WTF is Flag football?
Instead of tackling each other kids have two small flags hung off their waistbands. Anyone who gets a flag pulled off is “tackled”. It’s considered the safe version for kids so they don’t smash their heads in because they’re not trained well yet or have advanced (expensive) equipment.
That is a PERFECT description of the coach 
I do NOT wear a windbreaker.
It’s a vented back, breathable fabric running jacket with a wicking inner layer and reflective stripes.
So it’s a fancy windbreaker.
I used to coach 7 year olds in YMCA Flag Football and this type of behavior would have been completely out of line in our league.
My job as a coach was to instill a love of the game, teach the kids about competition and sportsmanship, and instruct them in the fundamentals of football. I can’t recall a single instance where I raised my voice to one of my players, and was certainly never insulting or demeaning.
I did, occasionally, raise my voice when speaking to other coaches and to players’ parents. Other so called “grown-ups” were much harder to deal with than the kids.
The problem here is that 1) the coach is a jerk, and 2) there’s no evidence that other parents have similar concerns (which sounds like deficient parenting to me). Approaching a jerk and asking (however politely) that he cease being a jerk is liable to result in no action other than the coach taking it out on the OP’s son.
If concerns are to be expressed, I think it should be to the organizers of the activity, or to other parents who could potentially complain as a group.
I got yelled at mildly during team sports starting around age 10 by the coach who also was the principal (bad combination). But 7 is way too young to put up with the crap that was described.
I just left a message with the organizers and will let you all know how it goes. Meanwhile my son emphatically said “you are NOT going to make me quit the team”. (Sigh)
I hate, hate confrontations but being an advocate for your child I think is going to make it unavoidable.
Unless multiple coaches are acting in the same manner the Op’s problem is not with the organization. The problem is with the coach. First address the problem where it lies, not some higher authority. Criminy, if people would just talk to one another Dear Abby and half the government would go out of business…
Okay, but the feasible solution is almost certainly with the organization.
There are some people who will receive complaints and criticism about what they’re doing with a reasonable attitude, try to improve, and even be grateful for the input. Generally, however, these aren’t the kind of people who sarcastically belittle others, most especially children and those who aren’t really equipped to stand up to them.
Given human nature, and in particular the nature of such jerks, it’s not very realistic to expect a parent’s discussion with this coach to make anything better, and it’s not out of the question that it could make it worse. The organization has a responsibility to provide acceptable coaching, and a much better chance of rectifying the problem.
I know what flag football is, but what’s “non-competitive” football? Everybody runs in the same direction?
Non/informal score keeping. No records, playoffs, championships.
What we played as kids in the street.
“Vinyl, run down to 34th St. Catch the “J” bus. Have him open the doors at 38th. I’ll fake it to ya.”
Hmmm… Is there non-competitive boxing? To me, it makes just about as much sense.
Nobody loses, everybody wins.
Except James Harrison’s sons.
It’s not a matter of them not being “trained well yet”-it’s more because of the fact that their bones are still soft and growing, and concussion damage is cumulative.
I am glad my wife was not there when the incident I described occurred. She would have gone mama bear on him in a flash.
On a different note, son has been clearly told that there is no tackle football in his future until at least he completes high school. Hopefully, by then he would no longer be as focused on it. Concussions scare the heck out of me. I don’t mind regular injuries, I have broken a bunch of bones playing basketball and cricket while growing up. But no concussions.
I’m pretty sure that’s from Bill Cosby.
I would have thought that soft bones are better for falls than harder bones. And in general, little kids tolerate falls better than older people.
I don’t know about concussions specifically.
Kid’s do NOT tolerate falls better than adults, and having soft bones is nothing like having some sort of padding-it doesn’t work like memory foam. They may seem to heal faster, but deformities set in easier during the healing because the bones haven’t got their “final form” so to speak. As far as concussions are concerned, you should check out this link, which explains how easily concussive damage can accumulate and lead to CTE(Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy). BTW, a kid(or an adult) doesn’t even have to get hit in the head to get a concussion-a sudden hit to the body which causes to head to jerk suddenly can cause one too. It’s just much easier to get one when you’re a kid.
You seem to be conflating two different things.
Your second sentence is about whether a kid who breaks a bone is more versus less impacted than an adult who breaks a bone. But what I’m talking about is whether a kid who falls down is as likely to break a bone to begin with as an adult.
It seems fairly obvious that toddlers fall down all the time with no ill effects at all and generally just get up and keep going without a second thought (especially if their mother is not around). That same type of fall would be much more painful for an adult. I don’t think the toddler>adult changes in one snap, but it’s probably a more gradual process.
A toddler’s(and a child’s) fall is from a much lesser height than the fall of an adult. If you dropped a toddler from the same distance you would fall from, the damage would be greater. Do that at the same rate the average toddler usually stumbles and falls over, and I can pretty much guarantee the folks at the hospital examining the toddler would be calling the police, stat.