AllOhio;1479815 wrote:I feel there is a direct correlation with the numbers being down and the introduction of peewee football in Orrville. We did fine with flag football as our feeder system... it was competetive with no politics and the kids got to learn the game WITHOUT dealing with the physical pain that accompanies contact football. I truly believe the physicality of contact football at such an early age "burns" a number of kids out on the sport. Also, flag football is based on "speed" and more focus is put on footwork. Why not learn the fundamentals without the physical punishment?
This is a topic I have posted on with the WCL folks before (and I think I made some enemies because of it). I think this is definitely an issue for a few reasons. By the way, this is not a knock on the guys coaching the pee wee teams - many are very talented and put a ton of time and effort in. While this is unscientific, I have seen fewer numbers at Dalton since the start of peewee football and talking to a lot of other people around the county and state have similar stories. I think you have a couple things going on here - when you have a group of kids playing a sport, you are just going to lose a kid or two every year for various reasons. If you start that process in 3rd grade instead of 7th, you are obviously going to have fewer by the time you get to varsity. Secondly, when there is pee wee football, some kids will be allowed to play and some wont, whether for financial reasons or something else. There are some that don't come out in 7th grade with the thought that they "are behind the curve and wont get to play" since they did not play peewee like many of the other kids, further shrinking the pool. The third factor, is fear of injury with that many more years of contact. I also think you have more kids that may feel tackle football is not for them years before their bodies have developed. I have seen no difference in varsity level of play over the years between schools that have pee wee and those that don't. There is a difference in 7th grade, but by 8th or 9th it seems not to matter. I guess if you are worried about 7th grade titles, then peewee is a must. For me, my boys will play flag until 7th grade. Just my two cents.