300-pounder barred from Texas pee wee

This happened to me in 7th AND 8th grade when I shot up from 5'5" to 6'3" in one year. My weight also increased from 150 to 190 that year and I became ineligible to play both years because of my weight.

By 9th grade and having not played the previous two years, I was so far behind for blocking technique and just general football knowledge (the coaches took amusement that I didn't know where my pads were supposed to go and encouraged teammates to hit me in unprotected spots) that I quit the sport.

The part that frustrated me the most was that I really wanted to play but did not "speak up" when I was 12 or 13 that I needed help to figure it all out.

 

He's not ineligible to play. He can play with the middle school team, but he chooses not to. I think he'd learn a lot more playing with older kids his size than beating up on 115-pounders.

 

You were 6-3, 190 as a freshman and your coach was encouraging your teammates to hurt you, rather than teach you?
That coach is an idiot. A lot of coaches I know drool over kids that size.

 

Wanted to "toughen me up".

So I quit and went "strictly basketball".

 

You needed it. Wimp.

 

And the funny part was that, after I quit football, I would just get beaten up on the bus by older kids who wore jean jackets and smoked cigarettes.

Either way... I would get beaten up.

 

Same thing happened a lot at my high school. I remember one of the basketball players came out for the team as a sophomore. Great size. Good athlete. Quit after a few days of practice (after working out with us all summer) because the coaches treated him like crap.

 

I bet there's a spot for him on the cross-country team.