What age should kids start playing football? Ravens stars weigh in.
BALTIMORE -- It's Super Bowl week and millions will be tuned to the game Sunday on CBS.
Among those watching will be young boys and girls, and some will ask their parents: "When can I play football?"
Parents consider concussions the greatest concern and safety the highest priority. The CDC has done studies and highly recommends non-contact "flag" football while youngsters are still physically developing.
So what's a safe age to play full-contact?
Ravens All-Pro tight end Mark Andrews didn't play football until high school.
Two-time Super Bowl champion Torrey Smith first played tackle football in 3rd grade.
Super Bowl champ Ray Rice also got started as a grade schooler.
In the time since those guys were kids-"flag football" has grown as a popular alternative to tackle...popular for boys "and" girls.
So- with that option...there's no rush to enter the arena of full-contact football.
"If your kid really wants to do it, it's his love, his passion- go for it but there's nothing wrong with doing flag football for a little bit longer, just prolong it because like you said it's a tough sport, it takes a lot out of you, more so than a lot of other sports," Mark Andrews said.
"I also have seen plenty of guys at this level, they didn't start playing football until maybe a junior or senior in high school and they're some of the best athletes in the world and they just able to make it at this level or the collegiate level," Ravens kicker Justin Tucker said.
Torrey Smith is fully aware of the health risks that come with tackle football at a young age, that's why he coaches his son's team in Howard County.
Smith emphasizes proper tackling technique and works to avoid the known dangers that come when players are put in harm's way.
"At the younger ages, the more I've been around- when you teach kids how to tackle the right way, it's perfectly fine. The problem is when you get coaches that are putting kids that are massive, that know how to play, and line them up with kids their parents just signed them up and they shouldn't be out there. And to me it's about how you do it," Smith said.
"Being on the field with those kids is the key to safety in the sport at the youth football level," Rice said.
Like Torrey Smith-Ray Rice coaches "his" son...Rice knows the good and bad of youth football so he's there to see to that it's coached properly and safely.
Not to be discounted- is the personal and social development that come with team sport.
And for guys who've played it- there's nothing like learning life lessons playing football.
"I want them to have some grit. I want them to overcome some adversity. I want them to deal with fighting and struggling and football is a great sport for that," Smith said.
"What it's doing for my kid socially. What it's doing for his growth intellectually, being able to meet people, being able to get coached by different people. Just being able to communicate at a high level, it's amazing," Ray Rice said.
To the question of when or if you should introduce your child play tackle football...there's no single or simple answer.
"If anybody's trying to figure out if they want to get their kid to play, just find a way to get them on the field. Whether it's tackle or flag, that decision has kinda gotta be yours and you gotta go what's best for your family," Justin Tucker said.
