300-pound Texas 12-year-old ruled too big to play Pee Wee football

12 years ago

I was a big kid and in my youth football league I was too big to play certain positions.

I never understood why they discrimanated against the big kids in football. I always felt that they should have told the little kids they were too small. After all, it's the bigger kids that will most likely play football when they are older.

But...I wasn't anywhere near 300 lbs when I was 12. That's borderline child abuse to let a kid get that fat.

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Kay King

12 years ago

I just saw a picture of the kid. He's a big guy but not grossly overweight. It must be rough to be that big at that age.

It's a safety issue. You can't have a 6 ft 300 lb person tackling normal sized 12 yr olds. That would be asking for injuries.

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Kurt

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

I just saw a picture of the kid. He's a big guy but not grossly overweight. It must be rough to be that big at that age.

It's a safety issue. You can't have a 6 ft 300 lb person tackling normal sized 12 yr olds. That would be asking for injuries.

Then don't let the little ones play.

This kid has a chance to get a college scholarship. He's the one that should be playing, not the 65 lb weaklings.

And if there's an upper limit, why isn't there also a lower weight limit?

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MoneyMagnetMagnate

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kurt

Then don't let the little ones play.

This kid has a chance to get a college scholarship. He's the one that should be playing, not the 65 lb weaklings.

And if there's an upper limit, why isn't there also a lower weight limit?

WTF??? - the kid has never played football - and you already have him fitted for a Heisman trophy? Is this the Blind Side?

This country puts WAY too much emphasis on this game - bottom line.

When my nephew was 12 years old, he wanted to play for the Steelers - two years later, he wanted to be the drummer for Metallica...(he apparently was looking for a diverse career)

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Kay King

12 years ago

This kid has a chance to get a college scholarship. He's the one that should be playing, not the 65 lb weaklings.

At 12, I doubt a college scholarship is under consideration. In high school that will be a different story and his size will be an advantage.

According to the news story there are teams he can play on - but he wants to play with his friends instead.

Yes, I do think the safety of a group of average sized 12 year olds on a sports team outweighs the rights of one oversized kid. 300 lbs tackling a 120 lb kid could do serious damage.

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garyv

12 years ago

Almost never will you get a football scholarship if you don't know how to play. Size doesn't matter if you can't play.

And if he's too afraid to play high-school football - then his mother should have some understanding of how the rest of the peewee league would feel playing against him.

What the peewee league should do is set up a few different weight divisions. Tell him he can play if he can find enough players in his weight class.

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Kurt

12 years ago

Originally Posted by garyv

Almost never will you get a football scholarship if you don't know how to play. Size doesn't matter if you can't play.

And if he's too afraid to play high-school football - then his mother should have some understanding of how the rest of the peewee league would feel playing against him.

What the peewee league should do is set up a few different weight divisions. Tell him he can play if he can find enough players in his weight class.

Which is EXACTLY why big kids shouldn't automatically be left off the teams, so they can learn the skills and the game.

And even if he's big, he's still only 12. Size has nothing to do with emotional maturity.

If your kid is too small to compete, don't let him play.

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Kay King 12 years ago

Kurt - you clearly have a lot of anger over this story.

Then don't let the little ones play.

The "little ones" are normal sized for a peewee team (average weight for 12-13 yr old boy is 95-105 lbs). He isn't. I feel sorry for him but he'd feel worse than anyone if he was the cause of a serious injury to one of his friends.

There is no "fault" here - it's not his fault he's as big as he is and it's not the school's fault he's too big to play with kids 1/3 his size. It is a safety issue and what this kid needs is support and training so he'll gain confidence about playing with older kids who are better matched in size.

If scholarships are involved - it's more impressive to be a 12 yr old playing above your age limit than to be the biggest kid on a peewee team.
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garyv 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kurt

If your kid is too small to compete, don't let him play.

I agree with that as well - I would not allow my kid play if they were at either extreme.

This kid is bigger than I've ever been, even as an adult. And I'm not a small person. Not many parents would let their kid play in the league if they knew their child may end up playing against a large grown adult. And this kid would be considered large even if he was an adult. So I'm sure the hard choice has to be either to not let the kid play - or risk half of the league disappearing.
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seasoned

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kurt

Which is EXACTLY why big kids shouldn't automatically be left off the teams, so they can learn the skills and the game.

And even if he's big, he's still only 12. Size has nothing to do with emotional maturity.

If your kid is too small to compete, don't let him play.

Emotional maturity? How does that even figure? In EVERY professional sport there seems to be some guy that just can't be knocked down emotionally, and others willing to rip you apart if you LOOK at them wrong. Emotional maturity isn't generally considered.

Besides, 300 pounds is a VERY crude measure! He is so much taller than the others that he is certainly going to weigh more, if all were equal! FACT! He also has more muscle if all were equal, FACT! THAT could account for a fir amount. They may even have him on steroids, even though it is illegal. So how much of the remainder is muscle? Not that it really matters. If he just FALLS on another it is almost THREE TIMES the stress even if he applies no pressure.

Steve

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Kurt

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kay King

At 12, I doubt a college scholarship is under consideration. In high school that will be a different story and his size will be an advantage.

According to the news story there are teams he can play on - but he wants to play with his friends instead.

Yes, I do think the safety of a group of average sized 12 year olds on a sports team outweighs the rights of one oversized kid. 300 lbs tackling a 120 lb kid could do serious damage.

Really? Colleges have started offering scholarships to 14 year olds. I don't agree with it, but it's a fact.

