Texas Little league football

[wiffleball 4,790]

A buddy of mine is a coach for the first time. I'm pretty sure he's more excited than his kid or the rest of the team combined. I've already had to talk him down from being "that Dad/Coach" that we all know about.

 

Now, I knew Texas football was unlike any other ('cept for maybe Pennsylvania), but every time I talk to him, I crack up. Here's some of the revelations. Now, bear in mind the average age we're talkigna bout here around 7-8 years old.

 

 

1. They have a special meter that detects how close the lightning is. (I didn't even know these things existed. Coach just usually called practice after the first guy got hit)

 

2. They put weight limits on the kids - I mean, STRICT ones. They have a 9 y.o. QB whose like 58 lbs and he can't gain more than another 5 pounds during the season. (Hello - they're kids - that's what they DO)

 

3. This is my favorite - They actually study game films of other teams? Now, bear in mind, at 7 years old, it ain't exactly about nuance. Half the challenge is developing neck muscles strong enough to support your helmet. But, sure enough, they actually pay some high school kid (pretty good money) to go and tape all the games every weekend - apparently this is pretty a standard practice.

 

I mean, this stuff is sophisticated. I haven't even scratched the surface. Hell, they even have cheerleaders for Chrissake!!

 

I know I may be a little behind the times, but dayum, this just seems a little much for that age.

[Me_2006 14]

10-12 year old KY Little League Basketball:

 

Championship game of the "tournament". Top 2 seeds (both only had one loss, to each other) made the finals. Opposing team was one of those "the coaches son is the best player in the league" kinda things. Thing is, he had diabetes. Our coach actually got the game moved to earlier in the morning (8 am) on Saturday because our strategy we had developed (other than running a box and one on him, yeah, in LL) was to make the game go as long as we could (fouls, deadballs, timeouts, etc) and hope he got tired/lightheaded/etc and coach wanted the game time moved because he didnt think the kid would get a chance to eat breakfast that morning and would be playing on an empty stomach. He told the little committee of parents, etc that made the decision that he had a business thing to handle later in the day and had to make sure he could do both or else he felt we'd be at a disadvantage. So they actually moved the game up.

 

Funny part is, Chris (the kid with diabetes) and myself hit knees and both missed the rest of the game because we had to get stitches lol.

 

Studying tape is one thing, but I always thought this was downright horrible. We weren't even supposed to tell our parents.

[moneyb 0]

The weight limit is extremely important at that age for safety reasons. In NC I was in a league with strict guidelines. Weigh ins weekly.

 

This is a big safety concern.