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Where in my post did I mention teaching agression or even use the word aggression?? Or did you mean someone else? How can I be "off the wall" when I didn't say that?

I don't have stats but there are more injuries in flag than tackle for one simple reason. EQUIPMENT. Are things not the same on the interior line whether it's flag or tackle? Would you want to be blocking people or playing DT against people at your level without equipment on? Why should we ask 2nd and 3rd graders to do it? And they are not even as skilled as at our age thus risk heightened.

Flag football is not real football. My point is don't use flag football to bring kids along in a program. Start Tackle whenever you like (and not until 7th is not bad....my feeling is no earlier than 4th or 5th though) but don't use flag as a supplement to what will be a tackle program down the road, it's not really the same sport.

For lack of a better analogy, it would be like having Little League baseball play kickball for a couple years. They learn terminology, rules, and some similarities of the game but in reality it's a different game.

Flag was meant for adult (post-tackle career) recreation and gym classes. It has no other value to a true tackle football program. Would a Varsity Coach want one of his kids playing in a flag football league on Sunday's or in the off-season to supplement his improvement in H.S. Varsity football????? That in itself should tell anyone that flag is not relevant.

Yes, it wasn't Head Roadie that made that post. I was also going to comment on the aggression post but it was so rediculous that I decided not to. I think that it came from a kid. (realfootball20)If he is a parent then good luck to his kids.

ham55 wrote:

CITYBOY wrote:If you want to talk about bad habits, lets talk about all the wrong things that flag teaches kids to do. We have to tell them how to square up to make a tackle and not to step to the side to pull a flag. Do you ever wonder why kids try to arm tackle? Do you ever wonder why kids always want to bust it outside when there is a perfect lane to run through?

So let me get this straight. Poor tacklers are developed during flag football, correct? Well just looking over the Bedford career leaders in tackles in season tackles, career tackles and tackles per game in a season, I've got information that says the extreme opposite.

How did Mike Young do so well getting to and bringing down the ball carrier if he never played in a youth tackle system? He had 170 tackles in a season. Jeff Koontz? 138. Eric Gibbons? 216 career tackles.

What about bouncing it to the outside all the time? Did anybody ever watch Troy Harris play the game? The majority of his runs were in the guard/tackle hole. He played flag.

These are just the people that are around my age that made the top 10's in categories at Bedford that I know 100% sure played flag and never thought of stepping on a tackle field until 7th grade. Success starts in 7th with a solid core of coaches there that can coach the extreme basics of a system. Bedford had that until 3 years ago, and it's starting to show now in the varsity program.

This right here is whats wrong with Bedford football.......who CARES what the kids did IN THE PAST. Times have changed, and youth sports are changing with them. Kids are better trained, better coached, and in better shape that ever before. Please don't tell me there isn't some sort of learning curve when you are playing against kids that have been in pads since 3rd grade, and the first time you strapped up is in 7th grade?

And seriously, do those stats mean anything in the big picture-------they're against other district 5 competition, and the last I checked, we weren't exactly in a 'football hotbed' by any means. If the programs around here are trying to go to the next level, then they need to emulated the big-city programs. Bottom line is most (if not all) bigger schools programs have youth tackle, have good coaching, and use terminology from the HS playbooks.

On a final note, are any of the guys you mentioned in your post playing college ball? I only know of the Harris kid playing, but he is not even a starter on a smaller school team, so who cares what stats he had in HS. The only thing anyone should be worried about is giving our kids the best chance they can to get to the next level.................playing flag until 6th grade does not give them a good start.

Correction: Both Harris brothers are or have been starters on a DIVISION 1 football team.

Might want to get informed a little about that which ye speak, boxer156. Bedford has played District 6 teams for at least the last 30-40 years. They used to play Everett and Windber, and still play Ridge every once in a while, but 99.9% of the teams they play are D6. And they have fared very well against them in the regular season.

The problem at Bedford is coaching. I don't think it has anything to do with flag or tackle youth football. The kids need discipline and proper technique, something that used to be taught at every practice. The last few years it was hard to read the stats in the paper with all the penalties committed and 6-8 fumbles per game.

As far as emulating the big-city programs, I would rather Bedford go winless than have a team full of thugs who dance around and say 'look at me' for doing what they were supposed to do in the first place, which was make a play. Act like you've been there before and have some class.

I thought at one point this year both Harris boys were starting for Maine. At the very least, Troy was a starter. Turkovich started for Notre Dame, though he left Bedford after 10th grade. Crissey was a starter at WVU last year. Plus several other kids playing at smaller colleges. So where's the shame in all this?

BENgali wrote:Correction: Both Harris brothers are or have been starters on a DIVISION 1 football team.

ummm...the article in the paper this past season listed them as second string, and 'starters' on special teams, so I just stated what I read.

TheAnalyst wrote:Might want to get informed a little about that which ye speak, boxer156. Bedford has played District 6 teams for at least the last 30-40 years. They used to play Everett and Windber, and still play Ridge every once in a while, but 99.9% of the teams they play are D6. And they have fared very well against them in the regular season.

