Football Decline

[maybelline]

I recently read an interesting article in Forbes magazine concerning the decline of football participation. The article stated there has been a decade long drop in participation, and in 2018-2019 there was a 30,800 (3%) drop bringing it to the lowest level since 1998-1999. As an example, Monroe HS did not field a JV team this year. What about your school or nearby schools? The article said next year nationwide participation might drop below a million. Your thoughts.

 

[beamer24]

Our youth team has plenty of participants but others teams are struggling with numbers

 

[FOOTBALLFANTIC]

The youth teams in Clinton has shown a decline to the point that there was only 2-3 teams in the recreation department. Those teams feed into our middle school, which didn't do so hot last season after dominating the county middle school scene for years. It's sad.

 

[PBBear51]

There is a lot of animosity in the medical community about the nature of force and "violence" in football, has been for awhile now. Football as a whole for high school especially, has changed it style (rules, contact, etc) considerably since I played back in the day in response to the medical concern. I'm assuming many parents are becoming more apprehensive about the sport even though it has become less aggressive and unless that changes, football maybe be in trouble.

 

[FOOTBALLFANTIC]

There is a lot of animosity in the medical community about the nature of force and "violence" in football, has been for awhile now. Football as a whole for high school especially, has changed it style (rules, contact, etc) considerably since I played back in the day in response to the medical concern. I'm assuming many parents are becoming more apprehensive about the sport and unless that changes, football maybe be in trouble.

In my opinion, soccer and lacrosse are just as dangerous, having collisions with no to very little pads.

 

[PBBear51]

In my opinion, soccer and lacrosse are just as dangerous, having collisions with no to very little pads.

In a sense your correct but too Ive yet to see any lacrosse or soccer players topping out at 6'5 345 either..lol

 

[PBBear51]

Just to show you and example, our family MD changed recently because of the fact he spoke a lot negative things about my son playing. I told my wife, there's more than one MD around here.

 

[ReidsvilleRam90]

My son is playing his first season in an 8u league. To say it is time consuming is an understatement. Some aren’t willing to put that much time into it.

 

[FB is my Life]

My son is playing his first season in an 8u league. To say it is time consuming is an understatement. Some aren’t willing to put that much time into it.

All sports are time consuming.

 

[Mavrick69]

Soccer is the main reason for the football drop in numbers even in a small countie like I live in with about 17 thousand population and the ethnicity about 97% white and we do have some non- citizens from Mexico with this make up of our countie soccer should not be popular ,but I saw a team photo of one of our middle soccer teams from last year and I was shocked to see they had 25 players on there roster and 5 of those kids were atleast 6" 200 pounds looked more like a football team size wise than a soccer team ..o

 

[bud33345]

PC culture is the main problem. No one stands up and defends the positives of organized football. You definately will no longer see it in the current media landscape. Then you have the deterioration of masculinity and anything that could possibly promote it. This culture has made our kids toxic to the idea of working all summer to do something that is shunned in the current social landscape. It's amazing to me that the very schools and universities that are the breeding grounds for this type of thinking are the very same ones that profit the most from organized, team, Male dominated, football. It destroys everything it touches.

 

[ForsythCo]

PC culture is the main problem. No one stands up and defends the positives of organized football. You definately will no longer see it in the current media landscape. Then you have the deterioration of masculinity and anything that could possibly promote it. This culture has made our kids toxic to the idea of working all summer to do something that is shunned in the current social landscape. It's amazing to me that the very schools and universities that are the breeding grounds for this type of thinking are the very same ones that profit the most from organized, team, Male dominated, football. It destroys everything it touches.

Wrong. The sport is just dangerous as hell regarding long term health. Simple as that. Don't look to hard into it. Folks who do start spewing the bs that you just conjured up.

 

[bud33345]

Wrong. The sport is just dangerous as hell regarding long term health. Simple as that. Don't look to hard into it. Folks who do start spewing the bs that you just conjured up.

Yeah the sport that's been around 150 years is now some dangerous threat thats never been known or accepted. Keep lapping up the spew you are fed. Why are you even on a football forum anyways? Go find a volleyball thread.

 

[ForsythCo]

Yeah the sport that's been around 150 years is now some dangerous threat thats never been known or accepted. Keep lapping up the spew you are fed. Why are you even on a football forum anyways? Go find a volleyball thread.

We know a lot more about football now than we do 150 years ago. I'm on the board because I like the sport. Doesn't mean I would let my children play it. Old habits are hard to break.

 

[bud33345]

We know a lot more about football now than we do 150 years ago. I'm on the board because I like the sport. Doesn't mean I would let my children play it. Old habits are hard to break.

