Help (not on a car)

Ok, this has nothing to do with autos but I need someone else's thoughts. I have twin daughters in 7th grade/13yrs old. I am not going to be one of these parents who will sit here and say that they are the best sports players on their teams.......So i'll just say.......They excell in everything they do, Basketball, Fast pitch softball and soccer, which is all thats offered in this area. Anyway my question is, should I let them play football? Yes, it is on the Jr high team, Yes it is an all boys team, Yes it is tackle and most importantly, Yes they are the ones who want to. I have not done a thing (although my wife thinks I have, she doesn't want them to play) They actually asked the Jr high coach, he said he didn't care but they needed to ask the High school Head coach. Now my two are extreamly shy but however they went straight to the head coachs office and asked. He doesn't care eaither as long as they can make it through summer camp this summer. I want them to do it, but my wife is having a hard time with it, she is scared they will get hurt. Or appear too boyish.
Just a little info on them, I am 6-1 and their already about as high as my shoulders, so they are tall, they weigh in around 160 lbs, which the doctor said is ok because it is all muscle,(their leg muscles are bigger than mine). They have arm wrestling matches at school and after they beat all the girls in the 7th grade, they started and beat every boy in the 7th grade. I know they will be able to do it, they would actually make a good running back or linebacker, but what is too much, my feeling is that i'll let them play 8th and 9th grade and get it out of their system before high school gets here, I know high school ball will be a whole new ball of wax, but for now, I know that If they get on the field they will really do well.
How can I discourage them wanting to do all they do when other parents can't even get their kids off the couch. Thats what I told my wife, if they do good and get a little publicity just think of the millions of young girls who are currently scared to play any sport. They will see that it is possible to do whatever you want and then, all those kids that were scared might actually get off the couch and get out there and sign of for a,,,any sport.

Any thoughts will be appreciated........although i believe my mind is made up, Any encouraging line you have maybe I can use when I am on the sidelines if we ever do actually get that far.

Thanks.............................................................

Why not? Seems like a non issue. If they are good enough to play, they will, if not, they won't. Might get hurt? Might not either. They will wonder for the rest of their lives if they could have pulled it off. If they are stopped by someone else, all they can do is wonder. I've always tried to protect my kids from the real dangers in this world, just like any other parent. But when it concerned an activity in a controlled risk enviroment, and they wanted to give it a try, Ok, give it all you've got! I've seen more happy faces than sad ones. Sniper

I definitely say yes. But be ready for the bumps and bruises! My youngest son plays for the Harrison Goblins.....and he's finding that he spends most of his time in pain....:eek:

My thing about girls playing.....despite the possible teasing from the guys....and the girls that dont play....it will give them personal confidence later in life...when it matters the most.....proving they can do anything! I'm all for that!

Dave G

I tries out for my varsity footbal team back in 1980. After going to summer camp and running my butt off I was told by the coach that no matter how good I was I would never make the cut. Hurts to this day. My son plays JV and Varsity as we have a small town school. He is 5'4" and weighs about 140. His team is 4-1. I am so proud of him I walk 10 feet taller when he takes the field. If your girls have a true desire to play than by all means let them. Around our district there are a couple of girls on different teams. They are not treated any different that I can tell and they hit like the big guys. I think that if they can make it through camp than they have earned their spot.

For me it's simple.

When it comes to sports, if they want to do it, let them do it.

If you live life too carefully, there will be regrets.....maybe resentment for you, for limiting them.....and no stories to tell when they are old. Life is supposed to be an adventure, but also a learning experience.

Besides, it's probably safer than skydiving, skin diving with sharks, or mountain climbing!

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Originally Posted by HOTRODPAINT

If you live life too carefully, there will be regrets.....maybe resentment for you, for limiting them.....and no stories to tell when they are old. Life is supposed to be an adventure, but also a learning experience.

Besides, it's probably safer than skydiving, skin diving with sharks, or mountain climbing!

