When my son Bradley moved up to the pee-wee level of youth football, he had two years of experience at the “peanut” instructional level where every child received an equitable amount of playing time, as long as the child actually wanted to play. The expectation for my wife and I, at the pee-wee level, was that Bradley would still get a fair amount of playing time.

We ended up moving him up from the instructional football because he wanted to play in real games, and we both felt that it would be good for him to move up earlier.  But just because you write out that registration check and your child shows up for practice on a regular basis, that doesn’t mean your athlete gets reasonable playing time.

It can be frustrating for young athletes when they only receive a handful of plays each game.  This type of situation can be equally frustrating for the athlete’s family involved because no one wants to see their child unhappy about not playing.

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All you can do is try to talk to the coach and hope that your child doesn’t grow too frustrated that he or she doesn’t want to play anymore.  If the program isn’t going away, perhaps look to see if there’s another team within the program with a more reasonable coach. Also, migrating may be a viable option if there’s another program in your community.

The most important aspect of receiving valuable playing time is seeing that your athlete is happy and growing as a player.  Playing time is a tough situation for parents and players to deal with, but there’s a reason for everything. Most times you just need to have a calm approach, try to talk to the coaches, and then make a decision that’s in the best interest of your child. 

Peter is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network, FOX News Headlines 24/7 and WCBS 880 Radio in New York.  His son Bradley plays middle school football on Long Island and is a participant in the U.S. National Team program while his younger son Jared plays flag football.   Peter, his wife Sheryl and the boys are busy cheering on the New York Jets when they’re not at a youth football field.