Just curious as to why they try to have weight limits in youth football. I know this is done throughout the country at some levels of play. I suppose its due to safety but why is it ok for a middle school kid or a high school kid to get hurt and not an elementary school kid?
warmachine Wrote:Just curious as to why they try to have weight limits in youth football. I know this is done throughout the country at some levels of play. I suppose its due to safety but why is it ok for a middle school kid or a high school kid to get hurt and not an elementary school kid?
I'm guessing one reason is the high school players are a little more equipped to deal with bigger players and should have had the coaching and experience to know how to protect themselves better than grade school students who have never played.
When I was in JFL at Raceland we each class had their own weight limit. I know in 6th grade it was 125lbs. I can only remember that because that was the only year it mattered to me because I was moved from Center to RB/TE due to a growth spirt. I remember playing Green Township that year though. In their league there were no weight limitations. So we had to deal with two RBs and a QB that were 7th grade hold backs. 3 or 4 of our little running backs got destroyed during that game. So. I can see why they put reatrictions there. But as far as I know, all that has changed and there arent any reatrictions any more at Raceland.
Childern's bodies aren't developed yet it's a safety issue and a good rule
When my oldest son started flag football in kindergarten there was no weight limit to carry the ball. He played quarterback because he was tall and he could pass a football over the other kids. He then moved up to tackle football in second grade and was made a receiver because he was again, tall and he could catch and there was a weight limit for ball carriers behind the LOS and not for receivers. In fourth grade the weight limit caught up with him to where he could only play line. Because of his size, even though he had great hands as a receiver from then on he was a lineman. (He was a catcher in baseball until his junior year when he started pitching) I think he would have made a dandy tight end, but, they put you where they need you. In college he can catch about anything a QB can throw at him no matter how much pepper that is put on it, but, because of the weight limits of the past he is a 6'4" 270 lb. guard on the offensive team. I think those weight limits stink too and find it amazing when I think about Jared Lorenzen getting through the system as a QB and not being relegated to being a lineman. Too many big boys to cover the lineman positions is all I can figure. My youngest made an all star football team when he was twelve years old and was only allowed to play offensive line with no defense because he broke the 200 pound weight limit. I can understand for safety's concern that these weight limits occur, but, it still stinks for the kids that are bigger and have the athletic ability to handle the ball that are relegated to being linemen.
papagrit Wrote:When my oldest son started flag football in kindergarten there was no weight limit to carry the ball. He played quarterback because he was tall and he could pass a football over the other kids. He then moved up to tackle football in second grade and was made a receiver because he was again, tall and he could catch and there was a weight limit for ball carriers behind the LOS and not for receivers. In fourth grade the weight limit caught up with him to where he could only play line. Because of his size, even though he had great hands as a receiver from then on he was a lineman. (He was a catcher in baseball until his junior year when he started pitching) I think he would have made a dandy tight end, but, they put you where they need you. In college he can catch about anything a QB can throw at him no matter how much pepper that is put on it, but, because of the weight limits of the past he is a 6'4" 270 lb. guard on the offensive team. I think those weight limits stink too and find it amazing when I think about Jared Lorenzen getting through the system as a QB and not being relegated to being a lineman. Too many big boys to cover the lineman positions is all I can figure. My youngest made an all star football team when he was twelve years old and was only allowed to play offensive line with no defense because he broke the 200 pound weight limit. I can understand for safety's concern that these weight limits occur, but, it still stinks for the kids that are bigger and have the athletic ability to handle the ball that are relegated to being linemen.
I see both sides. My oldest is a bigger kid. He is in kindergarten and is around 4'2" and 70 lbs. He is in his 3rd year flag right now. Very quick feet from left to right, throws and catches reall well. If they bring back the weight restrictions though, he will probably never see the backfield or catch a pass.
So 250 pounder doesn't fall wrong on 75 pounder inflicting major injury...
I would guess its insurance for the leagues. Most of the policies for these leagues have big price increases as you go up in weight for your players. for 12 and under.
The biggest reason, simple, in little league or elementary, or what ever it may be called is, Daddy ball and win at all cost, with no regard for the safety of the other players, or consideration of the development of children for the future. Coaches often has A kid who is big and probably older than the other kids, and decides that win is better than coaching and all he wants from him is to gain 3 yards A carry by running over the smaller kids. BOTH TEAMS LOOSE> this comes from experience.