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That's funny, I do all those and I feel quite safe but when I played football I always felt beat up.:D .

I'd say let them go for it, like Hotrod says if you live too carefully you'll regret it and feel like you missed out.

Sean

Get them some karts----


For sale-----sold our building and I have several karts for sale--WKA national and world championship shifters, enduros, etc

Good luck----that decision is kinda like this years election----damned if you do and damned if you don't

From my own school years, wish I never would have played football... Dad told me about the injury thing but of course I didn't listen..... So after blowing out a knee my junior year and having to skip baseball (at the time my #1 sport) I wish I would have listened.... But, you can get hurt crossing the street, too. Kind of a case of setting priorities IMO.... One good injury in football could kill any future scholarships for other more traditional girls sports.......

Offer to send them to wrestling school,I can only imagine the $$ Vince McMahon would pay for a twin ladies tag team.:cool:

Injuries happen in sports. I never did the school football thing - was plenty big enough, was harassed by the coach to do it but was far more interested in -----cars!!! (and girls). I had to wait until I started skiing to wreck my knee and shoulder:o

My son couldn't play HS football as he had a severe case of mono. He recovered went on to college and was a walk on for the teams and became a starter at both the 2 year Jr college as well as the regular 4 year university. He never got more the the normal bruises - but was/is big at 6'3" and about 220. He finally had a bad sports injury - water skiing at age 35 - he broke his hip!!

My opinion, FWIW, if they are physically big enough - skeletal structure and muscles - and well coached, especially important, then at least let them give it a chance

(QUOTE)That's funny, I do all those and I feel quite safe but when I played football I always felt beat up.(QUOTE)

I was actually thinking of the likely outcome of falling hundreds or thousands of feet ....which is hard to do in football. :-)

if it's not a financial issue, then go for it.

Might want to get some additional medical coverage though.

You asked! The chance for permanent injury is greater in contact football than in the "running" sports they already do. Depending on your economic situation you should note there are few college scholarships for girls in football but there may be quite a few possibilities for scholarships in the Title-9 sports. Despite modern equipment, the chance for knee injuries and/or concussion is much higher in a 4th-and-1 situation or receiving a pass in the presence of headhunter cornerbacks. One compromise I have seen is where a girl is a place kicker with less of a chance for heavy contact but with two girls the question is whether one could be a place kicker/holder or maybe a punter. I know how that age can work on a Dad to get what they want but my common sense tells me to convince them to excell in basketball where there are more scholarship possibilities. Years ago in my H.S. there was Field Hockey for young women and that is a very vigorous outlet that also offers scholarships. The university I am retired from has no football program and chose to put limited funds into men's basketball and women's field hockey as well as a strong program in tennis for men and women. You should look into the Title-9 provisions that require colleges to offer equal scholarships for women in sports. I can still recall head-on tackling drills where I could feel my vertebrae go click, click, click like dominoes. My two daughters were way too small for athletics and went into band and flag events at halftime and I would not have considered letting them play football, but basketball is really growing for women's sports and 13 is a little young to risk knee injuries or concussions. I can also recall being a mediocre basketball player on the JV team when the coach of the Girls team thought it would be a good idea for the girls varsity team to practice against the boys JV team and it was amazing because the girls were literally fainting in exhaustion in a few minutes due to the speed of the boys game. I think that gap has narrowed now with more emphasis on Girls basketball. At 13 it is sort of like the pressure some kids have to endure in Little Leage, particularly pitchers in Little League relative to bone growth in the early adolescent years. Just my opinion, Billie Jean King may have a different view!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

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Originally Posted by Don Shillady

