Calvin Ball

[mcrowder]

Anyone else out there have to deal with crazy made-up rules that aren't printed anywhere?

We get to the field the other day for 7th grade games, and the coaches tell us that the District had gotten together and agreed on several rule changes for 7th grade:

A) On a punt, only the down linemen can rush.
(Note - when asked how MANY down linemen can rush, we were told, "How ever many you have." When I ask him - what if all 11 line up on the line in a 3-pt stance, can they rush, he says, "Of course not", so I ask again - ok, how many can they rush - obviously 11 is "of course not" what about 10... 9... etc. I never get an answer to this question.)

B) Linebackers can't blitz.
(Note - when asked to define "Blitz", neither coach could oblige, nor could they agree on what defines a linebacker with regards to this rule. They also could not agree on whether a linebacker can cross the neutral zone on a running play).

C) No rushing on extra points (at least THIS one was straight forward, although neither coach had any idea how we should penalize it if someone decided to rush).

Friggin' Calvin-Ball. After all of this nonsense, the crew basically got together and decided we would call normal rules, and let the coaches police themselves on these made-up rules. Lo and behold, coaches had to be told to shut up, arguing across the field over whether a linebacker blitzed or not. It required a sideline warning on both of them at one point.

When I mentioned to them between games that somehow 9-10 year olds can play football with regular rules, and it boggled my mind that they felt the need to change the rules for kids older than that, the coaches were completely clueless as to the reasons for these Calvinball rules.

So --- anyone else have to deal with this nonsense, and if so, do you do as we did, and simply ignore bizarro rule changes unless they come from officiating supervisors?

[Suudy]

Originally posted by mcrowder
Anyone else out there have to deal with crazy made-up rules that aren't printed anywhere?

We have a similar thing for 7th and 8th grade. Nobody over 150lb is allowed to run the ball. If somebody over 150lb possesses a ball, we are supposed to blow it dead immediately. How are we supposed to know? The coaches are supposed to put a stripe down the helmet.

Originally posted by mcrowder
Friggin' Calvin-Ball. After all of this nonsense, the crew basically got together and decided we would call normal rules, and let the coaches police themselves on these made-up rules.

We frequently get arguments from coaches about a kid being over 150lb. The fuss and fume over a kid who is too big to run the ball. We don't have a scale on the field and we rely upon the coaches to be fair. We just tell the coaches to take it up with the other coach.

Originally posted by mcrowder
So --- anyone else have to deal with this nonsense, and if so, do you do as we did, and simply ignore bizarro rule changes unless they come from officiating supervisors?

We try our best to enforce the rules. In the end however, we tell the coaches to take it up with each other.

[Forksref]

I heard that Honigs is coming out with a field scale.

[Texoma_LJ]

If they break the huddle with the scale... is this the same as breaking the huddle with 12 players?????

[stevesmith]

I understand the local school district has decided to carry over a peewee rule into 7th grade where a kicked PAT is worth 2 points.

[Warrenkicker]

My area has a rule for the younger kids, 3rd and 4th grades, no rush on punts and the punt team can't go down field until it is kicked. That one is pretty clear. Otherwise we would never see a successful punt in any of those games. It doesn't help though when the punter kicks it right into the back of the up-back. Another for most all levels below high school is that going for two on a try is only worth one point while kicking the try is worth two.

[WyMike]

"Would that be 150lbs with or without equipment Coach?"

WM

[WyMike]

Originally posted by Warrenkicker
My area has a rule for the younger kids, 3rd and 4th grades, no rush on punts and the punt team can't go down field until it is kicked. That one is pretty clear. Otherwise we would never see a successful punt in any of those games. It doesn't help though when the punter kicks it right into the back of the up-back. Another for most all levels below high school is that going for two on a try is only worth one point while kicking the try is worth two.

We have a rec league for 3rd and 4th graders with some weird rule changes and I ended up tossing a player last night. No wait a minute... It wasn't 3rd and 4th grade it was Adult Flag League. Got confused for a minute. Nevermind.

WM