What follows is the letter Minnesota Vikings quarterback Shaun Hill wrote in support of a Parsons (Kansas) Recreation Center plan to shift third- and fourth-grade youth football programs exclusively to flag. Tackle football in the program now begins in fifth grade. Originally submitted to the Parsons Sun, it is reprinted with Hill's permission. The letter has been edited for spelling and grammar. Read Kevin Seifert's column on Hill's effort here.
Please understand that the board and I were planning on having a town hall meeting this summer to discuss football in general. Our plan was to dive into the negative press the sport has received lately, particularly as it pertains to concussions and head injuries. The other main part of that meeting was to address our decision to move third and fourth grade from tackle football to flag football. I was really hoping to be present for this discussion as it is something I am very passionate about. More than that, it is something I live. Instead, circumstances have sped the process and made it so I am unable to be in attendance. For these reasons this statement is prepared and only the topic at hand will be included.
The choice to move third- and fourth-graders to flag football came after much thought, reflection, and discussion. And the choice the board and I came to is one that I fully support. There are many factors that led to this move. I will try my best to explain our position and include personal insight. I understand that some people’s minds are already made up and will not be changed. But I do ask for an open mind in hearing our side of this important subject.
Since the topic of brain injury is such a hot-button topic these days, I will begin with that. In a collision sport like football, some hits to the head are absolutely unavoidable, and therefore the injuries incurred are unpreventable. But a large number of brain injuries do occur from the head striking the ground. It usually occurs with a violent whiplash action forcing the head into the turf at an accelerated rate. One major push in recent years by the NFL and its players has been to strengthen the neck to give the player a much better chance of slowing the head prior to impact, thus limiting or eliminating the brain injury all together. That said, the board and I felt strongly that adding the extra weight of a helmet to the underdeveloped neck of third and fourth graders tackling and hitting each other made no sense at all. Our plan is to play flag football with these kids to keep them off of the ground. We still plan to put them in helmets for protection, and for building neck strength for their future tackle football years.
Safety is not the only factor in our decision. Based on the missions of the Parsons Rec Center and the Shaun Hill PASS Fund we believe strongly that all kids, interested in doing so, should be able to participate in sports, period. Football in the NFL is very exclusive. Football for third- and fourth-graders needs to be the exact opposite. It should be very inclusive. Given the fact that every child develops at different rates, flag football makes so much more sense for the masses. It gives every child an opportunity to play no matter size, stature, or rate of development.
The topic of development leads me into the next reason we have made the switch. Playing tackle football at this early of an age is completely meaningless for developing a good player in the future. But being active and playing multiple sports year around is very beneficial. And to make sure I wasn’t way off base with my assessment, I reached out to two guys that I would consider close friends from the NFL. Given our relationships, I knew that they would give me their absolute feelings on the subject, even if they differed from mine.
The first guy I reached out to and heard back from was Dylan Gandy. Dylan was a nine-year pro out of Texas Tech. He started in a Super Bowl for the Indianapolis Colts. Dylan has three kids, including two sons. Since leaving the NFL, he has started coaching high school football and training kids ages 4 and up. I would consider him an expert on the subject, given his current calling in life. I asked Dylan two questions: when did you start playing tackle football? And when will you allow your boys to play tackle football? Dylan first played tackle football in the 7th grade and has every intention on holding his boys out until the same age. Dylan’s oldest son will be going into the second grade next year. Dylan loves the sport of football and wants his boys to grow up playing the sport. His oldest boy is undeniably athletically elite for his age, yet he has him in flag football where he will remain for the foreseeable future.
The second guy I reached out to was Alex Smith, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs. He is a former No. 1 overall draft pick and going into his 12th season in the NFL. Alex also has two sons and I posed the same two questions to him. Alex didn’t play tackle football until he was in the eighth grade. He intends to hold his sons out of it until they are in the eighth or ninth grade. A little side story about Alex: After a game his freshman year, his dad approached him and told him that it wasn’t too late to switch to cross country. Six and a half years after being a gangly kid with moderate coordination, he was taken as the first pick in the NFL draft. Imagine if that kid had played tackle football at an early age and been humiliated to the point that he never wanted to play again? In his text to me he wrote, “I’m really happy you’re battling this. I think it’s really important for parents to hear.”
Then there is me. I am going into my 15th year in the NFL. I did not play tackle football until the sixth grade. I begged year after year to play. In hindsight, my parents did exactly what was best for me. In seventh grade I suffered a scary, but not severe, neck injury getting tackled into a bench on the sidelines. I did not play my eighth-grade year. Much like Dylan and Alex, I will try to keep my boys from playing tackle football until middle school age.
That said, I am a huge proponent of the sport of football. I believe that boys are meant to be outside, getting dirty, being physical, and competing every day. I believe that football teaches so many things to the kids that play it. It is the ultimate team sport. There is a position on the field for every person, no matter their height, weight or speed. Football’s great equalizer to physical prowess is technique. Good technique and leverage wins on the field. Good technique is hard to teach young kids, especially given the limited practice times and their ability to learn and apply those teachings. I witnessed this first hand in the many years of football camp we offered our youth. Flag football is a great alternative. It teaches the game, gets kids active and promotes the sport to every kid.
The sentiment provided by my two colleagues and I aren’t limited to just us. It is the feeling of a growing majority of men who live in this sport and understand it best. I get that some parents have kids that adamantly want to play tackle football in the third and fourth grade. My parent’s son wanted to play too, but he didn’t get to. And he is eternally grateful for their decision.
I understand that Parsons has a long history of playing tackle football at an early age. This change is something that many people have a hard time identifying with. But let me ask a simple question about how this has suited our youth. How many state championships in football has it brought the City of Parsons and USD 503? The answer is zero. Don’t you think it's time to change the culture? And if zero championships aren’t reason enough, we just graduated a class that did not win a single game until midway through their senior season.
In closing I would like to thank everybody for keeping an open mind and hearing this board and I out. I understand that we may not have altered anybody’s thinking, but hopefully we have adequately expressed our position. The great part about Parsons is that there are options for kids. If our way is not better for your child then there is a league for that. The Berserkers offer tackle football for you. PRC offers flag football for all others. We support anybody’s decision to join the Berserkers league. That simply means that the youth of Parsons is active in this sport. It’s all a matter of personal preference which league you choose. We don’t pretend to know your child better than you. But we have to look at the youth of Parsons as a whole. Please understand that what we are offering is a free public service. We strongly believe that we are serving the public best by offering flag football, and offering it to every child that wants to play. If we kept the previous model of having two leagues play tackle football from the third grade on up, it would leave many children on the sidelines that now have the option to play. In fact, that model did keep me from playing the sport I love as a young child. So please understand that our unwavering decision is based on safety, inclusiveness, activity, development, and overall wellness for our children and this sport going forward. Thank you for your time.