The problem at Bedford is coaching. I don't think it has anything to do with flag or tackle youth football. The kids need discipline and proper technique, something that used to be taught at every practice. The last few years it was hard to read the stats in the paper with all the penalties committed and 6-8 fumbles per game.

As far as emulating the big-city programs, I would rather Bedford go winless than have a team full of thugs who dance around and say 'look at me' for doing what they were supposed to do in the first place, which was make a play. Act like you've been there before and have some class.

I thought at one point this year both Harris boys were starting for Maine. At the very least, Troy was a starter. Turkovich started for Notre Dame, though he left Bedford after 10th grade. Crissey was a starter at WVU last year. Plus several other kids playing at smaller colleges. So where's the shame in all this?

that was a mis-type on the district 6 thing.........as for the rest of your post, I'm a little lost on the 'team full of thugs' comment? LOL. Who said big-city meant 'inner city'??? There are COUNTLESS classy teams in the city (or around) that have programs we only WISH we could emulate (Gateway, Penn Trafford, North Allegheny, Upper St Clair, etc). I do agree with your coaching comments though, but it starts at the youth level-----you can't teach discipline if you wait until the 10th grade.

Now answer me this.........when was the last time Bedford was a state playoff contender, or even made the state playoffs? Isn't that what we should all be shooting for? What, so we had a COUPLE of kids go to some Div 2/3 colleges, and a couple more that went to Maine. Big deal. Let me know when we start sending kids to Penn State, USC, Florida, etc. It's the old "Bedford football is great in BEDFORD county".....

Until then, I guess we can pin our football prowess on a couple of Maine recruits.

ok. mistyped. no biggie.

I was just kidding with the thugs comment. I did mean what I said about acting like you've been there before. At every level of football, someone makes a play then parades around like they are the second coming of LT. I do find that irritating.

There are some great HS programs out there. Bedford is good for this area, D5/6, but hasn't been a contender at the state level. Unless you are winning a state championship every year there is always room for improvment. But I guess my question is this. Who in the area is capable of coming to Bedford and doing this? Not only do you need a head coach, but a whole staff down to the elementary level. That seems like a large undertaking that I doubt the administration at Bedford is willing to undertake. Remember, they had a very good coach in Shoemaker and were more than willing to let him walk.

Quite frankly, I don't know that the people at Bedford care if they are a state contender or are sending players to big time colleges. I think it is more up to each individual kid and their parents to decide if they want that level of dedication. I would bet most of the Bedford fanbase are happy with having a competitive team in the LHAC that can make the playoffs. Plus have some discipline and pride on top of that. I could be way off with that comment.

Bedford has never made it further than the round of 8 in football, and that was back in the early 90's.

TheAnalyst wrote:ok. mistyped. no biggie.

I was just kidding with the thugs comment. I did mean what I said about acting like you've been there before. At every level of football, someone makes a play then parades around like they are the second coming of LT. I do find that irritating.

There are some great HS programs out there. Bedford is good for this area, D5/6, but hasn't been a contender at the state level. Unless you are winning a state championship every year there is always room for improvment. But I guess my question is this. Who in the area is capable of coming to Bedford and doing this? Not only do you need a head coach, but a whole staff down to the elementary level. That seems like a large undertaking that I doubt the administration at Bedford is willing to undertake. Remember, they had a very good coach in Shoemaker and were more than willing to let him walk.

Quite frankly, I don't know that the people at Bedford care if they are a state contender or are sending players to big time colleges. I think it is more up to each individual kid and their parents to decide if they want that level of dedication. I would bet most of the Bedford fanbase are happy with having a competitive team in the LHAC that can make the playoffs. Plus have some discipline and pride on top of that. I could be way off with that comment.

Bedford has never made it further than the round of 8 in football, and that was back in the early 90's.

Agreed.......I HATE the showboating myself, but these kids learn that crap from the fools on TV. I don't know what is going on with Bedford sports anymore, but you are right, the changes need to come from Admin and work down to the youth program. The coaching I saw at flag and 7th grade football was PITIFUL at best.......

My son is only 7, but if he shows an interest in football, best believe I will be bringing these topics up in a couple years, as I won't sit back at 'wait' for the changes to happen as the current crop of parents is doing. The sad fact is ALL of Bedford sports are slipping, and I don't know/understand why.

The sad fact is ALL of Bedford sports are slipping, and I don't know/understand why.[/quote]

What about golf, volleyball, wrestling, boys and girls soccer & boys and girls tennis?? Didnt Bedford Win the D5 AA Basketball title a while back??

Put Bedrock in the Sideling Hill/WestPac league and the 'major sports' will not 'suffer'.


Since everyone has a solution to the problems at Bedford, I am sure that the coaching jobs will be full of applicants next year, ready to solve the mystery as to why ALL of Bedford's sports are "slipping".