Safety Archives:

It looks like there is a full scale assault on youth football  by the misinformed. The attacks on youth football continue from many sides and include well publisized assaults from the political ranks in Illinois and New York amongst others.  While youth football like any activity has risk, the risks seem to be misunderstood and [...]

Youth Football Helmet Dilemmas If a players helmet doesn’t fit well, you often times have an uncomfortable player who has little confidence in his gear. This can lead to problems like not blocking or tackling aggressively or even worse, injury. Most people don’t understand that not all youth football helmets are designed the same way. [...]

What can we as youth football coaches take away from the Jerry Sandusky child molestation scandal at Penn State University? While not all of the charges have been proven, the sheer number of accusations and the eyewitness accounts from several reliable sources seem to point to Mr Sandusky being a child predator. If you haven’t [...]

Time Saving Tips I’m a task master when it comes to eliminating dead or wasted practice time in youth football. While we have been able to eliminate or reduce every time wasting activity known to man in our practices, we still seem to find a few overlooked areas from time to time. While you may [...]

Face Tackling   Had a question come to me via e-mail this week from a first year youth coach: Is face tackling legal in youth football?   The current NFHS Rule book defines Face Tackling under NFHS 2-20-1.b (Illegal Helmet Contact) as, “Face Tackling is an act by a defensive player who initiates contact with [...]

Concussions in Youth Football Concussions are a serious problem in football. According to the AMA about 6% of College football players sustain concussions during a typical season. Their latest study stated that many players are being rushed back into action while still exhibiting symptoms like dizziness, poor balance, cognitive impairment and severe headaches. The study [...]