You asked! The chance for permanent injury is greater in contact football than in the "running" sports they already do. Depending on your economic situation you should note there are few college scholarships for girls in football but there may be quite a few possibilities for scholarships in the Title-9 sports. Despite modern equipment, the chance for knee injuries and/or concussion is much higher in a 4th-and-1 situation or receiving a pass in the presence of headhunter cornerbacks. One compromise I have seen is where a girl is a place kicker with less of a chance for heavy contact but with two girls the question is whether one could be a place kicker/holder or maybe a punter. I know how that age can work on a Dad to get what they want but my common sense tells me to convince them to excell in basketball where there are more scholarship possibilities. Years ago in my H.S. there was Field Hockey for young women and that is a very vigorous outlet that also offers scholarships. The university I am retired from has no football program and chose to put limited funds into men's basketball and women's field hockey as well as a strong program in tennis for men and women. You should look into the Title-9 provisions that require colleges to offer equal scholarships for women in sports. I can still recall head-on tackling drills where I could feel my vertebrae go click, click, click like dominoes. My two daughters were way too small for athletics and went into band and flag events at halftime and I would not have considered letting them play football, but basketball is really growing for women's sports and 13 is a little young to risk knee ijuries or concussions. I can also recall being a mediocre basketball player on the JV team when the coach of the Girls team thought it would be a good idea for the girls varsity team to practice against the boys JV team and it was amazing because the girls were literally fainting in exhaustion in a few minutes due to the speed of the boys game. I think that gap has narrowed now with more emphasis on Girls basketball. At 13 it is sort of like the pressure some kids have to endure in Little Leage, particularly pitchers in Little League relative to bone growth in the early adolescent years. Just my opinion, Billie Jean King may have a different view!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

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Don...after reading your post...I'm with you. I've been real torn over the multiple sports thing with my son. I believe he is a natural talent with the basketball and feel that he can go further with it than any other sport he could play. I've been agonizing over him destroying his chances at doing what he loves....basketball....because he hurt himself permanently while playing football. My ex and I definitely dont see eye to eye in this matter. Thing is....our doc...very close family friend....is the one that brought this to my attention.

Flip side though....I also can relate to other's remarks that the young ladies will forever wonder.... if they arent allowed. Its definitely a two sided situation.

Dave G

It's like having a beautiful rod or custom. If you lock it up in the garage, it will never get chipped or scratched or wrecked.....but that's not livin'!

I agree with youther. You can tell them the pros and cons of playing but it should ultimately be their decision.

I wouldn't allow it.
(The father of two daughters here.)

Girls almost always don't have any idea how hard they can get hit in football.
It's more than likely out of their realm of experience.

Get caught between a couple of well muscled, rock hard guys going in opposite directions and the girl caught in the middle will be limping for the rest of her life.

There are plenty of high school sports they can take part in that are not near as hazardous.

Build a bracket racer for them to drive.
A 13 second car is fast enough to fall into the realm of seriously fast and is not prohibitively expensive.

An Alston-Chassisworks 27 T with a very modestly built 350 SBC and T-350 will run high tens with no problem.
They can take turns driving and wrenching.

Even if one of them gets upside down in an NHRA built to spec car, more than likely she'll walk away with no probs.

Keep in mind that the girls will be targets for some of the male chauvinist yahoo's on the opposing teams and they'll be looking to cut them down first chance they get.

Listen to your wife.
Sometimes you gotta put your foot down and be the un-popular dad.

The un-popularity seldom lasts for more than a day or two....

I guess I'll add my 2 cents worth here.....:o My daughter was VERY good in the sports dept when in High school. But she only participated in GIRLS competition......In addition to what Don said about the chances for serious injury playing in boys football, I guess that I am just old school and believe in separation of the sexes in examples like this. Probably sounds sexist, but thats my opinion for what it's worth.:rolleyes: If they had a girls football team I'd say go for it.....but lets let the guys enjoy being guys without having to worry about hurting the girls (or worse....the embarrasment of being hurt by a girl!!). :p

