Anyone's kids play Pop Warner??

[Julia M]

DS is playing Pop Warner foorball for the first time. He's in 8th garde (13). I had NO idea it was so intense or all the complications.

First, it was $250 to play. Then $30 for a certification packet, which is shirt and shorts (just to weigh in, I guess) and socks and a belt for the uniform. Now, we have "fundraiser"-all you can eat pancakes at Applebees-$25 a person.

Okay, the money is bad enough, but now I find out he's close to "not making weight". Apparently in each division, depending on your age, you have to have your weight fall within a certain amount, high to low. If he was 1, it would be no problem at all-he is at the bottom range. But he's not-he can weigh no more than 115. He was at 120 when he started workouts (and that's the weight we put on hos forms). He was 117 today. If he's not at 115 on Saturday, the season is over before it's begun. He can't play.

Now, I do realize I should have researched this. I certainly bear responsiblity. But in my defense, my older son never played and I have no close friends who have kids who have ever played. On the forms we filled out, we indicated we were first time players and we put his accurate weight down. I just wish someone had let uis know!

Now, my vent is over.....I;m in to a question. How do parents of kids needing to "make weight" do it? The weigh in is Saturday at 1....no breakfast that day! We are continuing just yogurt, fresh fruit and veggies, lean meat or beans. (Luckily he likes all of these!) What else should we be doing?

Thanks

Julia

 

[trip]

Can he play up a division?

 

[Julia M]

Can he play up a division?

nope, unfortunately, not an option (teams are full)

julia

 

[HelenePA]

many moon ago when my grandmother worked at GNC a lady came in with her son looking for water pills because he was a wrestler who was close to not "making weight" for his next match... now I dont know much about water pills and if it worth it but I guess the option is out there...

 

[disfan07]

I would completely advise against water pills. If those are not taken under doctors supervision, they can cause severe dehydration which comes with a host of complications especially concerning electrolytes.

I was on water pills under the care of a doctor because of the side effects of one of my meds and even under their supervision, I still ended up in the hospital twice for dehydration over the course of 8 months. WHen you are working out and taking water pills, you lose electrolytes and fluid thourgh both and it is really hard to keep it balanced

 

[castleview]

Our daughter did flag division last year but isn't going on to tackle play. Even our younger son won't because we (and this is just our opinion) don't believe in it. I hear you on the money - talk to the cheerleaders' moms

DH is a high school football coach and not a huge proponent of Pop Warner - I've heard many even say that Pop Warner would be turning in his grave about what the organization has become . If your son doesn't make weight, don't worry about it. Plenty of kids don't play football until their freshman year of high school and do just fine - both DH and his siblings were too big to play PW and had to wait. Guess what? They were two of the few who received football scholarships.

I really wouldn't mess with your son's diet (although lean meats and vegetables are definitely a good thing, in general). Sure it will be disappointing if he can't play, but I'm a believer that some things happen for a reason. If he has to wait, he will be a good and healthy for high school.

I will probably get flamed for my post even though I'm a huge advocate for kids in sports. But most guys I've met who have played football on the college level - and many on the high school level - just don't see a need to tackle before high school. At the same time, I'm sure PW is fun for so many. But again, don't get upset if he's too "heavy" to play…and don't give up on high school either.

 

[mhsjax]

Our daughter did flag division last year but isn't going on to tackle play. Even our younger son won't because we (and this is just our opinion) don't believe in it. I hear you on the money - talk to the cheerleaders' moms

DH is a high school football coach and not a huge proponent of Pop Warner - I've heard many even say that Pop Warner would be turning in his grave about what the organization has become . If your son doesn't make weight, don't worry about it. Plenty of kids don't play football until their freshman year of high school and do just fine - both DH and his siblings were too big to play PW and had to wait. Guess what? They were two of the few who received football scholarships.

I really wouldn't mess with your son's diet (although lean meats and vegetables are definitely a good thing, in general). Sure it will be disappointing if he can't play, but I'm a believer that some things happen for a reason. If he has to wait, he will be a good and healthy for high school.

I will probably get flamed for my post even though I'm a huge advocate for kids in sports. But most guys I've met who have played football on the college level - and many on the high school level - just don't see a need to tackle before high school. At the same time, I'm sure PW is fun for so many. But again, don't get upset if he's too "heavy" to play…and don't give up on high school either.

