One of my major concerns with younger and younger boys playing tackle football is the risk of longlasting injury. The National Youth Sports Safety Foundation recommends children should not be allowed to play tackle football until age 10. However, youth tackle football is gaining in popularity and leagues for 7-8-9 year olds are becoming more prevalent.
Here in football mad Texas we are seeing year round football leagues with the introduction of spring tackle leagues. The main concern is exposing young, growing bodies to the extra punishment of tackle football. How can you as a youth football coach be a positive force in preventing injury to your players. With younger players (ages 7-12) we see a wide disparity in sizes. There are early growers and late bloomers. All seem to find their way into youth football and with playing time rules they all find their way onto the game field as well as practice field.
On the practice field is where the youth coach can influence injury prevention. Not only by teaching and emphasizing proper technique and football habits, but also by matching player skills and sizes within the drills. I can't tell you how many times I have seen a tackling drill where the biggest kid gets matched up with the smallest and plows over the poor youngster. This is clearly an avoidable situation with active management. Match players within your drills. Allow bigger kids to go against the bigger kids. Allow the more skilled players to match up with the more skilled players. By doing so the skilled players will benefit as they are having to perform in each repetition rather than just plowing a smaller, less skilled player. I am not recommending segregating the squad between skilled and unskilled...or big and small. Allow everyone to face everyone, just tweak the drills subtly to allow better matchups. In doing so, needles injuries can be avoided.
By
Shane Barrow