Bend Park and Rec ending tackle football program; flag football numbers increasing

(Update: adding comments from Bend-La Pine middle school football coach)

BEND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- Flag football is growing, while tackle football is seeing a decline in players.

Since 2019, youth football in Central Oregon has seen a shift.

In the past few years, the increased awareness and knowledge about concussions, injuries, and new initiatives have changed the way parents think about putting a football in their kid’s hands.

Steve Blackmarr, the head coach for Bend-La Pine eighth-grade football, acknowledges that. 

“When to start tackle football is obviously a highly debated topic,” Blackmarr said Thursday. 

Blackmarr, the athletic director for Pacific Crest Middle School, said more and more kids are playing flag football.

“We did see a really rapid acceleration in the number of kids who came out for flag football, including seventh and eighth grade,” Blackmarr said. 

From 2019 to 2022, the Bend Park and Rec District's tackle football numbers decreased every year.

In the same period, for flag football, the numbers increased every year, excluding a canceled division from a lack of coaches.

Cascade Indoor Sports flag football leagues for this winter are full.

Next fall, BPRD’s tackle program is not returning, while it expects even more interest in flag football.

Nationally, flag football has grown 6.3 percent each year, while tackle football has declined by 2.2 percent, according to a 2021 PR Newswire report. 

The NFL Play Football initiative attributes flag football to growing the game and encouraging kids to play tackle at a later level.

Blackmarr said playing flag instead of tackle at a young age does not hold players back. 

“I still see kids really quickly catching up in seventh grade,” he said. 

However, for some it can be a total replacement for tackle football.

“I think it's both," Blackmarr said. "You’re going to have some parents whose kids love football, and they want them to continue to participate, but they're not quite ready to take that step into contact yet.”

“There are some who for whatever reason decide they don’t want to enter contact football. It could be because of other sports they’re focused on,” he added.

Blackmarr said safety is often a concern of local parents.

“Our No. 1 priority is the kids' safety, so whenever there’s a doubt, there's no doubt so we pull them out and go through the necessary protocols,” Blackmarr said. 

But Blackmarr said there is still a demand for tackle football.

He said Pacific Crest's seventh- and eighth-grade football teams had the most combined players on them (65) since 20-16.