Exactly, we do know more. The problem comes in where no matter how far the sport moves to make it safer, the goal post will always be moved to the point where you nor I can enjoy the sport. Kids that are 6'7" 300 pounds have no shot at being competitive in any other sport that has the rewards that football can potentially provide for them. Kids and parents are influenced by so many factors: social media, pop culture, and politics. Fact is the long term dangers are so far outliers for this sport it has become ridiculous. You can find dangers in almost any activity and the extreme cases. Being the most watched sport in America magnifies those outlying dangers. Just getting up everyday is a risk. How does someone tell a kid the risk isn't worth doing something they may love?

 

[Lawn12Dog]

Yes . Spot on !!!! The state of football is in serious trouble. Soccer moms and the recent studies on brain trauma will/have impacted the kids who turn out...plus football is ALOT OF WORK ....kids nowadays are just too damn lazy .

 

[LetsGetIt7]

Their are a lot of different variables at play in why football is in a decline. Is football a dangerous sport, yes it is, but girls soccer actually leads high school sports for concussions. Has the game became safer in the last few years. You bet it has, the way we teach kids to tackle has changed, a lot of advances in technology, such as new and improved helmets. In all the years that I played, from pee wee through all 5 years of college, I don’t believe I ever had a concussion, did I see guys with them you bet, but I honestly don’t believe CTE is coming from high school kids running into each other. I may be wrong but average high school hits are not the same as NFL collisions, we have only scratched the surface on brain injuries so time will tell.The thing that sets football apart is the game is supposed to be violent, it’s a rough and tough sport and contact is going to happen, simply you cannot take the controlled aggresion out of the game, if you did that you may as well just play 7 on 7. Kids today have so many more options now, it used to be if you weren’t playing a sport, you had a job or chores to do, that has changed. Everything seems to be instant gratification now, kids don’t wanna workout in the winter, summer ,and practice 4 days a week for 1 game a week to only get a fraction of playing time. It comes down to risk reward for the parents and kids. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? In my opinion football teaches so many things other than the game of football that young men need to learn, that other sports do not teach. As long as my kids want to play I will fully support that decision.

 

[brevard'04grad]

Football is booming in Brevard. Youth teams have more participation this year than they've had in the last 5 years. Our county also offers flag football which has over 100 kids participating as well.

4-5 years ago I'd say we would be in the same situation as a lot of other places. A lot of credit goes to Coach Pritchett and his staff for turning the high school program around and getting kids excited to play when they're young.

 

[Tiger_Pride31]

You all have good points on the decline, but don't forget to include the AAU & Travel Basketball and etc that are pretty much year round. Basketball and baseball are every week as well as weekend's. Especially throughout the summer, a lot of exposure and money involved!

 

[egfan]

Football is booming in Brevard. Youth teams have more participation this year than they've had in the last 5 years. Our county also offers flag football which has over 100 kids participating as well.

4-5 years ago I'd say we would be in the same situation as a lot of other places. A lot of credit goes to Coach Pritchett and his staff for turning the high school program around and getting kids excited to play when they're young.

Different question. What was your opinion of Coach Lippard, when he was at Brevard? I haven't met him yet, but he seems to be doing the right things to get the EG program turned around.

 

[PBBear51]

You all have good points on the decline, but don't forget to include the AAU & Travel Basketball and etc that are pretty much year round. Basketball and baseball are every week as well as weekend's. Especially throughout the summer, a lot of exposure and money involved!

Spot on. Traditional high school football is being impacted from several directions and reasons. It's really disappointing to see the decline because I know first hand the benefits of it.

 

[maybelline]

My grandson goes to a HS that used to be a powerhouse in football, now they are bottom dwellers. He said there are kids in school who are huge in size and athletic. Others who are tall and fast, and none play football. I think social media has a lot to do with the decline and sad to say drug use, and laziness.

 

[brevard'04grad]

Different question. What was your opinion of Coach Lippard, when he was at Brevard? I haven't met him yet, but he seems to be doing the right things to get the EG program turned around.

I never got a chance to meet him or watch the team play during his time at Brevard. I was living in Meck County at the time.

 

[bud33345]

You all have good points on the decline, but don't forget to include the AAU & Travel Basketball and etc that are pretty much year round. Basketball and baseball are every week as well as weekend's. Especially throughout the summer, a lot of exposure and money involved!

I agree, and alot of that exposer is fools gold. Especially in travel baseball. Then you have the AAU basketball players that are sitting the bench that could be star WRs and RBs on the high school football team.

 

[TVILLEDAWG2370]

Right!!!

