Should Pop Warner Eliminate Tackling for Kids Under 14?
One of the trickle-down effects from all the discussion about preventing concussions is that the Ivy League is now limiting full-hitting practices to just two days a week starting this fall (the NCAA allows 5 full days of full contact). Clearly this is being done to prevent concussions.
But now comes word that the Brown University head football coach, Phil Estes, is suggesting that Pop Warner Football should not only get rid of hitting, but totally eliminate all tackling. The coach’s feeling is that kids can still learn the basics of fundamental football while playing flag football and then can learn to tackle opponents when they get to be in the 8th or 9th grade. Coach Estes says he didn’t start to learn how to tackle until he was that old himself, and he played four years of HS ball and then played at the Univ. of New Hampshire.
Lots of calls and debate on the radio show today, and most of them were on both sides of the issue. I personally feel that Pop Warner Football is generally a well-run organization, and that the coaches look out for the kids and their safety. In fact, according to Jon Butler, the exec director of Pop Warner, they have encountered very, very few concussions in recent years with their kids.
What’s the bottom line? Butler says that if Pop Warner went to only flag football, then the vast majority of their kids would either leave Pop Warner and go play for a rival league, or just play tackle football on their own.
I’m not sure those are good alternatives. My sense is that we still have to be diligent about preventing injuries with young kids. Pop Warner does seem to have a very good track record. All contact sports carry a risk of injury, but Pop Warner does a good job at teaching kids how to play football safely.
Doug Abrams
Rick Wolff
Steve Kallas
Ask Coach Wolff 
Good topic Coach Wolff, but although the conversation focused around Pop Warner, it should include all youth football leagues. They should be held to the same standards.
More prevention education for parents and coaches in youth leagues. Although there have been very few reports does that truly mean the players are not experiencing damage? In some communities these injuries are over looked due to a lack of knowledge and medical coverage. A young athlete playing in an economically challenged community will experience a contusion and it will be untreated. A serious bruise will be treated by at home instead of by a medical specialist.
Sports Parents are primary responsible for our children. Often time we pass that responsibility off to coaches and other assisting and training our children. There is no major problem there, but the safety and medical side of thing fall back to the parents. We as parents have to invest our time, become knowledgeable of the sport, and cover the financial responsibiities to protect our children. They are children and then athletes, just like at the next level they are “STUDENT” then Athletes.