I'm not sure that restricting kids over a certain weight from being able to run the football makes that much sense. Is a kid who weighs 80 lbs. more likely to get hurt by tackling a 150 lb. kid or by getting tackled by that same 150 lb. kid?
SEKYFAN Wrote:I'm not sure that restricting kids over a certain weight from being able to run the football makes that much sense. Is a kid who weighs 80 lbs. more likely to get hurt by tackling a 150 lb. kid or by getting tackled by that same 150 lb. kid?
I'm sure that if the larger kid is a ball carrier, that causes contact between the smaller kid and the larger ball carrying kid to occur more often which increases the chance for a smaller kid to get hurt. That is pretty much the idea I suppose. I certainly am not saying that I want ANY child hurt during any sort of football game. I just said that it stunk that my older son who has good athletic ability was slotted in to be a lineman and never got a chance to see how much "skill" player potential that he might have attained. By the way, both of my boys were NEVER held back for athletics so their age was appropriate for class. They both graduated at age eighteen and were just larger than their classmates. Perhaps instead of age splitting the youth group football into classes, it should be size. I don't know, there really isn't a good all around answer because then you have really young big kids playing against much older big kids.
Anyone can say what they want to about the youth league football ONLY being about teaching kids and not about being competitive. I agree, it SHOULD be like that, but, it isn't. My boys played youth league basketball and there wasn't even a score kept on the scoreboard, but, the parents in the stands were either writing down on a note each time a team scored or were holding their fingers out counting baskets on their hands during games. In football, the team that won the most usually had the most obnoxious parents with the Mama's being worse than the Dad's on crowing about who won. Competitive nature just leaks out and the ugliness some people can show usually comes to the surface. I know everyone on here who has a kid playing youth ball can remember some obnoxious A-hole that lorded over everyone about how well his team was doing and how great his kid was going to be and the kids ages are all like 5 to 8 years old. The superstar kid of the A-hole that I remember didn't even play football in high school and the boy has made the paper a few times........in the court section. Just a shame really.
It doesn't make sense, if the big kid will someday be A running back. Good coaches in lower level will try to develop A kid for the future.
topnotch Wrote:It doesn't make sense, if the big kid will someday be A running back. Good coaches in lower level will try to develop A kid for the future.
Its more about fundamentals than anything. Let's be honest with ourselves here, if there was no weight limit almost every coach in America would take a kid that was too large and run him in little league because 75% of the kids on the field could not tackle him. Is that good for football? How can you tell if a kid is going to grow up to be a rb? Can you see the future? Why are the biggest guys in the NFL and college not running backs? The problem with no weight limit is that coaches in order to be competitive would have to play a kid that probably will never being a running back at running back to be competitive. So basically you create a league for just big kids and nothing else. When football is not fun for 75% of your kids because they have no hope of tackling what are they going to do????QUIT. The weight rule is there to maintain balance and safety. If you think hes that great and is going to be a rb/te then move him up in competition where he can carry the ball. Then maybe you will see what the smaller kids in his grade level would feel like.
Imo, the youth league needs to be about basic fundamentals and keeping kids interested and having fun, keep numbers up. Especially grades 2nd-4th. 5th grade needs to begin the journey towards "big boy football", more complexity in offenses and defenses, start working on their "football iq" and developing that winning mentality, even if they lose.
I agree with a lot of what some of you have said. But I dont really feel like you should hold a kid back from running the football just because he is bigger and really good at what he does. I have been around youth football in my area for a long time and havent saw hardly any injuries. I feel like that once you are put on the LINE, you are almost labeled for the rest of your football career. At least thats how it is in my area. Everyone talks about this one and that one quitting when they get older. Well the little guys quit to. I just dont see nothing wrong with letting a kid do what he is good at. I mean hell its football. The bigger,stronger, faster team usually wins 9 out of 10 times. Why water it down and label kids because of their weight and size? And the guys in the NFL and College are not little that play in the backfield. Dont consider 6'2-250/260 little. But I appreciate all of your opinions and comments. So pretty much its just a safety issue. I dont really agree with the rules but my opinion doesnt matter a ton of people disagree with me and thats fine. But thank all of you for responding.
