Pop Warner Little Scholars

Pop Warner Little Scholars, commonly known simply as Pop Warner, is a nonprofit organization that provides activities such as American football, for over 425,000 youths aged 5 to 16 years old, in several nations. It is the largest youth football organization in the United States.

Its headquarters are in Langhorne, Pennsylvania. Pop Warner Little Scholars is named after football coach Pop Warner, who heavily contributed to the organization in its early years.

Participation

Participation has declined as parents become more concerned about concussions in American football.

Jasmine Plummer was the first girl to participate in a Pop Warner football team as quarterback. At the age of 11 years old, she became the first female quarterback and the first black female athlete to play in the Pop Warner Super Bowl youth football tournament, specifically the 56th Annual Pop Warner Super Bowl (Junior Pee Wee division); however, her team, the Harvey Colts, lost in the semifinals.

Age and weight divisions

Some divisions allow "older but lighter" players who meet the age and weight requirements in parentheses.

Safety and brain health

In the 2010s, there has been much controversy about football and brain health, with a number of studies focusing not just on the occasional concussion, but also on the large number of sub-concussive hits. One game in particular in 2012 resulted in five concussions. In 2015, a family sued Pop Warner over the suicide of a former player who was later found to have chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), claiming that the organization knew or should have known about the risk of head injuries. Several other lawsuits have been filed against Pop Warner for related cases. At least one case resulted in a settlement.

In 2016, the Pop Warner league banned kickoffs in an attempt to reduce high-speed collisions that result in concussions. In 2019, they banned younger players from using a three-point stance, which is associated with head injuries.

A 2018 study found that tackle football before age 12 was correlated with earlier onset of symptoms of CTE, but not with symptom severity."Study finds youth football tied to earlier symptoms of CTE,"
ESPN, April 30, 2018.Parents, put off tackle football as long as possible, study suggests
''Austin American-Statesman'', Nicole Villalpando, May 25, 2018.Age of First Exposure to Tackle Football and Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy
''Annals of Neurology'', Michael L. Alosco PhD, Jesse Mez MD, MS, et al., 30 April 2018. There have also been advocates for flag football only before certain ages.Former NFLers call for end to tackle football for kids
CNN, Nadia Kounang, updated March 1, 2018.

Michael Lewis, a preventive medicine specialist on the Pop Warner Youth Football Medical Advisory Board, says that even people who do not believe that football causes CTE should support reducing the number of times children and adolescents have their heads hit, because "there’s no downside to decreasing" the risk to the brain. The Concussion Legacy Foundation with the slogan "Stop Hitting Kids in the Head", encourages parents and coaches to prefer flag football over tackle football until age 14.

See also

* Early sports specialization

References

External links

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{{American football in the United States

Children's sport
Youth sport in the United States
American football in the United States
American football organizations
1929 establishments in the United States
Sports organizations established in 1929
American football in Pennsylvania