Is HS football going to go extinct?

[Coach Macho]

To be elite at any sport you have to make it your lifestyle. It has to be ingrained in you from the time you're a little boy. That's definitely the case with football. In certain areas of the country football is not just a sport, it's a culture. Those areas will continue to thrive. Football will never fall off there.

With my years of experience working with (coaching) suburban kids I've learned that football is not as important to them. A kid from the hood has been strapping on pads since he was a little boy. A kid from the suburbs starts tackle football at a later age. Many of them join their high school football teams without any prior experience. They just think it'll be a "good idea" to play some football, it's not truly ingrained in them. They don't actually play football in their spare time with their friends, for fun, they only do it when they're obligated to. (i.e. football practice) They have CHOICES where they live. They can play baseball or lacrosse instead. Ain't no choices in the hood, you're playing football.

 

[The Franchise]

Football participation numbers are dropping yearly and sports like lacrosse keep exploding. Football has had its high points, it is declining rapidly around the US. Parents who actually care about the health and welfare of their kids will think twice about signing them up. If you don't then youre a shtty parent who continues to live vicariously through your kids. Many former NFL players want no part of their kids playing football.

You're talking about white suburban neighborhoods bro. Football ain't declining at all in the hood.

Lacrosse is taking off cause many white kids like their chances for success much more in that sport. You don't have to be 6'2" and run a 4.4 forty.

Lacrosse is the soccer of this generation in the U.S. Instead of soccer moms we're now getting lacrosse moms.

It's an activity for lumpy white kids to get them off the computer for an hour a day. The kid who would be the puny overmatched third team right guard on the football team has a chance to be the star of the lacrosse team.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

Football participation numbers are dropping yearly and sports like lacrosse keep exploding. Football has had its high points, it is declining rapidly around the US. Parents who actually care about the health and welfare of their kids will think twice about signing them up. If you don't then youre a shtty parent who continues to live vicariously through your kids. Many former NFL players want no part of their kids playing football.

You're talking about white suburban neighborhoods bro. Football ain't declining at all in the hood.

Lacrosse is taking off cause many white kids like their chances for success much more in that sport. You don't have to be 6'2" and run a 4.4 forty.

Lacrosse is the soccer of this generation in the U.S. Instead of soccer moms we're now getting lacrosse moms.

It's an activity for lumpy white kids to get them off the computer for an hour a day. The kid who would be the puny overmatched third team right guard on the football team has a chance to be the star of the lacrosse team.

Lacrosse, hockey and baseball are very popular with the suburban white kids. They are all great sports/games, but I believe Coach Macho is correct as to why the parents of that demographic and the kids are selecting those two sports. The parents want their kids to play high school sports and realize that it is much easier for their kids to play those sports on the high school level because you don't have as many great athletes in those sports as you do in football and track and field. I will say this about some of the white kids who continue to play football or are in track and field, they usually have tons of swag.

 

[Cane Dynasty]

It will decline and faster than we might imagine. Its all about pipeline. If the number of children in Football decline, the number of available collegiate football players will also decline. If the number of available players declines, the number of schools with teams will decline. That will reduce the NFL talent pool.

Now with a reduced talent pool, The NFL players are now slower and smaller than they used to be with potentially lower salaries. That could lead to a safer and potentially pass heavy, high scoring game and lower prices. On the other hand, athletes who used to play football may shift to other sports making them more exciting than the NFL.

There will be a contraction in the NCAA. The question is where? Does it start at a Lowly D1 school that has no hope of competing nor making money and Football is a liability? Do the service academies bail out in orders from the President? Or does it start at the D3 level and work it's way up?

Numbers of children in football decline?

Where is this gonna happen at?

Certainly not down here in South Florida. How 'bout Texas? They live, eat and breath high school football.

What happens when laws pare passed preventing any kid under 14 years old from participating in tackle football?

http://www.timesunion.com/local/article/Bill-asks-ban-on-youth-tackle-4983088.php

To be elite at any sport you have to make it your lifestyle. It has to be ingrained in you from the time you're a little boy.

I agree with this comment 100% and the figures nationwide back that up. The National Sporting Goods Association reported as such.

 

[poncho0091]

Lacrosse will not be a major national sport in my lifetime. At best, Lacrosse might reach the level of the WNBA in my lifetime. There's 2 ways to look at Lacrosse, hockey without ice or soccer with sticks. In either case, there is already a sport in place. This will always be the rich white kids sport and those kids more often than not will be sent to college to do something other than sports when they grow up.

 

[Gatorhater]

I dont understand why signing a waiver before playing at any level couldnt solve this problem

Because people are greedy and they will always look for a loophole.

