Dick Schnell says Junior Football League safety has evolved significantly in the 14 years he has been a coach in Fond du Lac. “Our number one, number two and number three priorities at the youth program are safety,” Schnell told AM 1170 WFDL’s Between the Lines program. “We have a program where all of our equipment goes through certification, we work with the high school coach about taking the head totally out of tackling, our coaches go through a certification process to make sure they know how to teach it, how to recognize when there are issues and we always go with the old motto “when in doubt, take em out.” Responding to concern that young kids who weigh 70-80 pounds are playing against some kids who may weigh twice that. “There’s always going to be situations like that in a game because you can’t control what the other team has on the field. But I know in teaching the techniques, in teaching the proper way to tackle we always try to match size upon size,” Schnell said. Schnell says he disagrees wholeheartedly that 5th and 6th graders shouldn’t be playing tackle football.
