Video of kids football drill sparks online debate: ‘This culture needs to change’

‘Who in their right minds thought this was a good idea for this age?’

Louise Hall
Wednesday 12 May 2021 21:15 BST
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<p>Two small athletes can be seen ahead of a drill and then running directly at each other with helmets on</p>

Two small athletes can be seen ahead of a drill and then running directly at each other with helmets on

A video clip of two young children participating in a brutal football drill has gone viral online, generating a polarising discussion between professional athletes, parents, and members of the public.

The short video was posted on Twitter yesterday and appears to have been taken from someone’s Snapchat.

Two small athletes can be seen preparing for a drill and then running directly at each other with helmets on. The two young children collide and a smaller child smashes to the ground.

An adult can be heard encouraging the kids to run at each other and then reassures the child knocked to the ground they “they’re good”.

Although it's not known where exactly the video has come from or when it was taken, the clip has generated a discussion surrounding children’s participation in such drills on social media.

Sporting commentators and professionals athletes largely disagreed with the footage.

“This isn’t funny at all. This culture at the youth level needs to change,” former NFL player Geoff Schwartz said in a tweet. “There are many reasons why I wasn’t letting my son play tackle football until high school. This is one reason why.”

“Not only that but youth league coaches often fail to enforce even basic safety measures,” American political scientist and journalist Jason Johnson said in response to the question on the video which asked: “Are they too young to be doing this drill?”

“Words cannot begin to express my anger watching this clip...,” Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt said. “This is not football & whoever put this idiotic drill together & allowed an obvious mismatch should never be allowed near a football field or youth sports forever!”

“This is one of the dumbest things I have ever seen in youth sports,” former American football quarterback Dan Orlovsky commented, adding that “whoever put this drill together should face consequences.”

Willie Anderson, who spent 13 years in the National Football League said: “I hate these people with all my heart! The reason why I say ban football til you’re 10 years of age.”

Parents and other social media users were also quick to join the discussion, with many condemning the clip.

“Who in their right minds thought this was a good idea for this age? Horrible,” one person said while another called it “absolute trash”.

However, some people maintained that the drill was appropriate for young children looking to become acclimatised to the contact sport.

“Absolutely not. As a youth football coaching legend, I encourage parents to have their kids do similar drills at much younger ages than this to ensure they are mentally ready,” one user said.

They added: “Those two kids learned more in this 5-second drill than they ever will in a full school year.”

Some argued that the age of the players was not the problem but rather the “poor teaching of technique” by those in charge of the drill.

“There are many people that should not be allowed to be associated with the game of football, at any level,” ESPN’s Louis Riddick says. “People responsible for this are doing nothing good for the game, and especially nothing good for these children.”

Bloomberg previously reported that 50 per cent of Americans say they wouldn’t want their son to play football amid fears including growing evidence that repeated blows to the head could cause long-term brain damage.

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