On my 5th season of coaching youth football and had our first serious injury Saturday. We were against a much more physical team. It was the last game of the season and their team was amped to 12. I tried to keep it vanilla and put our guys in good positions to defend themselves. Tried to keep it our bigger kids hands. Sure as **** halfaway through one of our big guys catches a pass and moves inside takes a very hard but fair tackle. Dislocated his hip and broke his pelvis. With the ****** Canadian socialized medicine he can't get Surgery till Friday. In my brain I know I'm not responsible. I've played the thing over 20 times. It was just football. But I do feel sick about it. Wondering if anyone has gone through similar. Questioning my own son's participation in the fall.
Anyone coach youth football?
- Thread starter SteelerSask2
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Sask. 1. I coach and never had a crazy injury like that. I think there was a boy who broke a leg or wrist.. but that was all.
2. You cant do anything about what transpires on the field. You can do your best to give a proper match up in talent.. but in the end,, they gotta play the game.
3. Bo Jackson,, a pro and arguably the best athlete ever,, had a similar injury on a very innocuous tackle.
4. This might have shown someone , (doctor or Parent) a more serious situation,, sickness etc.. that may have been there before and now discovered because of this injury. I say this because this is TOTALLY a crazy rare injury.
2. You cant do anything about what transpires on the field. You can do your best to give a proper match up in talent.. but in the end,, they gotta play the game.
3. Bo Jackson,, a pro and arguably the best athlete ever,, had a similar injury on a very innocuous tackle.
4. This might have shown someone , (doctor or Parent) a more serious situation,, sickness etc.. that may have been there before and now discovered because of this injury. I say this because this is TOTALLY a crazy rare injury.
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Sorry. That smarts. Injuries are part of any sport. In 5 years ( I'm guessing 40+ games, and played by over 800+ kids ) something like this can happen. In USA youth football, they have a maximum weight per league so a kid 110 pounds does not play someone who's 70 pounds.
I have not coached youth football ( Just high school and that was a long time ago ), but I can give you an idea. Buy a special prize for the injured player, and present it to him in front of the team. The influence a coach can have over a young player can be profound. Everyone will feel better, then let the child know that even the best players have been hurt and come back.
The good news is young children heal quickly.
Best of luck to you sir.
Thanks. Just got back from the hospital. He is in good spirits and from what his mom said the long term is good. He is just waiting for the doctor to get back from holidays to have the surgery
. The other coach was concerned about moving the game to the adjacent field because it was taking long with the training staff. To be fair no one knew the severity of the injury, but I felt it was buying time to keep my others safe. My kid is a hell of a QB, he can hit body parts inside 25 yards, but he is 5 feet 105 lbs. Some of these guys look like the varsity LB's I played with/ against in the late 80's.
. The other coach was concerned about moving the game to the adjacent field because it was taking long with the training staff. To be fair no one knew the severity of the injury, but I felt it was buying time to keep my others safe. My kid is a hell of a QB, he can hit body parts inside 25 yards, but he is 5 feet 105 lbs. Some of these guys look like the varsity LB's I played with/ against in the late 80's.- Joined
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Thanks. Just got back from the hospital. He is in good spirits and from what his mom said the long term is good. He is just waiting for the doctor to get back from holidays to have the surgery
Good to hear. In youth football in the USA, they limit the amount of pass plays and have weight limits. I have seen a few plays. The old WR reverse run when you on the far side of the hash mark seemed to work on 2nd and long....and it helps if the QB sells it and pulls on the block. Just make sure your not close to your own end zone when calling it.
This league was modified (6 aside), we had no one to really pound the ball with the run. We passed in a 2/3 -1/3 ratio. There were non blitz rules. My feeling is that they should have taken the top physical specimens and put them on two or three teams to play eachother. For the smallest guys getting hit by those dudes, it would be like a US college player running me over.
My son volunteered me to coach pee wee one year as his team was short a couple of coaches. There were a few injuries, one kid broke his arm and another broke his shoulder another some ribs. There was a weight limit on who could advance the ball. Teams were 11 on 11. There were not dirty players at the pee wee level and generally hits were clean unless a kid just missed or was knocked into another.
In junior high injuries were more severe, one boy lost a kidney, broken shoulders, legs. The worst was a ball carrier that got a shattered femur, in high school, he spent nearly 8 hours in surgery to repair his leg.