There is no such thing as a bullet proof waiver.

Especially for minors. Parents sign, minors can't, so there are more ways to escape it later for the kid.

 

[Gatorhater]

Anyone ever watch Irish Hurling? Seems to be nasty and fast. Stick, ball, contact and a certain brutality that could strike our taste. Doesn't seem to have any of the girly aspects of soccer or lacrosse.

 

[Coach Macho]

Football participation numbers are dropping yearly and sports like lacrosse keep exploding. Football has had its high points, it is declining rapidly around the US. Parents who actually care about the health and welfare of their kids will think twice about signing them up. If you don't then youre a shtty parent who continues to live vicariously through your kids. Many former NFL players want no part of their kids playing football.

You're talking about white suburban neighborhoods bro. Football ain't declining at all in the hood.

Lacrosse is taking off cause many white kids like their chances for success much more in that sport. You don't have to be 6'2" and run a 4.4 forty.

Lacrosse is the soccer of this generation in the U.S. Instead of soccer moms we're now getting lacrosse moms.

It's an activity for lumpy white kids to get them off the computer for an hour a day. The kid who would be the puny overmatched third team right guard on the football team has a chance to be the star of the lacrosse team.

Indeed.

I've had kids who struggled on the football field, then they try out for lacrosse and tell me "Hey coach, I like lacrosse, it's fun!"

I bet you do, son. I bet you do.

 

[cane since birth]

Wasnt alex collins a lacrosse guy?

 

[Ibis Wingz]

Wasnt alex collins a lacrosse guy?

Jim Brown was as well.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

Football participation numbers are dropping yearly and sports like lacrosse keep exploding. Football has had its high points, it is declining rapidly around the US. Parents who actually care about the health and welfare of their kids will think twice about signing them up. If you don't then youre a shtty parent who continues to live vicariously through your kids. Many former NFL players want no part of their kids playing football.

You're talking about white suburban neighborhoods bro. Football ain't declining at all in the hood.

Lacrosse is taking off cause many white kids like their chances for success much more in that sport. You don't have to be 6'2" and run a 4.4 forty.

Lacrosse is the soccer of this generation in the U.S. Instead of soccer moms we're now getting lacrosse moms.

It's an activity for lumpy white kids to get them off the computer for an hour a day. The kid who would be the puny overmatched third team right guard on the football team has a chance to be the star of the lacrosse team.

Indeed.

I've had kids who struggled on the football field, then they try out for lacrosse and tell me "Hey coach, I like lacrosse, it's fun!"

I bet you do, son. I bet you do.

Oddly, Coach George Smith wanted his STA football players who weren't running track for STA to play lacrosse for STA in the spring.

 

[Mbecks22]

Coached 9-10 year olds last year

I don't think they should play anything but flag football until they are in junior high


Those little dudes hit hard. No way that's good for them at that age

U could make some awesome flag football leagues for kids from 5-12 and greatly reduce needless injuries

 

[OrangetieFatface]

Football participation numbers are dropping yearly and sports like lacrosse keep exploding. Football has had its high points, it is declining rapidly around the US. Parents who actually care about the health and welfare of their kids will think twice about signing them up. If you don't then youre a shtty parent who continues to live vicariously through your kids. Many former NFL players want no part of their kids playing football.

You're talking about white suburban neighborhoods bro. Football ain't declining at all in the hood.

Lacrosse is taking off cause many white kids like their chances for success much more in that sport. You don't have to be 6'2" and run a 4.4 forty.

Lacrosse is the soccer of this generation in the U.S. Instead of soccer moms we're now getting lacrosse moms.

It's an activity for lumpy white kids to get them off the computer for an hour a day. The kid who would be the puny overmatched third team right guard on the football team has a chance to be the star of the lacrosse team.

Indeed.

I've had kids who struggled on the football field, then they try out for lacrosse and tell me "Hey coach, I like lacrosse, it's fun!"

I bet you do, son. I bet you do.

Maybe parents encourage their kids to play basketball, baseball, swimming, lacrosse and volleyball because TBI's are very real, and the science has become too overwhelming to ignore.

Maybe something extremely close to 100% of the kids people coach won't even sniff the NFL.

Maybe there are safer sports to go professional in, if that is a parent's wild dream for their child.

But you realize all that. I bet you do coach, I bet you do.

 

[Ibis Wingz]

Maybe something extremely close to 100% of the kids people coach won't even sniff the NFL.

You would never know that from listening to the whackoff parents of the kids I've coached in optimist ball. 99% of them (and 99.99% of the ones from the neighborhood) believe that their kids are going to play in the NFL and become the meal ticket.