First of all, I think the obvious reason is safety, and more specifically, for the safety of the kids on defense. Secondly, lets not overplay the issue of a kid being over the weight limit and "stuck on the o-line." I find it hard to believe that a freshmen football coach is going to look at a player and say, "well he was a linemen in the little league, so he was to be one on the freshman team." On my freshman team, alone, there were two RB's, who were RB's from 3rd grade through 8th grade, only to be put on the d-line freshmen year. Conversely, there was at least one, maybe two, offensive linemen/ "blocking tight-ends" in little league but were freak athletes and converted into a QB and RB. So, lets not act like weight limits force kids to be stuck in positions throughout their high school careers.
The negative part of this is that a kid that is to heavy in youth football has to play line and will get no practice running the ball until 7th grade. I ran into this along time ago with a few kids. Everyone knew these kids were going to be skill players and I had noway to get them the ball or work on the skill sets they needed to work on.
No difference in a 150 pound hitting a 55 pound kid, whether he is on offense or deffense. Greenup County did away with the weight limit 10 years ago or so. I really didnt know alot of leagues still did it.
My nephew is an example of how the weight limit being lifted in Greenup/Raceland area made a big difference. He started out at NG/C then moved to G/DE, then DE/TE. Nowhe is a FB/MLB. Good size 7th grade kid. Around 5'8" 170. Really good hands and runs downhill. Didnt get alot of carries in jfl, but he is adjusting.
Let the fat kid run....
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Just another example of picking on the fat kid.
I think aside from the obvious safety concerns, that when the "win at all cost" mentality sets in and large young kids are played in skilled positions due solely to their size, you are setting your program up for failure at the varsity level. As those large young kids grow and age, they often are to slow to compete in the skilled positions. When the small kid don't get to play or are used to beat up on, they give up on the sport and move on to other activities. Then when their teams are varsity level, you have a bunch of big kids that are to slow to compete on a statewide level. All your speed, or at least most of it, was forced out of the game in grade school.
warmachine Wrote:I agree with a lot of what some of you have said. But I dont really feel like you should hold a kid back from running the football just because he is bigger and really good at what he does. I have been around youth football in my area for a long time and havent saw hardly any injuries. I feel like that once you are put on the LINE, you are almost labeled for the rest of your football career. At least thats how it is in my area. Everyone talks about this one and that one quitting when they get older. Well the little guys quit to. I just dont see nothing wrong with letting a kid do what he is good at. I mean hell its football. The bigger,stronger, faster team usually wins 9 out of 10 times. Why water it down and label kids because of their weight and size? And the guys in the NFL and College are not little that play in the backfield. Dont consider 6'2-250/260 little. But I appreciate all of your opinions and comments. So pretty much its just a safety issue. I dont really agree with the rules but my opinion doesnt matter a ton of people disagree with me and thats fine. But thank all of you for responding.
Yes but all college and nfl players are primed and have lifted weights and are ready for that contact. A 70 lb kid that can't do one pushup should not be trying to tackle a 200lb kid (that will probably be a lineman anyways once hes older). So he's really good at what he does. Is that because hes bigger than everyone else. Why not move him up a few grade levels then? Even that competition out some. Why not do that if the weight restriction is not to your liking?
Why would I want to move a 10 year old KID up to play with 13 year olds? That would be stupid. The big 10 year old is just as weak as the little 70 pounder just a bigger body. If I was 13 again and playing against a 10 year old, it would be lights out. I feel like the rules are stupid. Just my opionion. Just cause you are big slow now doesnt translate to big slow when they get in HS. Little and fast now dont translate to Little and Fast in HS. Most teams could benefit from a 6'2 -250 pound back at the HS level from what I have saw here in Eastern KY. If the kid could run a 4.6, theyd still put him on the line because of his size. And Im not a win at all costs type of a person. I put kids where I think they would benefit the most. The kid is my best football player by far. Here where I live, they give you a week in pads then make you play games. Its not baskeball. Football takes a long time to teach.
Because it keeps the playing field kind of even, which is important in pee-wee because kids are just trying to learn the game and how to play it fundamentally.
It's not fair to have a 180 pound half back running over 150 pound linebackers or having a 150 pound offensive tackle trying to block a 200 pound DT.
My pee-wee league- the Northern Kentucky Youth Football league- had a weight limit, but the Boone Country League (where Shawn Alexander is from), didn't.
Like I said, I'm pretty sure it's just about making it fair to learn fundamental football.