Going from flag to tackle football

My oldest child is nine and he played four years of flag football. He started when he was five and took to it pretty easily. Every year he was a stand out player. He first played through the YMCA. It was very laid back. Then he played through the NFL flag program and it was more rules, longer games, and they had referees.


We knew last year he was at the point. He was going to have to play tackle this year. I was very nervous. At his age Pop Warner put him in a 9,10, &11 age group. At 9 he was going to be one of the youngest and smallest on his team.
This wasn't the only change. We went from 1-2 practices to 3 practices a week 2 hours long with a game on Saturday. A FULL game I might add 2.5-3 hours long!
It was tough watching him get slammed into the ground, but it was exciting when he got his first big tackle.
I was worried he wouldn't play this year, but he is. He is the second string running back and he had two good carries at today's game. The 1st of the season.