Wow, finally someone out there like me. I get you on the cheerleader thing, I have one of them also.

My youngest son 9 wants to play tackle, (currently plays soccer) His pediatrician, who happens to be very involved in sports medicine, said no way should a child before middle school play tackle ball. She has 6 former patients that are NFL or former NFL players, she loves football but says that their growth plates can't handle the repeated pounding. She says that even the coaches in high school and college don't advise starting until middle school.

Now tell that to my neighbors and they look at my like I am the anti Christ.

 

[Sgt Mickey]

My 9 years old play football in the league here but not through pop warner but alot of it sounds similair. BUT my 9 year olds team is 8 and 9 year olds and THEY have a weight limit of 115 lbs not that they are close but a few kids on their team in their age division is. BUT our league seems more willing to move kids around since you already paid them money. I don't think I like how pop warner sounds. It sounds like you are doing everything right I hope he makes weigh in so he can play.

 

[dawson5]

Wow. Around here, Pop Warner is something like $60. They supply all equipment. This serves the community south of us, we would have to drive 30 minutes or more for games/practices. They cover a lot more age groups than what we ended up with. If I had known about this when my youngest was in 1st grade, he would have been in it. That is all he ever wanted to do.

My youngest played Rocket Football. We had weigh-ins but our weigh-in's did not stop you from playing, just limited who could touch the ball. Totally made sense, we had kids from 4-6th grade playing together. Could you imagine a 4'-something kid trying to stop a 6'2" 250 lb'er from just walking a ball to the goal line? (We had a 5th grader on our team, that size, proper age.) This cost us $125. We did have to buy his equipment: helmet, shoulder pads, practice & game pants, etc. They supplied the jersey. He was on the same team for three years, you could go back into the draft if you wanted to go to a different team. It was a blind draft though, they had papers with height, weight and age.

My middle son played CYO football. That was $60 also, they supplied everything, even socks & mouthpiece.

 

[mtemm]

Our daughter did flag division last year but isn't going on to tackle play. Even our younger son won't because we (and this is just our opinion) don't believe in it. I hear you on the money - talk to the cheerleaders' moms

DH is a high school football coach and not a huge proponent of Pop Warner - I've heard many even say that Pop Warner would be turning in his grave about what the organization has become . If your son doesn't make weight, don't worry about it. Plenty of kids don't play football until their freshman year of high school and do just fine - both DH and his siblings were too big to play PW and had to wait. Guess what? They were two of the few who received football scholarships.

I really wouldn't mess with your son's diet (although lean meats and vegetables are definitely a good thing, in general). Sure it will be disappointing if he can't play, but I'm a believer that some things happen for a reason. If he has to wait, he will be a good and healthy for high school.

I will probably get flamed for my post even though I'm a huge advocate for kids in sports. But most guys I've met who have played football on the college level - and many on the high school level - just don't see a need to tackle before high school. At the same time, I'm sure PW is fun for so many. But again, don't get upset if he's too "heavy" to play…and don't give up on high school either.

my husband feels the same way about football. he is not a football coach or anything, but said he read an article or saw an interview (I can't remember offhand, might be both, or several) a while back that convinced him that tackle early on is not a good thing.

our 8 year old son wants to play football this year and is going to play flag. I'm very happy about that!

as for the op and the weigh in, my sister's 10 year old son just went thru it. he had to lose a few pounds and thankfully did it, but its scary that kids this young are already doing crash diets and such. one kid on his team had to lose 20lbs to make the team. in 2 weeks. he lost 12, so won't get to play in the first couple of games but will get another weigh in. I can't even imagine what he had to do to lose the 12 in such a short time!

 

[terribm]

My DS-10 is in his 5th year of Pop Warner football. He is now playing jr. PeeWee. He is big for his age so he had the making weight issue last year when he could not be over 90lbs. Leading up to the weigh in, he was more careful of what he ate and with all the conditioning practice in Aug, he was fine. I think he weighed in about 89lbs. After that, you get a pound a week that you can gain and it was never an issue during the season last year. This year I was looking forward to not having to worry about weigh since he moved up a division. Well he put on about 15lbs and was again in danger of not making weight. He couldn't be over 105. The day of his weigh in this year, he drank alot water and was careful of what he ate. He did not skip any meals. DH took him to the field early to check him before the actual weigh in. He was 105.5. He ran around the field for about 20 min and was able to certify at 105 on the dot.

