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Post by irishdog on Jul 3, 2024 15:06:12 GMT -6
Recently I came across some youth football videos on my wife's Facebook page. To say I was horrified at what I saw would be an understatement. I saw tackling drills for youngsters no older than 8 years old that had them running into one another from as many as 15 yards apart! Heads down! And on impact I could see and hear the coaches reacting with crazy shouts of glee, commenting on the hits with "Ooooweee! Or, Did you see that hit?! Or, That's how to punish him!" NOT ONE of them correcting the form, nor the technique, or telling both of the boys to NOT hit with their heads! I was a college and high school football coach for 50 years and have never seen such idiocy in my life!! Is it little wonder why so many parents today prevent their boys from playing football.
If my two grandsons choose to play the game I PROMISED my daughter I would attend their tryouts, and told her if I see ANYTHING like what I saw on those videos I'd help her find another league for the boys. I would exhaust all avenues until I found a league where I could say ALL the boys are coached well, and will attend every one of their practices to make certain they are being coached properly.
I saw drills in those videos that aren't even considered are part of practice in HIGH SCHOOL or COLLEGE ball. Just moronic.
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Post by blb on Jul 3, 2024 15:38:26 GMT -6
Recently I came across some youth football videos on my wife's Facebook page. To say I was horrified at what I saw would be an understatement. I saw tackling drills for youngsters no older than 8 years old that had them running into one another from as many as 15 yards apart! Heads down! And on impact I could see and hear the coaches reacting with crazy shouts of glee, commenting on the hits with "Ooooweee! Or, Did you see that hit?! Or, That's how to punish him!" NOT ONE of them correcting the form, nor the technique, or telling both of the boys to NOT hit with their heads! I was a college and high school football coach for 50 years and have never seen such idiocy in my life!! Is it little wonder why so many parents today prevent their boys from playing football. If my two grandsons choose to play the game I PROMISED my daughter I would attend their tryouts, and told her if I see ANYTHING like what I saw on those videos I'd help her find another league for the boys. I would exhaust all avenues until I found a league where I could say ALL the boys are coached well, and will attend every one of their practices to make certain they are being coached properly. I saw drills in those videos that aren't even considered are part of practice in HIGH SCHOOL or COLLEGE ball. Just moronic. Any way to determine when those videos were filmed? Hopefully not within the last generation or two. |
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Post by irishdog on Jul 3, 2024 16:37:18 GMT -6
Didn't notice any dates. BUT, unfortunately, the personal equipment (shoulder pads, helmets, face guards, pants) of the players, and the apparel the coaches were wearing were definitely a giveaway that the videos were of this last generation.
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Post by 44special on Jul 5, 2024 15:32:24 GMT -6
i've never been a fan of youth fb for this reason. the coaches are basically just dads in the community. some might be ok, might even be really, really good coaches.
but i've met too many dads through my coaching career that shouldn't be anywhere near coaching a kid.
i have no idea how they're chosen, or if they just volunteer, or if there's any type of oversight, etc.....
maybe there's a system in place to prevent idiots from becoming coaches, but as far as i know, there isn't.
i'm actually glad there was no youth fb around when my kid was that age. jh was soon enough.
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Post by bobgoodman on Jul 7, 2024 9:34:00 GMT -6
On a large enough coaching staff there are likely to be some coaches like that, but not the ones in charge unless it's a bad club. And actually that's the way I'd want it -- some coaches being bad, because how else are they going to get the experience to become good unless they're with better ones?
Pre-teen is actually when most football is played. Children play football whether there's adult supervision or not, and although I've heard of such cases, I've never seen one where the adults in charge made the experience worse than the players would've had unsupervised. The club that I coached in last before this one (I moved) was organized in 1952 by the players themselves and was still led by their founder, and had grown into a very well organized one, and I'm sure he'd tell you there's a sorting-out that's unavoidable but leads over time to better coaching.
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Post by 44special on Jul 9, 2024 7:56:59 GMT -6
how large is a typical youth staff?
as i said, i know pretty much nothing about youth fb. i've driven by practices/games, usually see 2 or 3 adults with them.
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Post by bobgoodman on Jul 9, 2024 10:15:39 GMT -6
how large is a typical youth staff? as i said, i know pretty much nothing about youth fb. i've driven by practices/games, usually see 2 or 3 adults with them. I've been one of as few as 2, as many as 6, on a team. However, the "staff" may be considered as including others in the club who'll pay rotating or as-needed attention to particular teams. |
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Post by redcoachred on Sept 25, 2024 7:20:30 GMT -6
how large is a typical youth staff? as i said, i know pretty much nothing about youth fb. i've driven by practices/games, usually see 2 or 3 adults with them. I've been one of as few as 2, as many as 6, on a team. However, the "staff" may be considered as including others in the club who'll pay rotating or as-needed attention to particular teams. Our league dictates no more than 6 Asst. + Head Coach on the field during games. That said, my 6th grade team has a 35 man roster so I have 2 additional coaches for practice purposes. There are definitely parks in the league that don't have the same luxury & to be honest, it shows. To be a memeber of this 3 County association each park must maintain at least 1 team in 3 age groups between 1st/2nd & 6th. Finding that many qualified volunteers is almost impossible in some places. What's more frustrating are those already struggling to find help who field multiple teams in an age division, further diluting the coaching pool. |
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Post by redcoachred on Sept 25, 2024 7:42:55 GMT -6
i've never been a fan of youth fb for this reason. the coaches are basically just dads in the community. some might be ok, might even be really, really good coaches. but i've met too many dads through my coaching career that shouldn't be anywhere near coaching a kid. i have no idea how they're chosen, or if they just volunteer, or if there's any type of oversight, etc..... maybe there's a system in place to prevent idiots from becoming coaches, but as far as i know, there isn't. i'm actually glad there was no youth fb around when my kid was that age. jh was soon enough. I've been lucky enough to coach 2nd-6th grade in an association that goes to great lengths to ensure coaches are qualified & experienced. It starts by being unanimously approved by our Parks board & requires annual renewal of our certs like NFHSAA, CoachSafely, CPR & concussion protocol. While this isn't "unique" to us, it certainly isn't as widespread as it should be. Having well-prepared coaches isn't the only benefit. Having any type of guidelines will tend to weed out those ego driven Dads & ultimately protect kids from the kind of unacceptable crap originally mentioned. |
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Post by coachcb on Oct 9, 2024 8:33:09 GMT -6
I've had several of those videos pop up on my Facebook reels-feed. They have some young kids (can't be anymore than 7-8 years old) lining up and popping each other with dangerous tackling form. One reel was a pseudo-highlight film for a 12 year old, showing him laying out kids half his size with garbage tackling form. It's current and it's disturbing.
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