PC culture is the main problem. No one stands up and defends the positives of organized football. You definately will no longer see it in the current media landscape. Then you have the deterioration of masculinity and anything that could possibly promote it. This culture has made our kids toxic to the idea of working all summer to do something that is shunned in the current social landscape. It's amazing to me that the very schools and universities that are the breeding grounds for this type of thinking are the very same ones that profit the most from organized, team, Male dominated, football. It destroys everything it touches.

 

[TVILLEDAWG2370]

Spewing BS Lol....wrong,try again

Wrong. The sport is just dangerous as hell regarding long term health. Simple as that. Don't look to hard into it. Folks who do start spewing the bs that you just conjured up.

 

[Wizard of the East]

Did yall notice the attendance at the college games yesterday. I saw several games and those huge stadiums have a whole lot of seats, whole sections empty. I think the interest in football has just fallen. A lot may have to do with the way the championships are run. The system is such that really only about a dozen teams are going to participate if that. And bowls? If you're not invited to a bowl, you've really had a bad year. Same way with high school playoffs. Conferences championships only have seed value. If you don't make the playoffs like bowls, you've had a bad year. Heck, before you know it they've be handing out participation trophies. I love the game, but it's not as it was. Its all about money.

 

[btango]

Did yall notice the attendance at the college games yesterday. I saw several games and those huge stadiums have a whole lot of seats, whole sections empty. I think the interest in football has just fallen. A lot may have to do with the way the championships are run. The system is such that really only about a dozen teams are going to participate if that. And bowls? If you're not invited to a bowl, you've really had a bad year. Same way with high school playoffs. Conferences championships only have seed value. If you don't make the playoffs like bowls, you've had a bad year. Heck, before you know it they've be handing out participation trophies. I love the game, but it's not as it was. Its all about money.

The bowls are a joke but I have never had a player or coach tell me they do not like the trip. The players get treated like celebrities for five days or so, fed like royalty, and some cool swag. The coach gets a lot of extra practice in and often a bonus for the invitation. The school usually loses money. Hard for me to understand how the schools have not figured a way to cut out the bowl people.

I could have went to several games yesterday but I honestly did not want to spend the last day of August in 95 degree heat in a stadium. If it would have been a big time high school game matching elite teams I would have been there. Nearly went to Charlotte (USC v UNC) and a trip to Atlanta (Duke v Bama) was enticing but I prefer games on campus and starting in October (due to the heat). I went to Florida for the game against Tennessee Peyton Manning's junior or senior year and nearly died with the 12 noon start. People dropping like flys. Wickedly hot and humid. Same with Clemson at Georgia for the 2014 season opener.

 

[ReidsvilleRam90]

https://www.greensboro.com/news/tre...cle_e04dcbb0-16cd-58cd-be19-6315d5c98170.html

 

[PUNTSTER]

Intrest in football is way down. Not coming back. Cell phones big problen. Walking zombie stundents.

 

[PUNTSTER]

Students!!!!

 

[Wizard of the East]

The bowls are a joke but I have never had a player or coach tell me they do not like the trip. The players get treated like celebrities for five days or so, fed like royalty, and some cool swag. The coach gets a lot of extra practice in and often a bonus for the invitation. The school usually loses money. Hard for me to understand how the schools have not figured a way to cut out the bowl people.

I could have went to several games yesterday but I honestly did not want to spend the last day of August in 95 degree heat in a stadium. If it would have been a big time high school game matching elite teams I would have been there. Nearly went to Charlotte (USC v UNC) and a trip to Atlanta (Duke v Bama) was enticing but I prefer games on campus and starting in October (due to the heat). I went to Florida for the game against Tennessee Peyton Manning's junior or senior year and nearly died with the 12 noon start. People dropping like flys. Wickedly hot and humid. Same with Clemson at Georgia for the 2014 season opener.

I'm with you, I like the cool den, refrig, near by and the ability to watch seral games, mostly 2 at the time slit screening!

 

[superstar57]

Obvious answer is we are starting to see parents simply not allowing there kids to play because of concussions and research that came out about 4-5 years ago.

Kids today also are spending more time In doors playing games.

Feel old, but "back in the day" you could find kids outside ridding bikes, throwing footballs, or just goofing off in the neighborhood. Today you don't even see a kid at the parks (only adults running).

 

[BlackBear95]

Intrest in football is way down. Not coming back. Cell phones big problen. Walking zombie stundents.

Walking zombie adults, too.

 

[Onslowfootball]

Exactly, we do know more. The problem comes in where no matter how far the sport moves to make it safer, the goal post will always be moved to the point where you nor I can enjoy the sport. Kids that are 6'7" 300 pounds have no shot at being competitive in any other sport that has the rewards that football can potentially provide for them. Kids and parents are influenced by so many factors: social media, pop culture, and politics. Fact is the long term dangers are so far outliers for this sport it has become ridiculous. You can find dangers in almost any activity and the extreme cases. Being the most watched sport in America magnifies those outlying dangers. Just getting up everyday is a risk. How does someone tell a kid the risk isn't worth doing something they may love?

