PROTECTING PRECIOUS MINDS:
Please see details about our brochure to promote Flag Football under 14 here:
We would like to see them in every parents hands. If you have ideas for distribution please contact us and we will send you as many as you need. Please help us save lives and families.
Pamphlet Link
American Academy of Pediatrics: “children who experience traumatic brain injury are at increased risk of developing new neuropsychiatric disorders”
Football affects youth brain development after just one season:
https://www.cnn.com/2018/11/26/health/youth-football-brain-impact-study/index.html
Advice from the neurosurgeon who discovered CTE: Concussion Doc: Don’t Let Your Kids Play Football
Playing Tackle Football Before 12 Is Tied to Brain Problems Later
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/19/sports/football/tackle-football-brain-youth.html
Aspen Institute overarching conclusion:
Children, the game and communities are likely to benefit if flag football becomes the standard way of playing before high school…
https://assets.aspeninstitute.org/content/uploads/2018/09/FINAL-Future-of-Football-Paper.3.pdf
Vikings QB Shaun Hill:
“Given the fact that every child develops at different rates, flag football makes so much more sense for the masses. It gives every child an opportunity to play no matter size, stature, or rate of development.”
Three NFL Players help move 3rd and 4th grade teams to Flag in their community. Who knows better than them that this is the reasonable move to make? We all need to follow their lead to protect our kids. Please share with school board members, coaches, and community sports teams. This is so important.
Flag football participation on the rise as parents guard children against tackle football
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lifl48oZLqQ
NFL players will let kids play football — if they start older
Every parent should listen to this podcast: Kids’ Brains Matter, host Bruce Parkman, Founder of Mac Parkman Foundation interviews Dr. Julie Stamm, athletic trainer and Professor of Kinesiology at University of Wisconsin.
Why isn’t football modified for Under 12 players like other sports?
http://www.sportscapp.com/2016/03/31/why-isnt-football-modified-for-u12-players-like-other-sports/
Tackling In Youth Football: State by State
https://brainlaw.com/youth-tackle-football/
Giannina Facio-Scott, “Concussion” movie producer, holding our Flag Until 14 Pamphlet at the Premiere with Bennet Omalu
Chris Borland wearing our Flag Until 14 button when he accepted the CLF Impact Award in Boston…
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This outstanding young man is as wonderful in person as he is on TV. He was the powerful lineman for the SF 49ers when he made national news and history by walking away from millions of dollars to save his fantastic brain. He is a true hero and a great role model for young men.
Tom Brady Sr. promising to wear the button whenever he speaks about sport safety…
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| This dad kept his son away from contact football as a young child and no one can deny Tom Brady’s legacy on the football field as a great player. He paved the way for future generations. |
Great comment by Chris Boyce, Ice Hockey player for 28 years
For those who got hurt playing contact sports, have you ever looked back and thought to yourself why did I waste my time with the sport that’s going to cause me so much misery later in life?  We put so much dedication into a sport we loved. We missed parties, we missed hanging out with friends all to play a sport that would just ruin our brains later in life. I truly wish I had never played hockey. What a waste of my life for a stupid deadly sport , 28 years of my life wasted in a sport that would destroy me.
Great article by John Gerdy:
Why Not Flag Football?
It’s time for parents, school officials, the sports media, fans and anyone else who continues to resist the need to reconsider and re-imagine tackle football at the youth, junior high and high school levels to take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask themselves a question: Why not flag football? Consider how we have long justified tackle football at these levels. That justification starts with the emphatic assertion that the game is “about the kids”. The narrative continues. Tackle football teaches things that cannot be taught in the classroom. The field and weight room are classrooms where coaches teach valuable life lessons such as discipline, teamwork and personal responsibility. Tackle football also increases student “engagement”, making kids more likely to stay in school while keeping them out of trouble by giving them something constructive to do. There’s the notion that participation in tackle football contributes to personal fitness. And in an increasingly competitive world economy and global community, the competitive aspect of tackle football can serve as a teaching tool. It’s also widely accepted that tackle football serves as a valuable community building function as few things can unite a community more than a successful tackle football team. And finally, tackle football is very entertaining. But consider this. It can be argued that football is so popular and entertaining because it satisfies a deep human attraction to, for lack of a better term, “bloodlust”. Like a moth to a flame or the rubbernecker to the auto accident, we are attracted to the crunches, crushes, mayhem and carnage. Let’s be honest. The violence and sheer brutality is a big part of tackle football’s entertainment appeal. As evidence regarding the link between football, concussions and lasting brain damage mounts, there has been increasing attention to and dialogue surrounding how the game can be made “safer”. As if a game that, at its’ core, is predicated on inflicting bone crunching, brain rattling physical punishment on opponents can be made suitably safe. Let’s say that football’s damage quotient is at 9 on a scale of 10. Even with great effort, the most that could be expected would be to nudge that needle back from nine a bit. Would that be safe enough? The fact is, the game is inherently, fundamentally violent. It is what it is, a brutal game. Instituting a few rules that will only marginally improve player safety and launching glitzy public relations efforts to sell those rule changes as having a meaningful impact won’t change that reality. So, how about Flag Football? Other than the bone crunching hits, blocks and tackles and the gladiatorial (and expensive) equipment required to “survive” those brain scrambling hits, blocks and tackles”, 95% of the two forms of the game yield essentially the same benefits for participants. But rather than having to literally sacrifice your body to tackle a ball carrier, in flag football, a defender must grab a ribbon from a belt attached to the ball carrier. The essential elements of the game remain, including the grace, beauty and athleticism, albeit without the bone crunching, brain scrambling hits, blocks and tackles. And if you don’t believe it, go back to paragraph two and substitute “flag” for “tackle”. You will find that all of the justifications that apply to tackle football can apply equally to flag football. So why the resistance from the supposed “adults” in the room: parents, school officials, the sports media and fans? We say that the game is “about the kids” and that it’s about teaching valuable life lessons, developing healthy bodies and competitive instincts, building community and providing entertainment. But if that were the case, rather refusing to consider a switch from tackle to flag football, we’d embrace the change. To do otherwise is to enable the continuation of an activity in which our children have a reasonable chance of sustaining life long brain damage. Why would we not embrace such an activity when a significantly safer and less expensive, alternative exists? Some will cite a lost “benefit” of such a re-imagining of the game to be the loss of the extremely physical nature of it. Without that raw brutality, the lessons learned from getting up after being knocked down may be lost. This is nonsense. I played basketball professionally. I got knocked down hundreds of times and had to pick myself up and get back in the game. Basketball, and plenty of other sports, including flag football, can teach that lesson. In short, tackle football does not have the market on teaching that life lesson. The fact is, virtually every benefit that can be derived from tackle football can still be taught and absorbed through participation in flag football. Players will still be on teams to learn sacrifice, personal responsibility and teamwork. They’d still be actively engaged in a physical activity. They’d still compete for starting positions and against other teams. And the game would continue to be wonderfully entertaining, but in a different, less brutal (and expensive) way. If all of the potential benefits for the participants remain, why not seriously consider it? If the game is truly about the kids as we claim, why not flag football? It offers the same benefits without the potential life long damage to the brain. Are we so selfish as to refuse to reconsider and re-imagine football’s format to make it significantly safer for our children simply because it will be less entertaining for us? It’s time to take a long, hard look in the mirror and ask: Why not flag football? John Gerdy (JohnGerdy.com) is a former all American and professional basketball player. He served as associate commissioner of the Southeastern Conference. He is founder of Music For Everyone and author of the book “Ball or Bands: Football vs. Music as an Educational and Community Investment”.