Pop Warner is a great organization and I think it is really good for the kids. It is intese and costly. I have always said that if my son didn't absolutely love to play then we would never do it. The time commitment is too much. He practices 3 nights a week and has a game every Sat from Aug 28-Oct 18. We give up a lot for him to do this as we have season ticket to college football and have to miss many games to see DS play. Maybe he reward us by taking his team to the Pop Warner Super Bowl down at Disney We can hope.

To OP-Good luck with your son.

 

[BabyTigger99]

This is my son's 4th year in Pop Warner. We don't have all the fees that you have. It is $110 for the season, which includes the game jersey. You buy your own socks, mouthpiece, shoes, and cup.

As far as the weight issue, your league should have let you know at the initial weigh in that his weight was going to be an issue. We have one boy on our team that is right at the max weight. If he overweighs for a game, he will not be playing in that game.

The good thing is that as the season goes on, the maximum weight increases every week by one pound.

Please don't let him starve himself to play. He might make weight, but he surely won't have the energy to play well, and would put himself at risk for injury.

 

[HelenePA]

I would completely advise against water pills. If those are not taken under doctors supervision, they can cause severe dehydration which comes with a host of complications especially concerning electrolytes.

I was on water pills under the care of a doctor because of the side effects of one of my meds and even under their supervision, I still ended up in the hospital twice for dehydration over the course of 8 months. WHen you are working out and taking water pills, you lose electrolytes and fluid thourgh both and it is really hard to keep it balanced

My dd was on lasix as a infant until she underwent her open heart surgery. I dont know how the OTC pills work. I wouldn't advise using them either... I'm just saying they are out there...

 

[mom2d&b]

My DD10, and DS 8 have played PW. DD for 1 year and DS for 2 years. Weight was not a problem for them, however others on the teams, even at 6 yrs old had issues. If they were over, they just could not play that week.
And the cost for us was not expensive at all. Only $85 for each child and that covered the game uniform, a practice uniform, mouth pc, and transportation to the games. We were very luck and all of the teams in our city are sponsored by the police athletic leauge.

 

[golfgal]

Our daughter did flag division last year but isn't going on to tackle play. Even our younger son won't because we (and this is just our opinion) don't believe in it. I hear you on the money - talk to the cheerleaders' moms

DH is a high school football coach and not a huge proponent of Pop Warner - I've heard many even say that Pop Warner would be turning in his grave about what the organization has become . If your son doesn't make weight, don't worry about it. Plenty of kids don't play football until their freshman year of high school and do just fine - both DH and his siblings were too big to play PW and had to wait. Guess what? They were two of the few who received football scholarships.

I really wouldn't mess with your son's diet (although lean meats and vegetables are definitely a good thing, in general). Sure it will be disappointing if he can't play, but I'm a believer that some things happen for a reason. If he has to wait, he will be a good and healthy for high school.

I will probably get flamed for my post even though I'm a huge advocate for kids in sports. But most guys I've met who have played football on the college level - and many on the high school level - just don't see a need to tackle before high school. At the same time, I'm sure PW is fun for so many. But again, don't get upset if he's too "heavy" to play…and don't give up on high school either.

The most successful football coach of ALL TIME is a college coach and they don't tackle or even wear pads for practice until the day before a game. The rest of the week they are in shorts and t-shirts.

http://www.sportsfeelgoodstories.co...john-gagliardi-and-his-unique-coaching-style/

 

[mhsjax]

The most successful football coach of ALL TIME is a college coach and they don't tackle or even wear pads for practice until the day before a game. The rest of the week they are in shorts and t-shirts.

http://www.sportsfeelgoodstories.co...john-gagliardi-and-his-unique-coaching-style/

Wow, if they could all be like that. We have parents here that send their 4 year olds out into the yard and let them get tackled by older siblings or their dads, to "toughen them up".

I am all for being competitive, and I hate the feel good, let all the kids play and no one has to try out thing. But this football nonsense where I live is really irritating.