Anyone see this yet??

Canned Heat · #1 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 18, 2015, 12:05pm

High school football dying out?

Is the future of high school football on the line?

Welpe · #2 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 18, 2015, 12:49pm

We're talking about it a lot out here. Some are thinking we're getting close to football in certain parts of CA losing its popularity. Team sizes seem to be down in areas that in the past were hotbeds of football. Hopefully it's not an indicator of things to come.

Canned Heat · #3 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 18, 2015, 01:09pm

Quote:

Originally Posted by Welpe

We're talking about it a lot out here. Some are thinking we're getting close to football in certain parts of CA losing its popularity. Team sizes seem to be down in areas that in the past were hotbeds of football. Hopefully it's not an indicator of things to come.

Quite a few schools and programs around here have numbers WAY down from years past. We actually had 3 games called off this year on my JV & FR THUR night schedule this year because numbers were low and a kid or two had concussions symptoms or another injury and they couldn't field a team.

I actually don't know if it's more the sports specializing (sticking with one sport), the injury factors (worried mom syndrome), the cost for some of the programs, or burn out. I know the program in my home town is burning out of kids with 2 programs for every one of those reasons...and a 5th being that a coach plays the same 11-15 kids, obviously a bunch playing both ways, and the kids that have busted their asses just as much as the others aren't getting any playing time and quit because the youth coach with no coaching experience is concentrating on W vs. L instead of teaching them the game and getting them involved.

HLin NC · #4 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 18, 2015, 03:29pm

I've reffed enough youth football here to know that I didn't want my son to participate in this league. Not all coaches are bad but you have no quarantee on who you'll draw.

He played youth soccer until he was 14 and played for the middle school team his 7th grade year. While in MS, I had him go to summer workouts with the football team as it was open to all students and running, drills, and weight training is good for anything and kept him active in the summer while school was out. He decided to switch to football in the 8th grade, wound up starting as a receiver and did the same on JV's and now varsity. Missing football from age 6 to 12 did absolutely nothing to hinder him now.

He suffered a concussion late in a game this season and was held out a week and missed the following game. There have been no subsequent problems and I wasn't troubled by it in the least beyond the initial concern for him after the game and at the ER.

I think all of the reasons listed are valid as well as some sports going almost year round, scholarship mania, central air conditioning, lack of discipline and work ethic, video gaming, the general wussification of America, and possibly a decline in volunteerism.

scrounge · #5 (**permalink**) Wed Nov 18, 2015, 09:25pm

In all honesty, I figure we've got about 10 to 20 years of this game left. Youth leagues around here are half of what they were just 5 years ago. Sure, specialization and the rise of soccer and other sports has something to do with it. But is that the cause or merely the effect? The burnout factor may be part of it. But the head injury effect is real. And for my own part, I'm not all that unhappy that my kids gave it up early on.

We can tweak and tinker to make it safer - and there's an absolute need for that. But this game simply can't be *safe*. Not just from collisions. As more research comes out, it looks more and more like it's NOT the big, concussive hits that do the damage. It's the little, 20 a day subconcussive hits. Those simply can't be eliminated from the game because they're integral to the game.

It's starting already - youth numbers slowly erode, schools won't have the numbers for freshman and/or JV teams. Heck, that's happening now - had 2 games canceled this year due to low numbers. The richer, more well off schools will start giving it up first as it becomes more of a sport for those desperate for a way out or in the strongholds like TX or OH. But even there (and I'm in central OH now) you'll see it. A few lawsuits will be won, more will be lost but the cost of defending them will drive up insurance rates. Then, it'll reach a breaking point as schools can't afford to be pay those rates. Football will break away from schools and go the club route, accelerating the decline in numbers. This sport is headed the way of boxing...not today or in the near future. But that's what the future holds for it, in my estimation.

And by the way, there used to be high school boxing teams back in the day. Seems absurd now, doesn't it...

JRutledge · #6 (**permalink**) Fri Nov 20, 2015, 10:23am

Kids get hurt and die in other sports almost as much as football, depending on the sport. This is a PR thing not a reality thing. Also most kids will never play beyond high school. I think people will just have their kids play later and not so early which is a good thing IMO. But it will never completely die when the carrot for scholarships and professional opportunity will be out there. Even if schools decide to drop the sport all together, there will be some club or non-scholastic option which many will take. Not everyone is going to play soccer or baseball because those sports cost a lot of money to participate at this time. At least at this point football is popular at all levels that I doubt players will completely stop participating. You might have fewer teams and more consolidation, but I do not see it going completely away even in 20 years.

Peace