Should Weight Limits Be Required in Youth Football?
Let me rephrase the issue in its most basic terms: : Is it fair to deny or limit participation for larger than normal kids in the name of safety?
The answer is “no”, there is no existing evidence that “unlimited” classes are riskier than “weighted” classes.
Everyone has heard anecdotal stories and personal observations from administrators, coaches, and parents about the occasional urban legend who is significantly heavier, stronger, and faster and who is the source of multiple injuries to much smaller players.
I’m not saying that these stories are not credible, but instead, it is best to look to scientific studies on this topic to determine if these instances are isolated vs. common and to determine if the injuries are more severe than normal.
There is a compelling scientific study by the Mayo Clinic that is dead on point for answering these questions. As you are probably aware, the Mayo clinic has a stellar reputation in the medical community. In other words, this was no “Mickey mouse” study, it was based on pure science.
I’m in the business of designing injury surveys and analyzing their results and I was blown away by their methodology, statistics, data collection techniques, and attention to detail.The 1997 Mayo Clinic study of a large youth football league was based on 915 players ages 9 to 13 in grades 4 through 8. All of the teams were grouped by grade. Weight categories were not used. The critical findings were as follows:
* A total of 55 injuries occurred during games for the entire season for an incident rate of 5.97%
* Most injuries were minor with most being bruise/contusions which accounted for 60% of total injuries. 7% of total injuries were bad enough to prevent the player from participating for the rest of the season. These were all ankle fractures.
* The risk of injury for an 8th grader was four times the risk of injury for a 4th grader. Therefore, the number one risk factor for injury is age. The higher the age, the higher the chance of injury and as a result, correct age groupings are critical to limiting injuries.
* To the surprise of many, heavier players sustained more injuries than light players. Therefore, specific weight groupings would not appear to protect lighter players.
The next question is how do other experts interpret data from this study? Dr. Jeff Webb who is an affiliate of the prestigious American Sports Medicine Institute had the following comments on the Mayo Clinic study:
* As to why lighter players are not injured more frequently than heavier players, he cited the old formula that force = mass x velocity.
* He stated that older players get hurt much more often because they run faster and hit harder.
* Youth players who are larger don’t necessarily impact with more force if they aren’t fast and strong.
* The number one determining factor of speed and strength is age maturity and not weight.
* He concluded that lighter players would likely be safe within their own age group.
It is important to note that neither 6th/7th grade middle school, JV, high school, college, nor pros find it necessary to divide by weight classes. Could you imaging the outrage if these groups were told that they needed to move towards weight classes?
If 6th/7th grade middle school and 8th/9th grade JV teams are not required to have weight categories for safety purposes, why should they be forced on the same age groups in non scholastic youth football?
Also, why should the age groups under 6th grade have weight categories forced on them since very few injuries actually occur in these age groups anyway according to the Mayo Clinic study?
There are other reasons why unlimited classes are superior to weighted classes:
* Many communities are too small to draw enough participants to field teams if restrictive weight categories are used.
* We are in the middle of an obesity epidemic as referenced by our keynote speaker and too many kids who are overweight may have to sit out and not get much needed exercise resulting in health problems down the road.
* Specific weight categories may force youth to drop weight in order to make the weight category and the result can be very unhealthy and even dangerous resulting in increased liability potential. On popular technique for dropping weight involves limiting the intake of fluids. This can lead to dehydration which is the number one cause of heat illness.
* Weight categories that allow younger / heavier players to move up to an older age group can place the younger heavier athlete at increased risk of injury since the primary injury factors are age related based on speed and strength.
* Weight categories that allow older / lighter to move down to a younger age group can place the younger age group participants at a greater risk due to the greater age related speed and strength of the older player.
* Both American Youth Football and Pop Warner Football, the two largest youth football organizations in the US, offer unlimited weight classes. Therefore, a standard has been set for their acceptability.
Summary: I strongly believe that each community should choose based on its own needs whether to use unlimited, weighted, or modified classes. Should they choose to use unlimited classes, they can do so with confidence that there is no scientific basis to suggest that they are riskier than weighted classes.
Age groupings and not weight groupings are the best predictor or injuries and safety in youth football.
How does this justify a 105 lb 13 year old going up against a 220 13 year old?
I have been in the league for many years and this is an insurance issue. Yes bones and muscles mature differently at different ages, but it just common sense, a 105 lb running back is going to get injured by a 220 lb defensive lineman. There will be more injuries this season then any other because of this.
We are in the process of studying this issue with our own survey but the results won’t be available until several years. The only scientific study published so far indicates that age and not weight is the primary injury factor. We need be scientific in our approach instead of relying on anecdotal testimony. For every experienced coach who says that the weight differential will lead to more injuries, you could find another who has the opposite opinion.
First, there are very few 220 lb 13 year olds.
Second, is it fair to exclude the big kid so the little kid can artificially be allowed to succeed?
Third, football success is often based on size. A little kid’s chances of success at much lower than a big kid’s. It would be like saying a 13 year old who can throw a baseball 70 mph should not be allowed to pitch.
Fourth, there is a very real predjudice against big kids in all sports. For example, no matter how good they may be at basketball they are almost never allowed to play point guard or shooting guard. They always get stuck inside and are not allowed to develop the perimeter skills they need to succeed at a higher level. Same thing in baseball, big kids never get to play skill positions like shortstop no matter how good their hands and arm may be.
It time to stop favoring little kids and allow big kids to reach their potential.
As a long time coach and the father of an older lighter and a younger heavier boy. I have to agree with the author. My 12 year old outweighs my 17 year old by sixty pounds and there is no comparisson on who would get hurt in a football standoff. That extreme version of the situation aside, the last three teams that I have coached have all had four to six older lighters who had trouble making minimum weight every week. Each of these players could easily take down the heaviest kids who had trouble making weight from the other end. I had a set of twins who were older lighter and the fiercest defensive linemen I had. My Pop Warner league didn’t have an unlimited division and my, the 11 year old, would have had to play in the Midget division with kids as old as 15. I’m sure you guys remember what happend when you turned 12 and 13. Your body experiences an excess of hormones, you get a little meaner, and more aggressive. 11 and even younger 12 year old kids get eaten alive in those situations. Thus I had him sit out a year until I found and unlimited division in a neighboring community.
Pop Warner Football does not offer an unlimited weight class. I agree totally with this article. Youth football is designed for small kids who will never play in high school. When these boys finally have to play against kids their own age they don’t last long. I have seen several kids crushed after being an All Star for many years and not able to make their Freshman football team. Having a weight limit in youth football is the same as having a height limit in basketball – nobody wins.
Great posts – “is it fair to exclude the big kid so the little kid can artificially be allowed to succeed” – you hit it right on the head!
I think that weight alone is not a good way to determine restrictions. From my experience, in general, the larger players in the younger ages, are not all that athletic, but occasionally, there is a 125+lb 11 year old, that is really athletic. Having him in the defensive backfield, tackling 70lb kids at full speed, is a recipe for injury. I do not need any study to figure that out. Studies do not work for identifying the exception, they only identify the general rule. So I think in general the weight limits do not address the issue of safety. I think the safety issue comes up when their is a size and ability differential, and the players are in a position to exploit the differential, that problems arise. I think the big aggressive kid playing DE is the perfect thing, and probably prepares them very well for their future. But the really big aggressive kid playing monster D-back, spells injuries – whether it is fair or not. I think if there needs to be restrictions, then restrict who can play what position on both sides of the spectrum, and it is not just weight that matters, it is weight and ability.
It always strikes me as odd, that in hockey, baseball, basketball, there are tryouts, and teams of different levels are formed. Why is youth football different?