain is, if they have low ratings, it will not come back.

My fear, in the twisted culture we've created through reality TV, is that these people become stars. Even that still may not matter. From what I gather, it may already be too late to rescue youth football in many parts of our country.

sidenote: notice the helmet-to-helmet hits

Out of sheer boredom, I watched four episodes of this show last night. Honestly, I didn't think it was really that bad. Granted, I haven't seen the first few episodes where I'm sure there was more "reality" to try and draw in viewers. The coach of the Jr. Broncos is a complete idiot. I would question the sanity of anyone who sacrificed their family for coaching any level of football, let alone youth football. The speeches from the coaches are comical as there's no way 8 year olds are comprehending those messages. From what I watched, though, I didn't see anything that would scare me as a parent from letting my kids play youth football. I already have my beliefs and didn't see anything in this show that would persuade me one way or the other.

Only two teams in my league have a youth program, they are the bottom dweller and an underachiever. League has a considerable amount of success in football, average roster size is probably right around 60-70 and every team except for the bottom feeder fields a 9th, JV, and Varsity squad (and our league is comprised of the bottom 3 divisions in the state). Our youth play pick up football and some play soccer but when it comes to high school they play football and love it. I understand that the place I have landed is a rarity and am very fortunate to be in it however I think the lack of youth football has actually helped us. We don't get kids being burned out or have to deal with the politics of pop warner superstars.

Quite frankly, I don't buy any of the merits of youth tackle ball. It is unnecessary and I'm starting to believe counterproductive. I would be far more supportive of youth flag leagues built on *gasp* fun and increasing participation. Our staffs can teach the fundamentals at the middle school and build on that as the kids progress. I realize this is a generalization and believe most of the youth coaches on this site are the exception however it is hard enough to put together quality high school staffs, I have seen more "coaches" at the youth level that are the negative stereotype than those that I would consider coaches, enough so that my son will not be playing youth ball. He won't play a down of organized tackle football until middle school if he so chooses.

As far as helping the youth coaches, at my last school we constantly reached out to the two predominate youth teams and it consistently turned in to a proverbial pi$$ing contest, it was all about their egos and their "championships." If I am in a situation again where youth ball exists I will once again try and build bridges and create a positive relationship between the HS and youth programs but my experiences coupled with many other coaches I know and respect is that most youth leagues mirror your last line.

On twitter I saw a thread started by a coach that contributes on here about the merits of giving trophies to youth teams and some of the responses did nothing but reaffirm my beliefs about the vocal group who see their role as the deciders on the next great football phenoms and asserting themselves as the alpha dogs in their leagues instead of coaches that nurture a long lasting enjoyment of the sport.

We have 7th and 8th grade so that is a luxury I suppose.  I wouldn't be opposed to that at all however I don't see any purpose for kids playing the game in kindergarten, to me the pros do not outweigh the cons at that young of an age.  Like I said, I think at that young of an age flag leagues are the way to go.  Now 5th and 6th grade maybe but I would be very active in checking out the coaches before considering it.

As far as never living it, I tried my best to build bridges with the youth organizations, went to practices and games to be around, saw the way they were run, and witnessed first hand the coaching both good but more so bad.  So have I coached it, no, not outside of a CYO flag team when I was in high school but I have first hand experience coaching byproducts of a marginally run league and do harbor the same attitude many bball coaches harbor towards aau hoops.

And I can assure you my son is not going to be held from the greatest sport ever, my family is immersed in it, he is around the game and players all the time, will hopefully be a manager and ball boy as he grows and then play in middle school and high school.  These are not preconceived notions, they are my very accurate personal observations I have seen and experienced.  Clearly you have a different experience but while my time as a coach hasn't been as vast as many on here I have seen two approaches and the one I am currently in has produced a higher number of committed student athletes with far higher retention rates.

Maybe it is a selfish perspective and you are correct that I can't predict the future, who knows maybe we will move somewhere where the youth leagues are run with the end goal always in mind to promote safety fun and fundamentals, but right here youth ball isn't an option and if it were I would only have my current/past experiences to make a decision off of.  From my experiences, much like those video links and FNT, it is not worth having my son exposed to that environment and turning him off to the sport in the long run.

For me, pick up football or flag as a youth and organized tackle at the middle/junior high level is a great set up.  I understand and appreciate your passion and dedication to youth ball and you seem to "get it" but unfortunately in my experiences you are the exception.

Im not a fan of the show at all. I think k-5 Should be flag only.

I watched all the shows just to see how these coaches would "teach" and how the future of our sport is looking. I would say that if this is how youth programs are run, my son would never wear a helmet. At that level, it should be about the fun of the game. I agree with posters who say k-5 should be flag only. I also am aware that this is a TV show and there are many good youth coaches doing it right. This show is just an extreme version of doing fundamental things wrong.

There's no drama in am everyday drill or teaching technique.