WA private HS school team has 3 forfeit wins this season

[Galeb]

You can frame it as a bunch of kids being ****ies, or as a private school recruiting from an N mile radius these 6'5" 300 pound monsters, versus these little schools with 14 year old 175 pound freshman who are going to have no chance and going to end up injured, and who would be the first to admit they really don't give much of a **** about the game, they just do it for fun and aren't all that competitive.

If you put a pee-wee team against a college team, the results are going to be ugly. The parents are looking out for their kids, which is more than Goodell ever did for the NFL players. I'm fine with it. That little pipsqeak 14 year old math genius is never gonna be good at football, he is programming in Python already making robots on weekends in his spare time. He will be hiring and firing that brain-damaged 300 pound lineman in 10 years. They've got their priorities straight.

But yes, it is a different time that's for sure. Both in the recruiting and concentration of talent aspect, and the parents not pressing their kids to go in there and fight no matter how many concussions they have.

That brain is more important than that pride. I see this reshuffling of priorities as good.

If it were badminton (or some other non-contact sport, or math club, or chess team), and one team were just way way better, then of course it would be really stupid.

Obviously you want your kids to be fighters, to be competitive, etc.. If I thought this was simply indicative of the wussification of kids, helicopter parenting, etc.. That would suck. And maybe this is playing a role. But we are talking basically about brain injury, so F it, if there was a good time to step in and err on the side of caution, that would be it. But if it is Amesbury High School versus Exeter Academy chess club, go ahead Amesbury give 'em hell and try to win even if you get plastered every year.

If contact is too much for your kid to handle, don't have them participate in tackle football. Proper alignment of divisions should absolutely be enforced, but the coddling of the young today is going to bite us in the ass tomorrow.

I was a late bloomer, and my growth spurt didn't happen till late high school, but no matter the size difference, no one I ever faced thought that facing me was a cakewalk no matter what the size difference. TBH, lots of those bigger folks underestimated me, and never sufficiently adjusted after the initial shock. I know for a fact I'm not the only one to whom that applies. Don't live life in fear.

Is tackle football too violent for HS kids? Maybe, that is the parents role to decide. The reality that their kids may be facing much larger opponents should be considered before they ever sign them up.

 

[A Defiant Goose]

There is a reason many school won't schedule Brockton High, they pull from such a large area their teams are going to be bigger and faster than say a team from Avon.

That aside, the private schools athletics are really not even close to the public schools in terms of recruitment. Some of it, is on the shady side. Kids who live outside the 50 miles miraculously ending up living with the coach etc.

There is a reason why they have weight classes in boxing and wrestling. It's for safety, when I was a youth football coach, I sometimes talked to the other coach about when it was time to put in the smaller kids, after all you don't want a 90 12 year trying to tackle a 150 lb 13 year old.

I understand the weight class argument but this is varsity football vs junior varsity. If the competition is too "tough" physically, what're you gonna do? Maybe they should be sent to JV? Is it fair that the other team doesn't play a snap because their team is far superior physically?

 

[Galeb]

She is a scrappy, tough kid and a hard worker. Thank god shes not soft.

My middle one has peace signs and One Dimension posters all over her room so there is work to be done with her

Violence isn't a requirement for mental toughness.

 

[A Defiant Goose]

Totally and completely disagree. You are dealing with brain health. My son went to school with a kid who got multiple concussions and it has basically trashed his life. He is now a brain damaged 22 year old because of high school sports glory.

If football is going to survive it will be in this form Sprint football - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In sprint football, players must maintain a weight of 172 lb (78 kg) or less and a minimum of 5% body fat to be eligible to play. The end result of these weight restrictions is that, unlike conventional collegiate football which places a premium on body weight and strength, sprint football emphasizes speed and agility.

But that's the nature of the game, ultimately if you're the parent you can definitely have say in what sport your child does and doesn't play. And I will absolutely not **** on a parent for pulling them out of football, I get the risk for teenagers. But if you're going to be "tough enough" to play football, you should be tough enough to play football against other teams of high schoolers in your same division. I don't think picking and choosing which game is risky enough and which one isn't is a good way to go through life. Either the sport is too dangerous to play or it isn't, if you're going to forfeit because a team is too dangerous to play...that's just weak in my humble opinion

 

[Galeb]

But that's the nature of the game, ultimately if you're the parent you can definitely have say in what sport your child does and doesn't play. And I will absolutely not **** on a parent for pulling them out of football, I get the risk for teenagers. But if you're going to be "tough enough" to play football, you should be tough enough to play football against other teams of high schoolers in your same division. I don't think picking and choosing which game is risky enough and which one isn't is a good way to go through life. Either the sport is too dangerous to play or it isn't, if you're going to forfeit because a team is too dangerous to play...that's just weak in my humble opinion

Well said. Better than I could.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

Hey Stacey Mcbride maybe put your son on a 200g + protein diet a day and get him into power lifting so he wouldn't be such a skinny runt. Too many kids these days come home from school, hit up the X box for hours while eating a diet consisting of easy mac, Cheetos, and soda.

