How old should a kid be to start playing football?

United States
July 20, 2010 11:38pm CST
My son is 6 and is old enough to play in our community league. I am leary of letting him at this young age. I am afraid that one hard hit will scare him into not wanting to play any more. On the flip side, I know that football is one of the biggest sports with politics. I am afraid if he doesn't start now with the other kids that he will be frowned upon by the coaches when he does play. Any thoughts?
4 responses
@spalladino (17891)
• United States
21 Jul 10
Most community sports leagues are set up to be age appropriate. I don't think they will be teaching 6 year olds to hit hard. If your son is interested in playing I think you should let him give it a try. I know that you're concerned but I raised a son...he's in his 30's now...and you can't protect them from the world forever or wrap them in cotton.
• United States
21 Jul 10
Oh, how I wish I could wrap him in cotton and protect him forever though:) Thanks for the advice.
@allamgirl (2140)
• Philippines
21 Jul 10
i think that you should let him play even if he is just 6. that's if he wants to and if he's ready to play now. i think sports is something that a kid would enjoy and something that he needs to learn at a young age to truly love it.
1 person likes this
• United States
21 Jul 10
He plays sports. He has done basketball and baseball for two years and is getting ready to start his second year of soccer. He loves to play sports. He really loves soccer and his extremely good at it. So it is not the idea of letting him play sports, I am just not sure I want him to play football just yet.
@ElicBxn (63194)
• United States
21 Jul 10
how big is your son? how fast? is he a "cry baby" if he gets hurt? there are a lot of issues you haven't talked about here, these are a few that you really need to think about if he's a big, tough kid, then maybe, if he's fast and can catch balls, and is tough, again, maybe, but if he falls down and goes crying to mom, probably not
@hellcowboy (7374)
• United States
22 Jul 10
This is a good question because you have made some good points I am not sure what age is the best age for a kid to start playing football but I would say a good age would probably be between 6 and 8 because that way they are old enough to understand that they might get hurt,but young enough to get a love of the game to help the appreciate it when they get older.