Things are not looking good for high school football. Well, in my area anyway. Already chatter of not having JV games due to low numbers. Can't do much with a 20 man rosters. Hopefully these are just rumors. Only one team in a 40 mile radius that continues to dominate and that is a public school. I continue to scratch my head where some of these athletes reside, out of school district. This whole Catholic, private school recruiting is nothing but a bunch of crap from the whiners.
You're probably right, Southern. Coal region football went south when the soccer mom's took over the local school boards!
All the tough people from the coal region is moving to Georgia snake lol
I don't know Southern. SMH. it's a combination of everything. As mentioned in my initial post. There is one dominant football team in the area. As for an example, standout player Duke Luke from X school district mysteriously appears the next year on the roster of tge dominant team. Do you get what I'm saying? I agree with Bob also. It's more of a soccer mom approach and mentality. Maybe afraid of getting hurt. Years ago in my time you got back on your horse. Few years ago I rolled down a hill while hiking. My knee was like a basketball. Got back up and walked 2 miles to my car. I was out doing the same thing a few dayslater. I also believe things got worse when CTE was the big talk. Major impact on choices from parenting. The sport of football is trying to be saved with new helmet technologies.
All the tough people from the coal region is moving to Georgia snake lol
Ya know what Georgians are??? Northerners that didn't have enough money to make it to a good state like Florida!! BWAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!
IMO, CTE has had a huge impact on non-elite HS football; kids not playing and taking up other sports. If that be the case, I'd like to at least see HS sanction pass oriented 7 on 7 teams and games. During Covid that happened in different areas and I thought very exciting to watch with the better teams.
I agree...I think this has to do with the whole head injury issue...I will also say that these kids today aren't into sports like they were 30 or 40 years ago...They are into their phones and video games...I drive by beautiful ball fields and gorgeous lighted basketball courts that I would have salivated to have a chance to play on in my day...EMPTY...day after day and night after night EMPTY...Our fields and courts were packed day in and day out (We didn't have any lighted basketball courts)... Hell they are barely able to get a full baseball team together at my old school...In my day we had cuts...I believe the head injury issue is just a small part of it as all sports participation numbers are down...
I wanna add one more thing to this discussion as well...You bring up a very cogent topic here Pipe...The kids that do participate in athletics are now playing and concentrating on one sport for the most part...In my day we played 3 sports and some kids played 4...Football in the fall, basketball or wrestling in the winter and baseball and/or track in the spring...I was recruited as a pole vaulter my sophomore year and did that along with baseball...We had a kid long and triple jump and play baseball as well...Those days are long gone...It's a different world we live in today...To the average kid sports isn't nearly as important today as it once was...They have many more distractions and the cell phone, Computer, social media and video games seem to have taken over their interests...
Really good points FD, add to that there are simply fewer kids these days, especially in the areas we grew up in. At one time, Erie was Pennsylvania's third largest city but now in jeopardy of holding on to that. Pennsylvania holds its population...barely.
I guess it depends on the area of the state you live in. In lower Luzerne Co the population is growing! This is due mainly to an influx of people moving in from the New York & Jersey areas. Most of the new arrivals are Hispanic. Unfortunately, their kids seem to gravitate to soccer as opposed to football.
I saw a few studies recently and found them interesting, not because they showed decreasing levels of athletic participation... but the reasons given by parents and kids.
Some background... Most current surveys and studies show the same thing:
1. The average child spends less than three years playing a sport and quits by age 11
2. Only 38% of kids aged 6-12 play on a team regularly, down from 45% in 2008 and over 50% in the 90s.
3. 56% of teen girls, and 48% of teen boys do not participate in sports at all.
The reasons given were interesting though, and not what you would expect. While gaming, social media, etc. were present as reasons... the overwhelming reason given by parents as to why their kids didn't play sports was.......... COST. Whether it was the fees associated with private clubs, the cost of intramurals, or the funding of school programs this was the main reason given as to why kids weren't playing.
Over 50% of parents stated that either the school didn't have a team, or the private teams costed too much, as the main reason their kids weren't playing. School funding of teams has gone down drastically in the 21st century, and costs for private leagues have risen drastically. Interesting.
