Pop Warner tackle football is a tough sport that requires hard work, dedication and academic excellence. Be sure to talk to your athlete about the time commitment that comes with playing this sport. They must be willing to devote six hours during the week to practice time and an additional three hours of time on Saturday for games. If that is not a commitment that your athlete can make, recreational flag football or 7 on 7 are great alternatives that practice once a week and operate year round. Our expectation is that an athlete that chooses to play tackle football is 100% committed to our league and their team for the three month season. While we encourage multi-sport athletes, if the seasons conflict, we recommend that your athlete devote their time and energy to the sport they are most passionate about.

 

Starting early is the best. If you have an 8 or 9 year old athlete, consider signing them up for tackle football and see if they like it. If you are worried about injuries, while there is always a possibility, the game is safest for our younger players as the speed, tenacity, and development just isn’t there yet. Also, because of the age and skill gap, most plays are runs and there aren’t kick offs. The hope is to build a love for the game at a young age and start developing that confidence to engage in contact and be the one delivering the hit, as opposed to taking it. If you have a 13 year old who just started showing interest in tackle football, it is still a good time to enroll because the transition to Freshman football will be much easier with a year of tackle football under their belt.

 

Football is the ultimate team sport, we need participation from all eleven on the field and support from those on the sidelines. Practice is where the skills are developed to drive performance in games. Our job is to run effective and engaging practices to make sure our players are improving every week and that they are performing their best for games on Saturday. Pop Warner has minimum play rules that will make sure all athletes get to participate in games. The number of plays is determined by the number of players on the roster and is set in the National Pop Warner rule book. It is normal for an athlete new to tackle football to play their minimum plays while building experience throughout the season. Practicing hard and building confidence will increase their game time until they become a starter.