Afraid of hitting

Question
Coach Pearl,
I have a 15 year old son that is playing high school football. This will be his 2nd year and he loves the game. He plays on a 4a team (very competetive)and he has moved up from 3rd string to 2nd. He came up to me and asked how I can help him overcome his fear to hit or be hit. From what I have seen I did not know he had that problem. I have played sports all my life and I could not come up with a good answer. Is there any thing you could suggest to do with this kind of problem.
Thanks for your time, Don

Answer
Don -

Thanks for writing.  Well, this is a tough problem.  In football, or sports in general, there are certain things we can teach, and others we cannot.  Tackling, throwing, blocking, catching, plays, schemes, etc can all be taught to some extent.  Ability plays a big part, but at least the information can be passed on to those who need it.  For issues like you son's, there isnt much anyone, besides himself, can do about it.  There is no way I know of to prevent someone from being afraid of something they already have a fear of.  

I think the best approach is a double pronged answer.

1-  Find out how interested he is in actually PLAYING full contact football.  Most people who LIKE the sport dont necessarily like to PLAY it. But they get confused, and somewhere in their heads the 2 issues become one.  Big difference in watching and playing. And in this case, he is afraid of the one thing that is a must to enjoy playing football - contact. This will be very important, because the chance of injury for players who shy away from contact goes up dramatically. It will also obviously, effect his playing time as well. Also, I cant think he would enjoy going out and playing being scared all the time.

2 - If it turns out that he DOES love playing, but just cant get used to the constant contact, bruises, soreness, etc, look into a different type of football.  There are many ways to play it without contact.  Flag football,competitive touch leagues, etc.  These can be just as fun, and might be a little more up his alley.

Basically, full contact football is a uniqque sport for this exact reason.  It DOES take a certain type of personality to play / enjoy.  Your son might not be that personality type.  Doesnt make him less of a man, or a wimp..nothing like that, so dont think that he is.  Just might not enjoy being knocked around on a daily basis.  Actually, this would put him in the majority.  A lot more kids would play if football wasnt so physical.  But it is, very physical..  You can trust that Don.

Sit him down, and see what he thinks.  Make sure and let him know there ARE more options other than full contact football. See what he says.  He might prefer flag, because he can still play football, but not have to worry about getting hit all the time.  If he does wanna stick with it, great!  Just have him keep working on it.  It could just be a confidence problem...  Ensure him he is playing well, and to let it loose.  See what happens.

Let me know what comes out of it.

Best wishes

Coach Perl