Parents continuously come to me w/ the question, “my son wants to play tackle football this year, what should I do?” Before I can muster an answer, more questions get rattled off, like “is he ready to play tackle yet, or should he continue playing flag?” Then the big one comes, the driving force that is naturally behind every parent’s hesitation – “is he going to get hurt?” The million dollar question. What I tell them from my 8 years of running full-contact youth football camps is a very unoriginal answer, but it’s the truth. We can never tell who is or isn’t going to get hurt, and football is a naturally violent sport where injuries do happen at all levels. No one knows their son better than the parents, but what it ultimately boils down to is how comfortable you are with the football situation in your community, school or club; all the way from the quality of coaches to the quality of equipment used. To me, the benefits of football far outweigh the risks, but I encourage all parents to do their homework in their town. Football is hard work and coaches have a terribly difficult job, but don’t ever expect it to be easy on your child to play the game … one of the worst things you can do as a parent is lead your son to believe football will be easy because nothing will be further from the truth. I once had a parent contact me after a camp and say “you promised in your orientation speech that there would be no pressure on the kids, and I don’t feel that was the case.” I won’t get into what I actually said during orientation, but just remember parents, you’re child cannot escape pressure when playing football at any level. Simply executing a drill during practice in front of your coach and teammates to prove you understood what was being taught carries pressures w/ it … no different than a teacher calling on a student in the classroom to answer a question. The great thing about this type of pressure is that will prepare your son for many different situations in life.
At our full-contact Mega Football Camps for 3rd-8th graders we have been lucky enough to this point that we have not had any serious injuries (knock on wood). Most are common complaints from elementary and middle school aged children related to their helmets being uncomfortable, or simply wanting to take a break to sit w/ the trainer. A coach once told me, “don’t put up a tent at camp, otherwise your trainer will have a lot of company all day long.” He was right. Of course, we do have some legit injuries like ankle sprains, bruises, etc. that go along w/ playing football, but there are 2 or 3 instances every summer where a kid gets tackled, or his knees bent awkwardly back where I think surely it’s time for our first call to the ambulance. They always seem to pop back up and I’m left thinking about the days when I was once that flexible.
