Pop Warner Football

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 240,000 youths participated in Pop Warner-sanctioned football programs in 2008, and those numbers are continuing to grow.

Safety First

Kids compete with kids of similar age and size. Pop Warner is the ONLY youth football program (local, regional and national) that sets and enforces a strict AGE & WEIGHT MATRIX that reduces the risk and reality of injuries.

Did you know that Pop Warner football is safer than soccer? Pop Warner football has 12% fewer injuries per capita among 5-15 year olds than organized soccer in the same age range! (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, NEISS)

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.
 

What are the different classifications?

Here is a chart that shows how the different age and weight groups are arranged.

Group Age Weight
TINY-MITE
(older/lighter)		 5-6-7
N/A		 35-75 lbs
N/A
MITEY-MITE
(older/lighter)		 7-8-9
N/A		 45-90 lbs
N/A
JUNIOR PEEWEE
(older/lighter)		 8-9-10
11*		 60-105 lbs
60-85 lbs
PEEWEE
(older/lighter)		 9-10-11
12*		 75-120 lbs
75-100 lbs
JUNIOR MIDGET
(older/lighter)		 10-11-12
13*		 85-135 lbs
85-115 lbs
MIDGET 11-12-13-14 105-160 lbs

*The asterisked (*) provisions in each division allow the so-called “older but lighter” player to also qualify. The last year of eligibility falls under more stringent weight restrictions, per above. A child’s age on July 31 is his/her age for the season. A player may gain 1 pound per week after the second game, up to a maximum of 9 pounds.
 

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