Here are some little known facts Number 1 concussion sport in high school -Girls soccer, Number 1 knee(acl/mcl), ankle lacrosse/soccer, actually the speed of running up and down the playing fields with sudden stops can cause the brain to shift causing brain injury, but lets not talk about that, plus Girls lacrosse without helments sure not as physucals as boys but the ball has hit girls in head seen it causes concussion and the stick from time to time hits head guess we have to wait till serious injury/death to get that rule change.

 

[bud33345]

Here are some little known facts Number 1 concussion sport in high school -Girls soccer, Number 1 knee(acl/mcl), ankle lacrosse/soccer, actually the speed of running up and down the playing fields with sudden stops can cause the brain to shift causing brain injury, but lets not talk about that, plus Girls lacrosse without helments sure not as physucals as boys but the ball has hit girls in head seen it causes concussion and the stick from time to time hits head guess we have to wait till serious injury/death to get that rule change.

I guess if they finally get that women kicker in the NFL then football will be ok again. Lol. Kinda like UFC, it was a brutal sport that was killing men in the octagon according to SJW's until LGBTQ women started fighting then all of a sudden it needs to be an olympic sport. Lol. I for one enjoy the women fights. I think they are more compelling and competitive. If a women can kick a 52 yard field goal in the NFL I have no problem with a team trying her out, for the record. All those sports you listed have one common denominator... there is girls participation except for football. That goes back to my original opinion on this subject.

 

[patsfball]

This generation is totally twisted out of recognition. Boys want to be girls, girls want to be boys.....
Take the guns, take the helments, take the man off the bathroom door... where does it stop??

 

[GG4BAMA]

Their are a lot of different variables at play in why football is in a decline. Is football a dangerous sport, yes it is, but girls soccer actually leads high school sports for concussions. Has the game became safer in the last few years. You bet it has, the way we teach kids to tackle has changed, a lot of advances in technology, such as new and improved helmets. In all the years that I played, from pee wee through all 5 years of college, I don’t believe I ever had a concussion, did I see guys with them you bet, but I honestly don’t believe CTE is coming from high school kids running into each other. I may be wrong but average high school hits are not the same as NFL collisions, we have only scratched the surface on brain injuries so time will tell.The thing that sets football apart is the game is supposed to be violent, it’s a rough and tough sport and contact is going to happen, simply you cannot take the controlled aggresion out of the game, if you did that you may as well just play 7 on 7. Kids today have so many more options now, it used to be if you weren’t playing a sport, you had a job or chores to do, that has changed. Everything seems to be instant gratification now, kids don’t wanna workout in the winter, summer ,and practice 4 days a week for 1 game a week to only get a fraction of playing time. It comes down to risk reward for the parents and kids. Do the positives outweigh the negatives? In my opinion football teaches so many things other than the game of football that young men need to learn, that other sports do not teach. As long as my kids want to play I will fully support that decision.

That is very well said and exactly what I have been saying to people when this subject is brought up.

 

[Mavrick69]

Wrong. The sport is just dangerous as hell regarding long term health. Simple as that. Don't look to hard into it. Folks who do start spewing the bs that you just conjured up.

Looks to me like your the one spewing nonsence ..this social media has created a culture of group think and snowflakes ive got a 16 year old daughter so I know what kind of brain washing that is going on in our school systems and universities these days ..kids need discipline. sports ,especially football gives kids that discipline it teaches them how to work together and how to over come tough things thru hard work ..holding a cell phone in your hand and laying on your butt turns you into a little snow flake that ever time your feeling get hurt you need a safe place..

 

[ForsythCo]

Looks to me like your the one spewing nonsence ..this social media has created a culture of group think and snowflakes ive got a 16 year old daughter so I know what kind of brain washing that is going on in our school systems and universities these days ..kids need discipline. sports ,especially football gives kids that discipline it teaches them how to work together and how to over come tough things thru hard work ..holding a cell phone in your hand and laying on your butt turns you into a little snow flake that ever time your feeling get hurt you need a safe place..

This is why education is important. Football is on the decline, but every other sport is increasing in its activity. So the kids are still active, they're still apart of a team, they're still getting structure. They just choose not to ram into each other at 15 mph for your enjoyment.

Snowflake? Please... I think your problem is your daughter knows way more than you did at your age that you're embarrassed that you haven't been able to keep up. It's like the parents who get frustrated at the way kids do math now.