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Big Young Athlete

A question from a Mom:

I have a son who two weeks ago turned 13. He is 6'2", 250lbs solid and size 14 shoe. He loves sports; football, basketball. The problem being to learn the sport correctly. I'm trying to teach him, [but] being a mom it's difficult. He needs to be on a team. We live in Chelsea, MA and they seem to only offer pop Warner and unfortunately they have a size regulation. I am looking for a team that he can join. His nick name is "Baby Shaq". He is very talented with his hands, well coordinated and very quick to be of his size. I hope you can offer suggestions on this matter. 

Answer: From your description, your son is enormous. He is much larger than the upper limit of most youth football programs which is, for the moment at least, unfortunate, since he might not be able to play. I know of no youth football program that would accept a player of his size. That is one of the problems with most youth football programs such as Pop Warner - the really big kids who are most likely to be the ones that develop as football players are often shut out of youth programs. But they will get their chance when they get to high school.

As a 13-year-old I assume he is probably in 8th grade. Some middle school or junior high schools have football programs and in those programs, weight/size is not limited. He might be able to play in such a program this season. In ninth grade he could play on a high school freshman team, or perhaps even on the junior varsity or varsity team.

I suggest you check the public and private schools in your area to see which ones have middle school, junior high school or freshman teams that would take him this year.

His size makes him a prime prospect for a high school team. High school coaches would love to have someone his size on their team. If he is big and quick, college coaches as well will be looking for him pretty soon.

So the bottom line is this - if you can find a junior high school school program for him, he should be able to play this year. If not, next year is not really that far off. It will be here before you know it.

If he lived here in Florida, I would invite him to work out with some of our really big kids so he might learn basic football techniques and fundamentals, thus preparing him for next year and the high school program.

Good luck! I hope you can find a school team for him. Please keep in touch and let me know how he progresses.