 

[NG Pats Fan]

I thought this was interesting. . . .

Granite Falls becomes third team to forfeit to Archbishop Murphy HS

 

[RobertWeathers]

Violence isn't a requirement for mental toughness.

OK?

 

[A Defiant Goose]

OK?

I think that was a compliment lol

 

[patfanken]

I am torn between the issues. I really understand the fear of injury aspect, and I fully fear the "woosification" aspect as well.

I also found it ironic that the coach who forfeited complained about having "only" 220lb sophomores to play with. Back when I coached, I would have been thrilled to two 220 lb seniors on my team (and we had to play Brockton, Newton, etc). In fact some of my proudest moments as coach came when watching my team play on an relatively similar unequal playing field. We may have lost the game (barely), but I always felt that the lessons learned that day led to other victories down the road.

In the end the problem lies with the adults and the kids are the ones being penalized. For the most part, (at least when I coached) larger schools played larger schools, and smaller ones played smaller ones. Occasionally it wasn't always that way, but they were anomalies, that you could deal with. Clearly that's not what's happening in this case. This is different and should have been dealt with well before this season.

I don't blame the parents for their fears, and I can't say I would have been against their decision to forfeit. Like I said I'm torn.

BTW- I would LOVE to see an NFL with a 300lb weight limit.

 

[Galeb]

OK?

In other words, people/children can be very mentally tough even though they are pacifists at heart. Don't confuse the two.

 

[Deus Irae]

This isn't college or the NFL. This is a high school game. As much as i like to compete there is no point sending obviously over matched kids out there in such a physical sport.

It is not about building character. If it were a team with better athletes but the same weight class who were likely to out score them 60-0 no one would care but this is not that. This is the simple fact of physics and if you allow it to play out and someone gets badly hurt or permanently hurt that is something everyone who supported the game has to live with. Not to mention the kid hurt and the the one who injured him. Imagine a kid gets a brain injury if this game happens. How would we argue to his parents that it made sense to play this particular game?

Injuries can happen as any time and we must accept it but you don't tempt fate. The same why you don't have a 140lb boxer fight a 210lb boxer you should not have these kids play each other. The chances of something going very badly sky rocket. Even if you tell the private school kids to take it easy it is possible a few get carried away (they are kids after all). I don't see the point of risking it.

If you're worrying about injuries, you've got no business playing the sport. Any game, not just a specific game.

 

[Galeb]

If you're worrying about injuries, you've got no business playing the sport. Any game, not just a specific game.

Disagree. The level of contact and risk of injury in different sports can be dramatically different.

 

[A Defiant Goose]

Disagree. The level of contact and risk of injury in different sports can be dramatically different.

I think he's saying any game on your schedule not any sport

 

[Deus Irae]

Disagree. The level of contact and risk of injury in different sports can be dramatically different.

And?

If you're worried about injuries in football, don't play football.
If you're worried about injuries in chess, don't play chess.

But, in either of the above, once you've decided to play, don't cry and whine about an individual game that's fairly in your league.

 

[Galeb]

And?

If you're worried about injuries in football, don't play football.
If you're worried about injuries in chess, don't play chess.

But, in either of the above, once you've decided to play, don't cry and whine about an individual game that's fairly in your league.

Agree. Misunderstood.

 

[Deus Irae]

Agree. Misunderstood.

No worries. I probably could have worded my post better.

 

[Dr Pain]

I am torn between the issues. I really understand the fear of injury aspect, and I fully fear the "woosification" aspect as well.

I also found it ironic that the coach who forfeited complained about having "only" 220lb sophomores to play with. Back when I coached, I would have been thrilled to two 220 lb seniors on my team (and we had to play Brockton, Newton, etc). In fact some of my proudest moments as coach came when watching my team play on an relatively similar unequal playing field. We may have lost the game (barely), but I always felt that the lessons learned that day led to other victories down the road.

In the end the problem lies with the adults and the kids are the ones being penalized. For the most part, (at least when I coached) larger schools played larger schools, and smaller ones played smaller ones. Occasionally it wasn't always that way, but they were anomalies, that you could deal with. Clearly that's not what's happening in this case. This is different and should have been dealt with well before this season.

I don't blame the parents for their fears, and I can't say I would have been against their decision to forfeit. Like I said I'm torn.

BTW- I would LOVE to see an NFL with a 300lb weight limit.

Put in a 225 pound limit and the game would be incredible. The speed would be everywhere.

 

[fnordcircle]

I enjoy the ****ification of America posts because it's a good indicator of someone who has ****ed up priorities if they think that sending 200lb soaking wet kids against 300lb 18 year olds means something.

 

[Galeb]

No worries. I probably could have worded my post better.

You worded your post well. I misread.