Youth football ban in California

This is what bothers me the most about coaching, but fortunately "a good number" doesn't have to be "many" everywhere.  Kids subjected to bad coaches is bad, but not as bad as kids who didn't want football at all.

I'm writing as someone whose parents tried to convince me that piano lessons was my idea.  They bought a Steinway.  And put it in the part of the living room where the roof leaked.  I quit as soon as they'd let me, years later, which was the time I was entering a prep school.  And never since then has it occurred as people say, "You'll regret quitting."

Played "youth" sports when I was a kid. We would gather at a local field in the fall and choose sides to play a little tackle football. Or, gather at that same field in the summer and choose sides to play a little baseball. Or, when I lived in the city the neighborhood kids would get together and play a little stickball. Played Babe Ruth baseball in JH, but didn't play organized football until I went to high school. My parents NEVER forced me to play any sport, but they always encouraged me to go out and play with my friends.

When I got to HS some of my friends who played football in JH convinced me to play in HS and were more experienced and advanced than I so I spent most of my HS time learning how to play the game as a freshman, honing my skills as a sophomore, serving as a backup as a junior, and playing a lot as a senior. All of those experiences taught me to LOVE playing the game, and WANTING to play more after HS. Couldn't get enough of the gamet. I had fun playing in college, and was NEVER misled to believe I had the talent to become a pro. I enjoyed the game so much I wanted to write about it so I majored in journalism. However my old HS coach contacted me to ask if I would be interested in helping coach his freshman team and, well...50 years later I still LOVE the game, but hate seeing what's happening to it.

A state government, or federal government taking away the freedom for us to choose whether our kids should play the game before age 12 or not is NOT the answer though.

I "liked" your post because I agreed with most of it. Your experience with "youth" sports mirrored mine: We played a lot of tackle football, just not on organized teams. 

Your last statement contradicts that, though. As far as I know the bill in Cal. would only ban ORGANIZED tackle football for kids under 12. The cols will NOT be on the lookout for backyard 3-on-3 games.

That's good, because the last version of the Benedetto bill in NY I looked at -- which was close to a decade ago -- actually was to make illegal even the playing of tackle football by those under age, and also imposed criminal liability on those whose land was being played on.

I don't recall seeing any of these bills as having a definition of tackle football, so it's not clear whether loopholes were possible by changing a few things and saying, "This is not football."  What if, for instance, they played rugby?  Or American Sevens?  Or Canadian football?

Then either that was a phantom of mine to begin with, or else after I left NY it was amended to exclude peer-organized play.  However, it does include rugby.

Still, it seems to allow tackling under adult supervision as long at the adult is not doing it as part of an organization.

Meaning it'd not only passed the committee (as the story said), but while we were discussing this, it actually passed the entire legislature?!!  I know a lot of crazy things happen as a legislative deadline approaches, but this is awful news.

Meanwhile I've figured out that olliebaba meant "full contact" by "FC", but "tacklebar" I had to look up: tacklebar.com/  Apparently it's like flag football but the flags are on the small of your back and your opponent is allowed to hold you while grabbing for it.  The video probably has edited out of it the many times I'm sure the ballcarrier and/or tackler wound up going to the ground inadvertently, as in "thud" practice if you did it competitively and swallowed your whistle.

Absolutely

It was a dumb idea. I know a lot of people want their kid to wait to play football, but it shouldn’t be mandatory. My 7 year old plays ball and loves it. He has good coaches (thankful I don’t have to after varsity practice), and I didn’t see any collisions that were even remotely hard at that age.

We love football. He has fun playing football. At recess the kids in his grade have a touch football league they created.

Having been around all kinds of youth sports, youth football it doesn’t seem any more dangerous than any of the rest of them.

i can't even comment any more

Who you vote for is important.  Problem is, most people don't know what they are voting for, and in actuality, vote against their own interests