Watch this video and you will see what you are dealing with in optimist ball: https://www.facebook.com/335322649959209/videos/452069691617837/?comment_tracking={%22tn%22%3A%22O%22}

 

[CaneSince4Ever]

Out of all the YOUTH sports, football is not only the SAFEST, but the MOST properly equipped.

 

[SFbayCane]

Anyone ever watch Irish Hurling?

Yes, every time I see one of them at the bar after midnight.

Its not that they can't hold their liquor, its that they just don't stop until it happens.

 

[3FW]

Some very good points. Hard to say, but can't be ignored. As was mentioned in this thread, football is one of the few sports that has not been primarily privatized. In soccer as many know, HS if you play at all it's a 3 month diversion from your club team. Also, someone pointed out that soccer has the same problem, which is true. soccer is miles ahead though as the ultimate parents of all the club teams pickup the liability, either USclub Soccer or US Youth Soccer. Will football go away? Yes, unless the NFL steps up to provide that protection at the youth levels. What may happen is football goes the way of other sports, and you play for a club not a school.

 

[Coach Macho]

Football participation numbers are dropping yearly and sports like lacrosse keep exploding. Football has had its high points, it is declining rapidly around the US. Parents who actually care about the health and welfare of their kids will think twice about signing them up. If you don't then youre a shtty parent who continues to live vicariously through your kids. Many former NFL players want no part of their kids playing football.

You're talking about white suburban neighborhoods bro. Football ain't declining at all in the hood.

Lacrosse is taking off cause many white kids like their chances for success much more in that sport. You don't have to be 6'2" and run a 4.4 forty.

Lacrosse is the soccer of this generation in the U.S. Instead of soccer moms we're now getting lacrosse moms.

It's an activity for lumpy white kids to get them off the computer for an hour a day. The kid who would be the puny overmatched third team right guard on the football team has a chance to be the star of the lacrosse team.

Indeed.

I've had kids who struggled on the football field, then they try out for lacrosse and tell me "Hey coach, I like lacrosse, it's fun!"

I bet you do, son. I bet you do.

Maybe parents encourage their kids to play basketball, baseball, swimming, lacrosse and volleyball because TBI's are very real, and the science has become too overwhelming to ignore.

Maybe something extremely close to 100% of the kids people coach won't even sniff the NFL.

Maybe there are safer sports to go professional in, if that is a parent's wild dream for their child.

But you realize all that. I bet you do coach, I bet you do.

You're laying the sarcasm and *****iness on pretty heavy and I'm not sure why. I have no problem with kids playing other sports. I played five growing up. FIVE. I chose football BECAUSE OF THE PHYSICALITY. If I could rewind I would've stuck with baseball. Football destroyed my body and I only played tackle from 12 years old to my mid-20's. (college then semi-pro) Many people start tackle earlier.

If I ever have a son I'll push him towards baseball for sure.

 

[The Franchise]

You're a good man, Macho. I don't fear concussions and all that other stuff because you can't make money off your kids if you're scared.

My boys were going full contact since they could walk. I couldn't find helmets small enough at first so I wrapped they're heads in maxi pads and toilet paper. I used to smack them around with one of those big red plastic whiffle ball bats before they were old enough to start hitting.

I subscribe to the junkyard dog theory with kids. You feed a junkyard dog small doses of poison to build his immunity to it. Then, when some scoundrel tries to poison your dog and steal all the stuff in your yard it won't work because he's immune to it. My kids' heads will be like cinder blocks by the time they get to HS the way I've been going dead red with them since day one. These dudes are 5 years old now, and they're like a couple of rabid dogs.

I'll be damned if I'm going to live in this stank ghetto the rest of my life. I take care of them until they get to college. Then they get me a mansion and a Bentley.

 

[Cane Dynasty]

You're a good man, Macho. I don't fear concussions and all that other stuff because you can't make money off your kids if you're scared.

My boys were going full contact since they could walk. I couldn't find helmets small enough at first so I wrapped they're heads in maxi pads and toilet paper. I used to smack them around with one of those big red plastic whiffle ball bats before they were old enough to start hitting.

I subscribe to the junkyard dog theory with kids. You feed a junkyard dog small doses of poison to build his immunity to it. Then, when some scoundrel tries to poison your dog and steal all the stuff in your yard it won't work because he's immune to it. My kids' heads will be like cinder blocks by the time they get to HS the way I've been going dead red with them since day one. These dudes are 5 years old now, and they're like a couple of rabid dogs.

I'll be damned if I'm going to live in this stank ghetto the rest of my life. I take care of them until they get to college. Then they get me a mansion and a Bentley.

:6e482c_o: