Studies offer broad insights into child development and often contradict one another. Since no one child is exactly like another, parents who understand the benefits and pitfalls of sports and who pay attention to the individual needs of their children are more likely to raise kids that thrive in life. Generally, studies indicate three important aspects of sports participation that affect positive youth development – intensity, continuity, and balance. A combination of all three offers the greatest benefits to kids.

• Intensity: The amount of time children spend doing sports each week is particularly important to whether they receive positive developmental outcomes from their participation. Kids who spend more time in sports activities have greater benefits than youth who participate at lower levels or not at all. With greater time commitment, children develop better mastery of skills and superior knowledge of tactics and strategy. This can lead to the development of strategic thinking which is helpful in all aspects of life, including the ability to find and excel in the job market. No one can tell you how many hours of sports per week is the perfect amount. The important learning is that children who make a commitment to regular practice receive greater developmental benefits.

• Continuity: The stability and duration of how children participate across their adolescent years is also important. Studies suggest that intermittent participation during the middle and high school years is not as beneficial as continuous dedication. Making a commitment over time facilitates the likelihood that children will overcome challenges and obstacles in their performance. They also have greater opportunities to interact with teammates, learning to cope with the interpersonal challenges of working with others. This is an important aspect of developing initiative, an internal strength that lasts a lifetime.

• Balance: Perhaps the most important of the three aspects of youth sports participation is to achieve a balance between sports and other activities. Studies show that greater developmental outcomes are attained by children who spend time in activities other than their dominant sports pursuits. It is not necessarily the numbers of activities in which youth participate but rather that they have outlets beyond sports. For example, one study found youth who participated in sports and school clubs had lower rates of depression than kids who focused exclusively on sports. Other studies suggest that children who participate in activities that present real-world challenges, like volunteering in their communities, achieve greater developmental benefits. These activities encourage youth to develop a civic identity and see a world beyond a game of competition.

Objectives:

- To encourage and increase youth participation in football, cheerleading and dance.
- To ensure a safe and positive playing environment for all participants.
- To instill life-long values of teamwork, dedication and a superior work ethic in the classroom and on the playing field.

Positive Experiences:

- Pop Warner programs have no tryouts or cutting of rosters.
- Everyone participates under mandatory rules of play.
- On-field coaching is allowed for younger age levels.
- Individual awards are given only for academic excellence, not for on-field activities.

Safe Playing Environment:

- Players are matched by age and weight levels.
- There are strict mandatory equipment requirements.
- Pop Warner provides Coaching Clinics and Risk Management Training.
- An enforced national rule book incorporates time-tested rules.
- A full-time executive staff supports all local associations and assists in sound policy creation.

Pop Warner Little Scholars continues to be one of the safest youth sports organizations in the entire country. Our football and cheerleading program is committed to the safety of our participants regardless of age level.

New Hampshire Pop Warner mandates a safety clinic for all of its football and cheerleading coaches on an annual basis. In addition, all football players are placed in divisions that ensure that they will be placed with others that fall within the same age and weight range.

Pop Warner’s unique age/weight matrix is time-tested and is only adjusted at the National level upon review of the injury data from prior seasons. In order for a weight increase to be approved, it must pass a vote through the eight U.S. Pop Warner regions.

All Pop Warner teams in the country play by the same rules and are governed by the National Pop Warner Rulebook.

New Hampshire Pop Warner is now on Twitter!

Those that follow them will get live updates from upcoming cheer competitions and playoff games.

We can also use this as a platform to notify you, our football families, our registration dates, fundraisers, etc.

Please spread the word so we can make good use of this information resource.

The Twitter account to follow is nhpopwarner.

Missed calls, bad calls, calls we disagree with, calls we don’t understand. These seem to happen in almost every game played at almost every level of football. When they happen at youth games, however, our reactions (parents, coaches, and players) need to be both tempered and appropriate. Complaining to, yelling and screaming at the officials doesn’t fit into either of these categories.

While we all feel the need to express our feelings to the “offending” official, doing this serves absolutely no good purpose and can bring about more than a couple negative results, one of the worst being setting a bad example for all the players, cheerleaders, and other children who are everywhere at these games.

The officials do the best job that they can, but will inevitably make a mistake or two during the course of a game. They are as human as the rest of us. They try to see everything, but obviously this is not really possible. When they miss something, try to remember this and react in a way that is appropriate to both the situation and the level of play.

Let’s keep this about teaching the kids football, teamwork, and good sportsmanship. That way everyone is a winner!