Football is the king of high school sports in the U.S.

According to the 2022-23 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey, 11-player football is the most popular high school sport for boys with 1,028,761 participants in 13,670 schools nationwide. In addition, 35,301 boys participated in 6-, 8- and 9-player football, along with 3,838 girls in all four versions of the game for a grand total of 1,067,900. There also were 20,875 participants in girls' flag football in 2022-23.

I am ecstatic that the sport I love is alive and well throughout the high school level. I take my role as a football coach and mentor seriously. Football has been under attack in our country because of the safety concerns associated with the sport. I don’t take player safety lightly and neither should anyone involved with the sport.

Player safety is everyone’s responsibility within the sport. Coaches must go through testing and certifications to be able to coach. This is a good thing for the sport of football. Coaches who are mindful of their duty make the game better for all who love it and casually consume it. The role of football in our nation is one that I hope and pray remains a powerful one.

Coaches have a responsibility to teach life lessons through our game of football. The instruction, attention to detail, physicality, and teamwork preached day in day out to create strong-minded and physically fit young people. Players who learn to play for the name on the front of the jersey learn to sacrifice personal achievement when it doesn’t benefit the team. This is a very hard lesson for some people to learn. We all want to be patted on the back and be recognized for a job well done. In the real world, it takes teamwork to achieve more. You can do a lot on your own in life but you get much farther as a team.

Football isn’t the only place where our youth can learn life lessons masked as a sport. I 100% recognize that, but this is a football training business so I’ll leave that for someone else to highlight.

Whatever perspective you are reading this from I hope that the game rewards you in some way. The values of this sport give me great hope that those who play it, coach it, watch it, write about it, or talk about it will see the intrinsic qualities it can promote within those who are around it. Football is a tough sport, played by tough people. Tough people, who play for the greater good and sacrifice themselves make better citizens for a community. Better citizens equals a better future for our youth. Yep, I’m getting romantic about the dang sport. I always have and I sure as heck hope I always will.

Encourage kids to play football, encourage them to listen to their coaches, and to be good teammates.