I think the problem is the helmet. I am uncomfortable with youth football because the adults do not seem to have common sense anymore. My male peers who played football when we were elementary aged played flag football. They started tackle football in junior high. They played in September to November. Now they start in August and seem to think that a five year old is becoming tough by wearing full gear with helmets for three hours straight in the August sun. The helmets are designed to be “safe” except for the oven factor because they are so full of stuff to prevent cracking heads that there is no air flow inside. It is too much trouble to take helmets off the young ones, so they make them keep them on. Crazy!
Anywho, helmets do not do anything for what happens inside the skull. And idiots cannot see any boo boos on the outside because the fancy helmets have protected the head from cracking open. But the inside damage still happens.
I have been against the helmets for all these reasons. But most especially this reason. I did enough dumb things on my bike, skateboards, etc without a helmet and elbow pads. I think wearing all that stuff would have made me feel safe to do even stupider things.
Pain is there for a reason. It says STOP!