11 Year Old Banned From Scoring Touchdowns

[MA-Caver]

I'm at a loss at where school officials can determine that a student/athlete is doing TOO well to the point they have to prevent him from being who he is, a talented player.
For one thing it's little league football. For another it's one student versus 11 on the opposing team that can't catch him. Is the problem with him, or with the other team(s). In one game he scored 7 touchdowns.

According to Arkansas Fox affiliate Fox 16, 11-year-old Demias Jimerson has emerged as such a dominant running back that the Wilson Intermediate Football League he plays in has reinstated a bylaw called the "Madre Hill rule," which bars him from scoring a touchdown if he has already scored three times and his team has a lead of 14 points or more.

The rule is named after former University of Arkansas star and Oakland Raider Madre Hill, who, like Jimerson, played youth football in the Malvern, Arkansas area. Hill proved so adept at getting the ball into the end zone whenever he touched it that the WIFL came up with the rule to try and keep scores from getting too out of hand.

http://rivals.yahoo.com/highschool/...D-limit-to-hold-back-11?urn=highschool-wp6562

Now according to the article/video the rule doesn't apply beyond the 6th grade, but will he be just as good in junior high ball? How about regular high school, college and eventually pro ball? The game gets harder the older the players so it's easy to assume that he's not going to score every single time he has the ball in every single game that he plays til he decides not to play anymore or is injured out.
Personally I don't think this is right. Kids need all the positive reinforcement they can get. But they do need to learn that there will always, ALWAYS be someone better than they are. Eventually Demias will learn that. In a way he's not as far ahead of the curve as the other kids that "lose to him". They're also, it seems, overlooking at the fact that football (like any other) is a team sport. That Demias was able to accomplish his amazing (for a kid his age) feat via the efforts of other members of the team.
It's just one kid. One talented, fast kid. He's not a superhero in the making or incognito. His humility is something to be admired at least. That to me shows a lot of character for someone his age.

Thoughts?

 

[crushing]

What a badge of honor for him, it seems, that they invoke the Madre Hill rule to govern his scoring potential. That may give some people a better feeling than scoring 7 or even 8 touchdowns in a game. When he makes his quota, he can run it down to the 1 yard line and a teammate can have several tries to punch it in.

I have a friend in an adult hockey league that limits scoring for all players per game. He is a pretty good skater and scorer and says this gives him the opportunity to work on his assists.

 

[clfsean]

<sarcastic truth>
Everybody's a winner nowadays...

Nobody looses. Nobody likes to loose, so to make it fair, nobody looses, everybody wins...

YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!

</sarcastic truth>

 

[granfire]

Then again, the coach needs to be slapped.

There is no reason to have that kid run the score up.

Absolutely idiotic. All the way around.

 

[jks9199]

At that age, I agree, the coach is to blame. Let the kid play, and if the score gets pretty lopsided, the coach should pull him out, and let other kids play. That -- or if the size difference is reasonable, he plays up in the next tier.

But it's really not that different than mercy rules in other sports, like Little League Baseball. When one team gets so far ahead that there's no way the other team can win -- the game's over.

 

[Steve]

At that age, I agree, the coach is to blame. Let the kid play, and if the score gets pretty lopsided, the coach should pull him out, and let other kids play. That -- or if the size difference is reasonable, he plays up in the next tier.But it's really not that different than mercy rules in other sports, like Little League Baseball. When one team gets so far ahead that there's no way the other team can win -- the game's over.

this. It's not about engine being a winner. It's about everyone getting to play.

 

[Big Don]

this. It's not about engine being a winner. It's about everyone getting to play.

Engine?

 

[Carol]

I sense a damn-you-auto-correct moment

 

[Makalakumu]

The little engine that could...and could and could and could.

 

[Steve]

Engine?

Posting from a phone. Stupid phone. Should be "everyone."

 

[granfire]

Posting from a phone. Stupid phone. Should be "everyone."

http://www.damnyouautocorrect.com/

 

[OKenpo942]

I think it is more humiliating to the other team if the kid were to stop at the 1 yard line. You know that he is taking it easy on you on purpose. In my experience, I may not be able to win, but I will improve with tougher competition. If I do finally win, I want to beat you at your best, not because you took it easy on me.

I agree that the coach should limit his offensive time and maybe put him in on defense where, if he is as good an athlete as everyone thinks he is, he can be an asset. I'm sure the boy just wants to play and to do his best.

Kuddos to his parents for teaching him what his priorities should be and to him for implementing them.

 

[ChuckyD]

I worry about injuries in football, especially at the youth level where children of much different sizes compete against one another, due to their age of puberty. A lot of doctor visits with this sport. That being said, I love it!

 

[Steve]

I worry about injuries in football, especially at the youth level where children of much different sizes compete against one another, due to their age of puberty. A lot of doctor visits with this sport. That being said, I love it!

Not to mention the increasing body of evidence that the helmets actually do more damage to the kids' brains than otherwise. I'd prefer my kid get into rugby than football. Safer sport.

In the same way I'd prefer my kid get into MMA than boxing.

 

[punisher73]

First off, IT'S LITTLE LEAGUE! Even 30 years ago when I played little league ball, the point was everybody plays and they didn't keep score. You were trying to teach the fundamentals of the game at that point and trying to let kids have fun while learning the game.

But, I have a couple of questions.

1) Is this kid playing more time than the other kids (ie: coach is purposely playing him alot to win) or is he playing the same average as all the other kids on the team? At that level, all of the kids should be playing the same because it's not about winning/losing as it is in higher levels of the sport.

2) Can the kid play in the next league up? I have heard of very talented kids competing one level up to keep increasing their skills and give them a challenge.

 

[jks9199]

First off, IT'S LITTLE LEAGUE! Even 30 years ago when I played little league ball, the point was everybody plays and they didn't keep score. You were trying to teach the fundamentals of the game at that point and trying to let kids have fun while learning the game.

I don't know about you -- but I don't ever remember not keeping score, even in t-ball. I didn't play Pee Wee/Anklebiter football -- but my brothers did. And their teams kept score.

 

[Steve]

I don't know about you -- but I don't ever remember not keeping score, even in t-ball. I didn't play Pee Wee/Anklebiter football -- but my brothers did. And their teams kept score.

Even when the league isn't keeping score, parents and kids ARE.

 

[punisher73]

Even when the league isn't keeping score, parents and kids ARE.

Back in T-ball, the coach didn't keep score. The parents did.