For many families, a growth chart is a common way of keeping track of how tall a child gets, particularly in a given period of time. I’ve seen families, both in real life and on television, use a wall in their home to chart the growth of their children using a crayon or marker as the child gets older. In our home, we do this with our sons’ framed youth sports photos on a wall in the living room adjacent to the stairs that lead to their bedrooms.

I look at the wall every day and it’s mind-boggling how both of my boys have grown from their early days of playing youth sports to where they are today.  For my sons, as well as so many other children, the youth sports road has different stages – especially when it comes to football. Like the other sports, those stages coordinate with age and ability, but coaching plays a huge role in how a child develops on the football field. 

As part of USA Football’s Football Development Model, there are various pillars of focus when it comes to how a player navigates his or her way up the ladder of the game. It’s important to remember that football is a game before it’s a sport.

I want to focus on the pillar of Physical Literacy & Skill Development. The premise is simple.  It all starts with the basics. The athlete’s journey through football begins with the teaching of fundamental movements and techniques before they learn more complex skills as they gain experience. Think of it like building blocks. The skills they learn along way stack on top of one another. Without a strong base, the blocks will collapse. But, if you take time to build a strong foundational base, you can keep adding onto it.

Bradley’s football journey began at the age of four playing “peanut” instructional football as part of a youth football program in our community.  After two seasons at that level and playing scrimmages with players only from our program, he moved up to the age group where the team was part of a league and they traveled to away games. Every two years, there was a rise to a new age group. Eventually, it was onto middle school and now high school.  Along the way, there were new skills added like passing, different offensive formations, various defensive alignments, kicking and punting as well as being taught techniques and strategies.  

But not every child follows the same football path.

My younger son Jared had watched his older brother play tackle football and wanted to give it a try. For a number of reasons, he didn’t like it. He liked the concept of football but simply wasn’t comfortable wearing the equipment. So, he started playing flag football and loves it. It’s a great way for a child to learn the fundamentals of the sport, and for many kids, it’s a bridge to eventually playing tackle football. Playing flag football really afforded Jared the opportunity to play different positions and to learn techniques and strategies. He’s also told my wife and me that he may want to give tackle football another shot when he can play for his middle school team in a couple of years.

There are so many different ways for a child to be involved in youth football whether it’s starting with instructional levels, flag football, or jumping right in to tackle. Not all kids are the same, so the entry into the fabulous world of football isn’t identical for each child. The Football Development Model helps kids learn the sport and develop no matter which stage of the game they choose to enter. But regardless of how the road begins, the journey includes various levels based on age and other factors. In a nutshell, football has a stage for each age. By following this model, an athlete will find success and have fun as they progress in the game.

Peter is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network and WFAN Radio in New York.  His son Bradley is entering his first year of high school football 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.