The injuries happen. It does not seem to be anyone's fault. Many of these kids drop out of the sport along the way because they are not able to sustain the physical contact of the sport with the kids more suited to it. There are other sports that do not have as much contact or contact with kids much bigger.
Do not blame yourself for the injury or the lack of a response from the medical profession. It looks like you did everything that you could have. Your concern clearly demonstrates you had the welfare of the kids at heart. There are also injuries from non contact as well you can not blame yourself for those things either.
On the other side of that coin imagine being the parent of the kid who shattered the other boys femur.
In junior high injuries were more severe, one boy lost a kidney, broken shoulders, legs. The worst was a ball carrier that got a shattered femur, in high school, he spent nearly 8 hours in surgery to repair his leg.
The injuries happen. It does not seem to be anyone's fault. Many of these kids drop out of the sport along the way because they are not able to sustain the physical contact of the sport with the kids more suited to it. There are other sports that do not have as much contact or contact with kids much bigger.
Do not blame yourself for the injury or the lack of a response from the medical profession. It looks like you did everything that you could have. Your concern clearly demonstrates you had the welfare of the kids at heart. There are also injuries from non contact as well you can not blame yourself for those things either.
On the other side of that coin imagine being the parent of the kid who shattered the other boys femur.
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Man, that sucks for the kid but there is nothing you can do. Injuries happen in sports, gym class or just walking down the street. Glad to hear that his long-term recovery sounds good.
Kids got the heart of a lion. His mom said he didn't want her to cancel his registration for fall league. I'm like I'm sorry buddy, you won't be ready. Thanks all. Good people here.
Coach,
Not your fault, but I know how you feel. If you are any kind of coach (I can tell you are from your post) by the end of the season you have developed a tight bond with your players and have a genuine concern for their well being. You will remember them and they will remember you many years down the road. Injuries are going to happen, unfortunately you saw a severe one. That doesn't fall on you. Best wishes for a healthy and successful fall season.
Not your fault, but I know how you feel. If you are any kind of coach (I can tell you are from your post) by the end of the season you have developed a tight bond with your players and have a genuine concern for their well being. You will remember them and they will remember you many years down the road. Injuries are going to happen, unfortunately you saw a severe one. That doesn't fall on you. Best wishes for a healthy and successful fall season.
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That's a freak injury, it's not like he put his head down on a tackle and had a spinal cord injury.
Yeah it was a freak injury and not much to do with the other teams physicality. Just a coincidence. But it is hard to explain that to 13-14 year Olds when they are already intimidated. It's a great game. I it truly is. You just don't get the same level of buy in and team first in other sports. But the injuries are a concern.
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My family has been coaching Little League football for almost 50 years...My grandfather coached my dad in the early 60's, my dad starting coaching right out of high school and coached me (grandpa was still coaching), and I've spent a lot of time after HS coaching kids at various levels.
You did the best you could to protect your kids, accidents happen. I remember my first game as an 8 year old we had a kid break his arm so badly the bone was sticking out...never saw another injury like that in my 11-year career. it happens dude. Don't let that affect how you coach, and certainly let your kid play if he wants.
Football is a game that we rarely give up on our own. Most players have the game taken from them before they are ready to hang 'em up...whether it is by injury or they aren't good enough to play at the next level. Let the kid play...if you don't, he may resent the decision.
You did the best you could to protect your kids, accidents happen. I remember my first game as an 8 year old we had a kid break his arm so badly the bone was sticking out...never saw another injury like that in my 11-year career. it happens dude. Don't let that affect how you coach, and certainly let your kid play if he wants.
Football is a game that we rarely give up on our own. Most players have the game taken from them before they are ready to hang 'em up...whether it is by injury or they aren't good enough to play at the next level. Let the kid play...if you don't, he may resent the decision.
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My #1 issue with Pop Warner ball is the coaches in practice. Too many of them match their best defender vs. a kid who has no business running the ball in middle drills. What's the point? Young players should be fairly matched, not mis-matched.
Absolutely correct. The coach of the other team during the injury in question was telling me that they had a broken femur in their first practice of their first season. And I was thinking to myself "yeah I heard the story, you matched one of your gorillas against a little guy"
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Hey Sask, we had a conversation about this kind of issue before and you should in no way feel responsible, IMO. First of all, as has been said, freak accidents will happen whether a child is riding a bike, playing badminton or playing contact sports. This sounds like one of them.
