How to deal with Late Hitting in Pee Wee Football

My son gets very upset when people are hitting him after the whistle or when they grab his mask even before the whistle when blocking.

He enjoys football except for this. He has fun at practice but las tnight we played a team where the kid he was put up against most of the time, kept grabbing his mask and throwing him down.

He doens't understand why they are doing this since our coach stresses this is not acceptable and my kids are a bit naive in why someone would not follow the rules.

DH and I just don't know how to have him handle this? Do we tell him to toughen up, in a nice way, do we tell him to let the coach know when this happens, do we tell him to speak up to his opponent? We don't want him to be the whiney kid, but we also don't want him to get frustrated and quit becuase of others not following the rules if there is something we can do to help him deal with it.

Thanks for any advise you can give me.

Re: How to deal with Late Hitting in Pee Wee Football

There is alot going on during the game , so much so that the coaches and refs realy don't catch everything. So if it continues to happen, tell your son to let the coach know, so that way the coach can point out to the opposing coach or to the ref. I'm not sure how old your son is but being the mom of a 12 year old and 8 year old, both whom have played ball for a long time now, that is definitely the best way to handle it.

Re: How to deal with Late Hitting in Pee Wee Football

He is 6, and I don't see it even happening and I am only focusing on 2 children on the field, lol. I can't imagine being the coach and seeing it every time.

I will tell him to tell the coach, I just didn't know if this was going to make him a tattle tale, kwim. That was my first thought, but I also want to kick the 6 year old that grabbed his helmet, so I wasn't sure if that was a good idea, lol.

Hopefully he doens't have to leave the field crying again, it was so sad he was so upset, and tired so I am sure that added to it.

Thanks!