And it isn't the kid's fault he's big. If you're worried about your kid getting hurt, keep them out of the game, but don't tell the big kid he can't play...

Although I admit 300 lbs is too big, but my posts weren't limited to only 300 pound players.

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Kurt

12 years ago

Originally Posted by MoneyMagnetMagnate

WTF??? - the kid has never played football - and you already have him fitted for a Heisman trophy? Is this the Blind Side?

This country puts WAY too much emphasis on this game - bottom line.

When my nephew was 12 years old, he wanted to play for the Steelers - two years later, he wanted to be the drummer for Metallica...(he apparently was looking for a diverse career)

Stop with the BS. You are the only one that mentioned Heisman. Please quit putting words in my mouth. If you knew anything about college football, you would have said "Outland" or "Lombardi" trophy. Linemen never win the Heisman and I doubt a 300 lb kid will go on to be a wide receiver.

I wish we could make a bet on which kid will be playing college football. The 300 pound kid or the 65 pound pip squeak. I know where'd I'd put my money.

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MoneyMagnetMagnate

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kurt

Stop with the BS. You are the only one that mentioned Heisman. Please quit putting words in my mouth. If you knew anything about college football, you would have said "Outland" or "Lombardi" trophy. Linemen never win the Heisman and I doubt a 300 lb kid will go on to be a wide receiver.

I wish we could make a bet on which kid will be playing college football. The 300 pound kid or the 65 pound pip squeak. I know where'd I'd put my money.

It's not necessarily BS Kurt, I was just exaggerating the implication that because of this boy's size alone, he has a shot at a college scholarship for a sport he has never even played yet - and for safety sake, the 300lb kid needs to be playing with people more his size - not with the smaller kids who qualify to play in that bracket league -

Do you honestly think it is fair to put one kid easily twice the size of the other players on the field, and expect him to 'excel' beginning with that kind of advantage - let alone for safety sake?

One of those 'pip-squeaks' might just turn out to be another Joe Montana or Barry Sanders some day...(except he got trampled by a 300lb linebacker when he was a little kid)

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garyv 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kurt

I wish we could make a bet on which kid will be playing college football. The 300 pound kid or the 65 pound pip squeak. I know where'd I'd put my money.

At age 12 that would probably not be a wise bet. I've known a lot of "pip squeaks" from age 12 that have grown up to be strapping young lads. However it's highly likely that if you find a 12 year old that is 300 or more pounds - you'll find a kid that lacks any kind of natural physical ability at all. And most likely lacks in any kind of good nutritional habits necessary for college level athletics.
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Dan Riffle

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kurt

Then don't let the little ones play.

This kid has a chance to get a college scholarship. He's the one that should be playing, not the 65 lb weaklings.

And if there's an upper limit, why isn't there also a lower weight limit?

Kurt:

The problem is the size of the player pool. You may not have enough players if you put too many restrictions on size. Putting an upper limit allows more "little" ones to play. And, at that age, that's what it should be about: playing.

If the kid has the athletic talent to play college ball, he'll get his scholarship, even if he only plays one year of high school.

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seasoned

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Kurt

Then don't let the little ones play.

This kid has a chance to get a college scholarship. He's the one that should be playing, not the 65 lb weaklings.

And if there's an upper limit, why isn't there also a lower weight limit?

The average 12yo is apparently about 4'11" and ~147! So you are saying that only the taller and fatter kids should play because ******MAYBE****** they might be more likely to get a contract and make money.

All those people aren't giving their time and money to get people football contracts. Even if they were, MOST of the "little ones", otherwise known as AVERAGE or normal, WILL have a growth spurt and end up BIGGER! Some may even be OVER 6' On the other hand, the young normal, aka TALL, person may have back problems, may grow HUGE, and be VERY fat. So the little ones may be great football players, and the tall ones may never be able to play.

Besides, it isn't fair to match them up so poorly.

Steve

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TLTheLiberator

12 years ago

Our weight limit was 125 and a few people my age had a hard time meeting that standard.

TL

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TLTheLiberator

12 years ago

IMHO, There should be an upper limit and a lower limit and the 300 pound kid can wait a couple of years to play in high school.

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kenmichaels

12 years ago

uhmmmm i was around 90 something lbs, and at the end of the season i was160 lbs

as you can see .... not so easy to judge a head of time.

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TLTheLiberator

12 years ago

The coach should have known it and the mother needs to stop.

If he's not a big wuss, he'll do just fine in high school and at his size a scholarship is highly possible.

TL

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KimW

12 years ago

Sorry, but lets be realistic here. It is called "Pee Wee" for a reason.

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Ernie Lo 12 years ago

Originally Posted by KimW

Sorry, but lets be realistic here. It is called "Pee Wee" for a reason.

Thankyou for speaking some sense.
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seasoned

12 years ago

Sorry, I slipped up. average weight for 12yo boy is 100. I thought it was high! And that range as an adult? Averages out at 5'10".
Steve

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BulletheadX

12 years ago

The kid apparently has options to play that don't involve crippling his teammates and other kids, he just doesn't want to exercise them. Too bad; this is a clear safety issue and that comes first. Any decent coach would ease him along in the other system until he had his bearings.

I weighed 105 at 9 years old and the league kicked me up with the 12-year-olds, where they proceeded to kick the crap out of me because of the huge mental differences there. Those standards were way too tight; I was a few pounds heavier than the other kids, not two and three times their weight.

I waited to play again when in middle school, where they go by age/class/eligibility, and you are what you are. I continued to play through high school with no harm done. He needs to play in the school league.