All good points b y everyone. A few more details may help, This is not a very big school, maybe the ecquivelent of a 2A. It is a private school and the guys playing are good but they aren't that big. I don't think any of them have went on to play pro, just avegage size guys. The thing is all the guys on the team want them to play, they jokingly say that maybe they would win for a change. One of my daughters plays witht hem during recess, its suppose to be touch but of coarse its tackle. At the last parent teacher day one of her teachers expressed concern with her playing that rough with the boys. My wife thought she was talking about HER getting hurt but the teacher said "NO" I am afraid that she is going to hurt one of them. Her cousin, a boy in the same class comes over to the house on weekends with his pads, she has no pads so she uses her motoX pads. A watch them out of a window and she runs right over him. When its her turn with the ball he can't ever tackle her. He just grabs on a she keeps running with him hanging on. I myself am 210 lbs and its hard for me to stop her, I can barely rastle them to the ground..........By being twins they can since things from each other......If I am having trouble wrestling one of them down somehow the otherone automatically knows and will come busting in the house or from a different room to help "take dad down" and when they do the ALWAYS make me beg for mercy....................
Again, I am only talking about 8th and 9th, by the time High school rolls around I will then discourage it............................

Jr High is bad enough without introducing girls into boys sports. Hormones are raging, and both the girls and boys are trying to make sense of all the changes - personally, socially and physically. Even if you have a very progressive coach you are headed for a train wreck, IMHO. If they put up with the summer drills and if the coach allows them to make the cut and then if they are successful it is just a matter of time before some opposing coach preps his team about "...losing to girls..." and tells them he doesn't want to see that happen "...to them" when it is really him that is embarrassed with the razzing he will get from his peers around the state. When that happens the boys are going to gang tackle, or find some way to "take them out" and the chances of being hurt are very high. You will be mad, your daughter(s) will be hurt, and your wife may find it very hard to ever forgive you for allowing them to play with the boys.

Sorry, but I agree with C9X, this time you need to be the unpopular Dad and say NO.

As usual, C9X said it best, but here is another humorous comment. Ages 12 and 13 would be around 7th grade. The discussion about 13 year old girls running over 13 year old boys is certainly possible but that situation may change in a year or two. My dim recollections from that time are that many of the girls in my class seemed like "big women" to me and quite a few of my male classmates. Many of the girls were well into glorious puberty, taller, bigger and seemingly adult in many ways compared to most of the boys in the class. However by the 10th grade the boys were taller and heavier and suddenly the girls looked short! I recall one of my classmates went home after the Spring of 9th grade very small and sounding like a choir boy and came back three months later in 10th grade sounding like a bear/frog with a beard! The bottom line is that hormones are powerful and by age 15/16 contact sports can mean different things to boys than girls. Don't get me wrong, H.S. football for boys is a great outlet teaching teamwork and offering organized sports instead of violent gangs, but I like what C9X said and I am from an ancient generation where women were protected more. My own daughters are more modern and they just say "Oh Dad" and do their own modern things; culturally things are changing but hormones remain the same! Maybe these twin girls can play Junior High football but by the 10th grade they would be well advised to perfect basketball skills and work toward a sports scholarship in basketball. I am trying to remember a set of twins at the University of Virginia about three years ago who were All-American in basketball, Heather and Heidi I think. They were tall and very good and played on the UVa varsity for at least three years.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

I agree with you Don on your last post. I will let them play the next two years and then let them do their basketball. They are good at that too, coach puts them in teams of two on two and if he puts my two togther then they are undefeated at practices. 2 years of football may be a risk, maybe one year will be enough for them. One of them already has it planned out, to go to LSU (louisiana)on a full scholarship playing basketball.....she has 2yrs jr and 2 yrs sr colledge already paid for so she knows that if she does gets a scholarship she will be able to use her unused tuition $ for a range rover LOL....at least that is how she has it planned out............
Although I can't control my 401K maybe I could look at them as a retirment package ......................WNBA!!!!!!!!! yeah that would be the ticket......I already told them that I was going to be their manager for 50%.....LOL.........

Most girls that age are more mature physically than the boys. I would only worry if they are small relative to the boys. By the time they are 16-18 the boys are going to be much bigger and stronger and the injury risk would be great. If they want to try it now is the time IMO.

Kitz