Pop Warner Football Will No Longer Have Kickoffs
Changes coming for youth football players.
FOX’s Chris Hoenig reports:
Tin Mite, Mitey Mite and Junior Pee Wee football games will no longer have kickoffs. The announcement coming from Pop Warner, in a move to try to increase safety that may trickle up to higher levels of the game.
The kick-off ban covers players from five through ten-years-old. Instead, teams will start at the 35-yard line after scores and at the start of each half. The rule change comes the same week that Donnovan Hill, who forced changes to Pop Warner tackling techniques when he was paralyzed in a game in 2011, passed away.
Hill was 13 at the time, and paralyzed from the chest down. He died of complications from a surgery to manage his condition. He was 18-years-old.
Chris Hoenig, FOX News.
