New Jersey Assemblywoman Valerie Vainieri Huttle (D- Bergen) is sponsoring "NJ Measure A3760", which prohibits children under the age of 12 from participating in tackle football.  This measure would also block school districts from allowing students under 12 from playing tackle football during interscholastic athletics, intramural athletics, physical education programs, or any athletic activity at school.

If you put a 12 year old kid on a football field without any prior experience, he stands a much greater chance of getting injured than a player that has been playing since he was 6 years old. 

The motiving force behind this bill is to prevent youth football athletes from sustaining long-term brain damage caused by repetitive tackling, hitting and blocking; however, no research has definitively linked long-term brain damage or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) to participation in youth tackle football. 

Many youth athletes use football as a means to escape communities overwhelmed with poverty, crime, drug abuse and minimal family structure.  The bonds built within youth football programs between players can last a lifetime and the mentoring relationship between players and coaches can ultimately assist players to rise beyond their surrounds to excel in society and life.  By denying youth athletes access to such positive influences during their most formative years of emotional and social development is exponentially more traumatic than any possible injury that may suffered on the field of play.

Please help spread the word via social media (#SAVEYOUTHFOOTBALL) and join us, youth athletes, coaches and parents throughout New Jersey in preventing the passage of this proposal and keeping youth tackle football an option for all youth athletes in our great State.