An Airdrie football team is working hard to introduce younger football players to the game safely and with careful consideration of their future.

The Airdrie Atom Storm is a team full of nine to ten-year-old players being introduced to contact football for the first time.

The players either play novice extreme flag football with full blocking or they participate in full tackle football.

It is the perfect age to introduce the young player to full contact. Most players are around 5'3, 100 pounds and have not reached the size some larger Bantam players can get, like 6'0, 180 pounds.

Head coach Tyrell Rohl said that, although it seems young, it's best for the children to learn how to play contact at that age.

"If they're not doing contact at the younger age to get used to how to take contact, how to properly protect themselves for contact, and being able to play the game without fear, the issue we see is that (...) the risk of injury greatly increases."

He said, if you watch Peewee and Bantam football, there is a clear size difference in the players.

"A lot of times when the new kids who have never played football before first come in at 14 or 15 years of age, it's a really big shock to the system because they've never learned how to take a hit, they've never learned how to give a hit, they don't even know how to fall down, how to roll."

If the players do not learn the in and outs of tackling and getting tackled, injuries could potentially end a possible star player's career early.

"Here's this kid who could have had a chance to play football and fall in love with the sport and have a great time doing it had they got into it earlier. They get in, they get injured, or it's not fun because they're getting run over all the time and they end up quitting and falling away from the game," said Rohl.

Rohl said that the contact involved in football is no joke and should be handled seriously.

"It's a collision sport. We talk about full-contact, but the real words you want to use all the time is that it is a collision sport and if you're not physically and mentally ready to play it at that level, against kids that have been playing this game (a long time) there's a higher risk of injury."

Luckily, all Canadian teams need to have a safe contact certified coach teaching the players the new tackling program

"There's about a ten to fifteen-minute period on every single program's practice where they're actually teaching them the new way to tackle which is very similar to the rugby style of contact. There's no head as part of the tackling,' said Rohl. "Everything we do is to take the head out of the tackle."

The Airdrie Atom Storm and most teams in the league use a high level of helmet that absorbs rotational impact to minimize the chance of injury.

Rohl said that in addition to teaching them the game they love, introducing football at that age level can help further a child's development.

 

Comments? Questions? Story ideas? Email us at news@discoverairdrie.com