This post was made in partnership with Future For Football, an initiative of the National Football Foundation, created to highlight the lessons and values that football imparts. Get involved and sign up to play today by visiting Future for Football for resources, a League Locator tool, and much more.
We are a football family and I knew long before having kids that youth football would be a part of our family’s life. My husband played football and he’s coached since he was in his 20s. Fortunately, my kids are obsessed with the NFL and counted the days until they were old enough to wear pads and a helmet, the typical garb for youth football. The football enthusiasm in my house is no joke.
I recognize that’s not the case for everyone. Kids’ sports in Vermont are more than a hobby. We’re pretty passionate about our sports.
Every family tries football for a different reason and has a different story to tell about their youth football experience. Some families, like mine, are all in from the get-go, while others might be following in the footsteps of a cherished family member or a charismatic football star. Regardless, I have yet to come across a Champlain Valley Buccaneers Youth Football player who is anything less than wildly enthusiastic about the game. Parents or kids, we are a dedicated bunch.
I am a football mom and a coach’s wife and playing football has influenced our family in so many different ways, way beyond my expectations. But I was really curious about how youth football affects other kids on our team and why they started playing in the first place.
Why should kids play youth football?
Football moms will tell you a list of reasons, similar to mine.
Things like “They play in the backyard all of the time,” “They love the NFL,” or “They need to get out a bunch of energy.”
I sat down with a few moms. One mom, whose 10-year-old son has ADHD and ODD (Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder), and what she said about how youth football with the Buccaneers has done for her son surprised me.
“We started playing football because my son is not only very active but has been diagnosed with hyperactive ADHD and ODD,” she said. Her son has played with the Buccaneers for three years and is currently on the tackle team.
She explained that football is not just a way for her son to learn sportsmanship and leadership skills, but that he gets a lot out of football because of the specific way that it’s done.
“He has come to recognize that he’s able to learn new skills only when he’s able to handle his own raw emotions and understand the importance of discipline and accountability.”
Another mom, Liza, also has a 9-year-old on the team. Liza felt that starting football was a way for her son, Anthony, to interact and make friends with his peers in ways that she felt had been hampered by his ADHD and autism.
Liza explained that some kids like to play football simply just to play football. They see it on the television and want to try it themselves. That was the case for Anthony (“ADawg” as his teammates now call him) but Liza also felt like there was so much more to it.
Liza explained that soccer wasn’t going to work for Anthony because there were a lot of inconsistent moving parts and different plays all of the time. Football is very black and white and that’s what her son needed. A play starts and if it’s not completed you go right back to the beginning and start over again. She knew right away that he could understand and engage with this system of play.
How do kids benefit from playing youth football?
Youth football plays a part in many young athletes’ everyday lives. I see how my own kids apply lessons from the field to real life every single day.
Kids show up for practice two nights a week starting in mid-August through October. Then they play games every weekend. But there’s also a lot that goes on during their time off the field.
“Since starting playing football, we have seen so much growth with (my son), not just physically, but emotionally and mentally,” the first mom says. She, along with other moms in the program, agrees that the kids come to truly understand the importance of working as a team and putting all differences aside.
There are kids of all sizes, ages, skin colors, and sexes on the football teams (yep, even the girls play!) – but on the field, they are all equal. I have seen relationships and friendships develop that would simply not exist without football. There are high fives and fist bumps all year round whenever my kids see another Bucs player.
These kids are taught respect- for themselves and for others- from the very first day. If there is anything that Coach Jason Barron, a head tackle coach and president of the program, most values it’s that we are all Buccaneers all the time, and RESPECT is simply the most important thing.
To me, as a football mom, the crucial part is that football doesn’t just stop when the season ends. The team isn’t disassembled when the season ends. These kids are teammates all year round and represent the Buccaneers program all year round, in their community, other sports, and in school.
Liza recounted a time when her son, Anthony, was having a rough day at school. “ADawg” was visibly upset and just not in good spirits. Without question and with a ton of motivation and positivity, other Buccaneers players spotted him in the hallway and recognized that he was having a bad day. They started hyping him up, cheering his name, and giving lots of high fives, in a team effort to raise this kid’s spirits. And it worked.
“The name ADawg really stuck this year for Anthony and it’s making him feel like he’s part of something,” his mom explained. She went on to tell me that the energy the other Buccaneers players bring around her son is giving him the confidence to be himself and make new friends. He was once very “boxed in” and reserved and now is starting to come out of his shell. And she has football to thank.
Liza explained that he hadn’t acted like this before. School wasn’t a place where Anthony thrived because he was constantly in and out of classrooms and working through behavioral issues. But thanks to the football program, he now has a reason to try to succeed in school too. He has learned that if he tries, he can have success. He can make friends. He can be an athlete. And there’s something to learn from every single time that you simply try.
What’s the best part about youth football?
“Who doesn’t love to see their child smiling, happy, and thriving because they get to do something they love?” the first mom told me. I have to agree, I love nothing more than watching my kids laugh and smile as they walk on and off the field. All that aside, she said that football has instilled amazing morals and core values in all of the athletes, and “We could all benefit from attending a practice or two!”
“Football has changed my son’s life,” Liza told me. And I could tell while speaking with her that it not only changed his life, but it changed hers. The tears in her eyes, full of joy, really showed me how much this program means to their family.
Her husband, ADawg’s dad, was also a coach for the Bucs team this year. They approached football as a family, attending every single practice and game. They’re a great example of a football family.
Playing youth football has taught my kids various skills from sportsmanship to leadership to learning how to control their bodies. I also think that every single one of the kids on the football team has become a better athlete and citizen through football.
When I talk about football with my kids, I often find that I spend as much time telling stories about the life lessons my kids will take with them from playing football as I do talking about the game itself.
My kids will continue to become stronger players every season and learn more about the game. But the lessons that they take away outside of that, the ones that they haven’t quite realized yet, are the most important ones. I know my fellow football moms agree with me too. Youth football teaches them:
- Youth football makes being a teammate and a good human easy.
- The football field is a friendly place to put the rough-and-tumble stereotypes aside and lend a helping hand instead of talking smack.
- The football huddle is a positive place to cheer your loudest for kids who may be a little bit different than you but who are fully a part of your team.
- The bench is a safe space for players to watch and learn, take a breather, and then go back out to the field and play the best game they can offer.
Above all, youth football is a sport where everyone is welcome and everyone is guaranteed to learn a life lesson along the way.
To learn more about where and how to get your child to play football, Future for Football has all the resources parents and guardians need. The website lists all the leagues and places where children play in an easy-to-use league finder tool. From what equipment to use to safety questions and concerns, Future for Football has articles, tips, and infographics for parents, players, and coaches.
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