FOOTBALL OVERVIEW
Pop Warner football has been around since the inception of the league in 1929 by founder Joseph J. Tomlin as a four-team conference in Northeast Philadelphia. Since then, participation has steadily increased to today's record numbers. Over 250,000 youths participated in Pop Warner-sanctioned football programs in 2010, and those numbers are continuing to grow. Are you interested in coaching, being a team parent, or volunteering in another capacity with the Dreadnaughts? Click here to complete the 2021 Volunteer application.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED BEFORE YOUR PLAYER CAN START PRACTICE
1) Original or Official Certified Copy of the player's birth certificate (request a certified copy if your player was born in Clay county here)
2) Copy of the player's last school report card (all four quarters) (if your child attends a Clay County Public school, you may obtain this through the Focus Parent Portal)
3) Complete physical on the 2022 Pop Warner Medical/Physical Form (must be dated after January 1, 2021 and stamped by a physician)
4) Complete the 2022 Pop Warner Participant & Parental Consent Form
5) Registration must be PAID IN FULL
SAFETY FIRST
Kids compete with other kids of similar age and size. Pop Warner sets and enforces a strict AGE MATRIX that reduces the risk and reality of injuries. For your convenience, we've provided the matrix breakdown below.
Pop Warner places value on safety measures that make a difference. That’s why we have also done things in football like reduce contact to 25% of practice time, eliminate kickoffs for our youngest divisions and require that any player who suffers a suspected head injury receive medical clearance from a concussion specialist before returning to play.
AGES & WEIGHTS
Leagues have options with how to structure their program. While leagues can continue the current structure where a player is placed in a division based on his or her age and weight they may also instead choose to register players based on age only. Currently, an estimated 75-80% of youth football nationally follows an age-only structure.
There are 5 Divisions of play, all determined by an age. A child's age on July 31 is his/her age for the season.
Division | Inclusive Birthdays |
5-6 (6U) | 8/1/15 - 7/31/17 |
7-8 (8U) | 8/1/13 - 7/31/15 |
9-10 (10U) | 8/1/11 - 7/31/13 |
11-12 (12U) | 8/1/09 - 7/31/11 |
| 13-14 (14U) | 8/1/07 - 7/31/09 |
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WHY THERE ARE NO PERSONAL STATISTICS
Pop Warner exists to use football, cheerleading, dance and a respect for education to develop strong, smart, responsible, healthy young men and women. We give them experiences that build their appreciation for and understanding of leadership, teamwork, and discipline.
While individual statistics may be more common, particularly among older football players, Pop Warner only recognizes the athletic accomplishments of the team, not the individual. We don't track personal tallies of touchdowns or yards rushing per game. We don't count sacks or blocked kicks. We applaud the athletic efforts of the team to reinforce the importance of teamwork, with each member.
We don't try to build stars. We don't want to over-inflate a young ego, nor do we want to risk injuring the self-esteem of a young person. Whether our kids have good days or bad, they are still an integral part of our team…and always will be.