As I said in my last convo regarding kids and age/weight restrictions, IMO, it is inherently unfair nowadays where it used to be not so much. In my day, we had a handful of giant kids playing youth league football. Usually, they could do nothing but hurt someone if they managed to get another kid to allow them to fall on them. Very rarely could they do sit-ups or push-ups or run well. Occasionally a kid would come along and be a stud.
Today's youth leagues are altogether different. There are a ton of kids who are just BIG for their age and have an advantage in non-weight limited youth football. My youngest played last year at #70 against kids as high as #210. Mind you, the league had a weight metric that topped out at #115 for players in skill positions. It didn't matter much. Some teams with a predominance of larger players still put the hurt on the team but couldn't win against a decent team loaded with close to the limit athletes in the skilled spots. My kid had to "play up" 2 years in a row because too many parents wouldn't allow their kids to play full contact at 7-9 years-old. He played w 10-11 year-olds. The league was an SYFL league which mirrored the local high schools and used their fields. THIS YEAR the entire school district agreed to move to Pop Warner with the age/weight matrix which doesn't allow kids 2x or even 3x the weight of the lighter kids to be on the field together. We shall see how it turns out.
After coaching many years at different levels, I believe the size difference matters but not as much as the skill level. In my day, we all played outside ALL THE TIME. We started contact sports early too (around age 6-7). Nowadays, parents want their kids to get a little more mature and bigger BEFORE letting them play. The results are evident, IMO. Many more kids are getting hurt today because they are playing against kids who are more experienced and less contact shy. My older boy's freshman HS team suffered 4 (out of 26 kids) with broken collar-bones. I played 12 years and don't remember a single collar-bone injury. Is it because of the lack of nutrients in their foods or because they never learned how to "brace themselves" for a hit or a fall because all they do is sit on the damn gaming device all day? Who knows really. All I know is kids are bigger, college players are bigger and NFLers are bigger than 20-25 years ago. Some have much more experience when they reach high school than others.
A study was done in South Carolina which showed a comparison between "age-only" league injuries verses "age/weight" restricted league injuries...the result showed more than DOUBLE the injuries between age 8-14 in the age only league. That was enough for me. My 10 year-old will be playing Pop-Warner this year with a MAX weight of 115# for all players at his age.
Hope your player has a full recovery and continues to play without worry.
As I said in my last convo regarding kids and age/weight restrictions, IMO, it is inherently unfair nowadays where it used to be not so much. In my day, we had a handful of giant kids playing youth league football. Usually, they could do nothing but hurt someone if they managed to get another kid to allow them to fall on them. Very rarely could they do sit-ups or push-ups or run well. Occasionally a kid would come along and be a stud.
Today's youth leagues are altogether different. There are a ton of kids who are just BIG for their age and have an advantage in non-weight limited youth football. My youngest played last year at #70 against kids as high as #210. Mind you, the league had a weight metric that topped out at #115 for players in skill positions. It didn't matter much. Some teams with a predominance of larger players still put the hurt on the team but couldn't win against a decent team loaded with close to the limit athletes in the skilled spots. My kid had to "play up" 2 years in a row because too many parents wouldn't allow their kids to play full contact at 7-9 years-old. He played w 10-11 year-olds. The league was an SYFL league which mirrored the local high schools and used their fields. THIS YEAR the entire school district agreed to move to Pop Warner with the age/weight matrix which doesn't allow kids 2x or even 3x the weight of the lighter kids to be on the field together. We shall see how it turns out.
After coaching many years at different levels, I believe the size difference matters but not as much as the skill level. In my day, we all played outside ALL THE TIME. We started contact sports early too (around age 6-7). Nowadays, parents want their kids to get a little more mature and bigger BEFORE letting them play. The results are evident, IMO. Many more kids are getting hurt today because they are playing against kids who are more experienced and less contact shy. My older boy's freshman HS team suffered 4 (out of 26 kids) with broken collar-bones. I played 12 years and don't remember a single collar-bone injury. Is it because of the lack of nutrients in their foods or because they never learned how to "brace themselves" for a hit or a fall because all they do is sit on the damn gaming device all day? Who knows really. All I know is kids are bigger, college players are bigger and NFLers are bigger than 20-25 years ago. Some have much more experience when they reach high school than others.
A study was done in South Carolina which showed a comparison between "age-only" league injuries verses "age/weight" restricted league injuries...the result showed more than DOUBLE the injuries between age 8-14 in the age only league. That was enough for me. My 10 year-old will be playing Pop-Warner this year with a MAX weight of 115# for all players at his age.
Hope your player has a full recovery and continues to play without worry.