To add to that, survey found the reason kids quit playing was they simply weren't having fun anymore... the main reason given was "parents put too much stress on the kid to do well". Now some may take that as kids being "soft", but the kids responses coupled with the parents responses, as well as rising reports of angry, crazy parents getting into fights and acting like fools at these leagues??? Many of the studies and researchers concluded that the parents were acting out due to the financial strains of the rising cost of athletics. The whole "I'm paying lots of money for you to do this!!!" type of thing. Kids stated their parents made playing not fun, and when you are 6-12 and not having fun it's not really a "soft" issue. Kids should be having fun at that age, not getting stressed out or worried about doing well. It's obviously having an effect on how they view sports when they get to be teenagers, which IMO is a big reason why so many teens aren't doing any type of sports.
Food for thought.
I don't know where the surveys and studies you mention were conducted, but the results sure don't reflect what is happening in the coal regions of NE PA. Plenty of kids are playing organized sports. They're just not playing football!
I believe it’s a combination of all what y’all say but the poor little mommies boy is the main problem in my opinion. I don’t blame the kids it’s the parents fault that they don’t think little Johny is tough enough to get his knee scratched up. Ole southern tell it how it is baby 😁
I don't know where the surveys and studies you mention were conducted, but the results sure don't reflect what is happening in the coal regions of NE PA. Plenty of kids are playing organized sports. They're just not playing football!
They were conducted nationwide. Numbers are down across all sports, not really something you can see with your eyes though unless you keep track. Of course you'll see kids playing sports out in the fields, there's still a lot playing. I just said the percentages are dropping, not that no one is playing.
Cost is huge: I remember when playing through the city rec league and then school, it was basically show up with your signed slip from parent, pick out your equipment and play ball. Now, its dues this dues that and when you hit travel ball, both parents better be working (single parent with two jobs). Crew is in its own league when it comes to cost, it would have been cheaper for me to pay my kid to play something else, lol.
Community: Back then it was a huge community thing for playing sports; if not organized then in someone's back yard, the church lot or going in early to school or staying late to use the fields; I don't see that all anymore even in NOVA. Also back then so to speak, you had an older sibling or neighbor kid (quasi big brother/sister) or even parent that you wanted to emulate in a sport, I just don't see that much anymore.
Risk: I think some parents are just so risk averse that some kids never make it to the field at an early age, 6-12 thus never really transitioning into sports like we did back in the 60s-80s, hell, schools don't even offer Recess anymore the same way they did back then because of hurt feelings etc.....
Some of my fondest memories are playing tag football at recess in grade school. In the winter, when there was snow on the ground we played tackle football! And this was in "sister" school!
@rip recess is to hard, winter is to cold and tackle football is to tough for these little Johnny boys today bob lol. On the other hand I sympathize with the cold weather Mr bob lol
Ain't nothing like putting 2 or 3 sweatshirts and getting tackled and piled on, on the snowy frozen ground! Or playing ice hockey on the frozen creek and waiting the whole game for the perfect setup to check your buddy into the big oak tree growing out of the bank!! Damn they were some good old days!
Oh, and I only had 1 verified, documented concussion from that oak tree. And there weren't no protocol or sitting out you got back up and started skating again!!!!
That is a great point you brought up about cost Roam...I believe that is another significant factor as far as participation being down...At the end of the day I believe youth sports and High School sports as we know it and remember is gone...Where I am soccer and lacrosse are on the rise and I really have no idea as to what their gains in numbers mean to the other sports and which sports they may be hurting...I think Professional baseball and basketball will be fine because in the case of baseball the Latin and Asian players are their pipeline if the American kids can't fill out the numbers...Basketball will always have enough players to draw from...I even think Hockey is going to be OK as a result of the numbers of Russians and Canadiens playing the sport...American Football in my humble opinion is in some trouble...Sooner or later the player pool is going to dwindle to the point that the NFL is going to be hard pressed to find the better athletes to field a marketable product...The dwindling numbers of kids playing high school football is the canary in the coal mine regarding the NFL and how long that league can continue...I also gotta hand it to you on this one Pipe...Your post was a very good one and I believe we will be revisiting this topic in the coming years...
Indeed I am Southern...It is great to be home...It's great to see all of u guys posting ur great content...Best forum on the net...
