[Nan3cy]

One very big reason a lower percentage of kids try to play high school football today is that high school football is at least two orders of magnitude more "advanced" than it was in the 60's and 70's. The coaches are more professional, the kids have played lots of Pop Warner, they are bigger, they are faster, and they have had lots of coaching. Back in the day, most kids trying out for football had played a bit of sandlot, and that was it. Coaches would take warm bodies and keep them on the team because they needed practice players. Today, most kids in that category know they are not in the same class as the athletes that will actually play, so they don't bother trying out. If you are just "some guy", are you seriously going to try out for De La Salle or even Woodisde? I doubt it.

Along those lines, I noted that the size and weight of my son's freshman football team in 2006 was the same as my high school team in 1979.

We were just on a Stanford Alumni trip in the Adriatic and got to know a guy who grew up in Honolulu and played high school football in the ‘60s — played linebacker. He’s Chinese, maybe 5’9”, probably played at 170. He said it wasn’t a great team (never beat Punahou, though they came close once)...

Actually, my kid’s dentist for years was on the offensive line under Walsh 1. I teased him once that he would have been considered a tasty lunch by the guys playing on Stanford’s line at the time, and he acknowledged that the players have gotten a lot bigger. “But,” he said with a smile, “let’s put it this way — WE protected our quarterback.”

[Nan3cy]

One very big reason a lower percentage of kids try to play high school football today is that high school football is at least two orders of magnitude more "advanced" than it was in the 60's and 70's. The coaches are more professional, the kids have played lots of Pop Warner, they are bigger, they are faster, and they have had lots of coaching. Back in the day, most kids trying out for football had played a bit of sandlot, and that was it. Coaches would take warm bodies and keep them on the team because they needed practice players. Today, most kids in that category know they are not in the same class as the athletes that will actually play, so they don't bother trying out. If you are just "some guy", are you seriously going to try out for De La Salle or even Woodisde? I doubt it.

Along those lines, I noted that the size and weight of my son's freshman football team in 2006 was the same as my high school team in 1979.

We were just on a Stanford Alumni trip in the Adriatic and got to know a guy who grew up in Honolulu and played high school football in the ‘60s — played linebacker. He’s Chinese, maybe 5’9”, probably played at 170. He said it wasn’t a great team (never beat Punahou, though they came close once)...

Actually, my kid’s dentist for years was on the offensive line under Walsh 1. I teased him once that he would have been considered a tasty lunch by the guys playing on Stanford’s line at the time, and he acknowledged that the players have gotten a lot bigger. “But,” he said with a smile, “let’s put it this way — WE protected our quarterback.”