Panelists discussing "The Future of Football: From Pee Wee to Pro" lit up a roomful of roughly 250 PCA-SF Bay Area supporters. From right: Panel moderator, San Francisco 49ers broadcaster and PCA National Advisory Board Member Ted Robinson; Scott Hallenbeck, CEO and Executive Director of USA Football, a PCA National Partner; Stanford University Head Coach David Shaw; ESPN Football Analyst and PCA National Advisory Board Member Herm Edwards; San Francisco 49ers COO Al Guido; and Charles Way, Vice President of NFL Player Engagement.
Highlights of the above video include these assessments of the sport's future:
Scott Hallenbeck: "The game is safer today than it’s ever been. None of us in this room want to put our head in the sand and suggest there aren’t serious issues. We’re addressing those.”
David Shaw: We went through a really tough period these last few years, and now there is a bit of optimism for me, because the training is happening at a younger age. The coaching in youth football is better regardless of reality TV shows out there showing insanity.
Herm Edwards: This is a combative sport. It’s a sport of contact. We can all sit here and be naïve and think we don’t like collisions. We do. This is why we build these arenas. We can sit here and say, ‘We don’t want to see that.’ We do want to see that. We have a society where we like to see (clap) people hit each other. That’s how it is. Here’s the bottom line. How are we teaching them to do that?...We like contact. We like competitive violence within the rules. It’s not going to change.
Personal reflections on the football experience included:
Al Guido: I came from divorced parents, working two jobs in South Philadelphia and my coaches were my parents. They were an extension of my home. You (coaches) are teaching kids to be better men, better women, part of something bigger than themselves.
Charles Way: Everybody sees the flash. We don’t what goes into an Eli Manning going to a hospital and sharing some time with a kid who has cancer. They don’t see someone going to a youth clinic and trying to instill positive values in an individual that has no father, has no mother and is being raised by their grandparents. What we do as coaches and players…we have a platform that we need to start sharing. We need to start sharing the positive aspects of this game so that others who are less fortunate can see another way….Your identity is not wrapped up in this game. It’s not about the touchdowns. It’s about, ‘What are you doing with your notoriety? What are you doing in your community to make a difference?’ The true value of a man is what you can do off the football field and in society.
David Shaw on playing for Bill Walsh: Bill Walsh was everything he needed to be to whoever he needed to be it to.
David Shaw in response to how he implements what he learned from Bill Walsh: Sometimes you treat people the way they need to be treated, not, sometimes, the way they want to be treated. Whatever that young man needs from me to help him be a great football players, be a great student and have success after football…Sometimes you get that look from that kid, and he says, ‘Coach, why you being so hard on me?’ And my response is, ‘My responsibility for you right now is not the same responsibility as I have for the 30-year-old version of you.' That’s the guy I’m trying to make proud of this moment. You may not like that very much right now, but when you’re 30, looking back at this moment, I’m gonna get that phone call where you say, ‘Coach, I got you.’ In college sports, and in youth sports, if that’s not your goal, then you’re wrong.
After Charles Way and Herm Edwards explain how coaches must adapt to players' needs, Scott Hallenbeck explains: That hasn’t translated down to the youth level. How do you educate coaches about how to talk to players and tell them why and tell them you care about them and tell them you love them and make that connection? If you do all those things together, you’re going to change the life of that child.
