Saturday, September 8, 2007

Weights & Measures

Today was weigh-in day for the youth football teams around the area. Sounds simple, right? Each age division has it's own weight threshold. It's pass/fail. So for Caz's age group 7-9, kids have to be 100 lbs or less. The officials set the bar at 100 and kids step on, one at a time. But where it gets dramatic is where the kids are over the limit. For most, that means their season is done, if they don't make weight. Younger kids have the option of playing up, but most parents make the right call. You would be talking about possibly playing an 8 year old with 10 & 11 year old kids. That is a big difference. Even if you have comparable sizes, that can be two years extra of speed and coordination. That's not saying there aren't exceptions to every rule, but odds are you don't take that chance and you do not play your kid that season. Some of the kids are crushed. There were 12 & 13 year old kids bawling their eyes out, after they failed to make weight. As a coach, you have to be able to console them. We decided to take the extra measure to weigh our borderline kids, off to the side, before our last practice of the week, on Thursday. The thought was it was better to find out there, if there was no chance. And there was one,kid from another team that I saw, that was 7-8 pounds over the limit. He just handed in his pads on the spot. Took it like a champ. But today there was one kid who didn't suspect it and was devastated. So you can clearly run the gambit.

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