[yasr_overall_rating]
Peewee football is taken to the big screen in Texas.
With the Superbowl around the corner, football is on many people’s minds. We like watching some of the most highly skilled athletes in the world being pushed to edge of their endurance. We love those hard hits and tough players. And for those athletes, football has been in their blood since youth. One show focusing on those early years is Esquires’ “Friday Night Tykes.”
In its second season “Friday Night Tykes” shows the journey of parents, players and coaches in the Texas Youth Football Association. The players are 10 and 11 year-olds. It raises the questions of how far is too far and how tough is too tough when it comes to juvenile football. A narrator at the beginning ask the question that plagued the show last year, “Is Youth Sports Truly about the Kids?”
I’ll be honest, I haven’t heard anything about “Friday Night Tykes” prior to seeing the premier episode. So, all my opinions are based just on Season 2 Episode 1. And all I can say is I’m hooked. There are compelling characters, plotlines, controversies and lot of unanswered questions that you hope will be answered in the next episodes.
Episode 1 starts in San Antonio, Texas where all the upcoming players in TYFA go through certification to prove their ages and identity. While there, the show updates us on the teams and coaches who have had changes since last season. One big change was for the head coach of The San Antonio Jr. Bronco’s team. Coach Charles Chavarria (from last season) was suspended for the entire 2014 season, for encouraging targeting hits from his players. Basically asking his players to injure players on other teams. The new coach, Joseph Onofre, seems to have a different approach to playing. Our first view of him during the team’s first practice shows him teaching a safer way to tackle and saying he there will be “ no screaming and yelling at the boys.” A complete 180 from the previous coach. He exclaims “At the end of the day nobody cares about state titles. Everybody cares about the safety of the Kid.”
Another coach that got some scrutiny from last year was coach of the Colts, Marecus Goodloe. He was suspended for the spring season. He now has to reprove himself to the league and parents. He drew some fire when he encouraged his players to cuss on the field. This season, he says he’ll try to be a better coach, a better father, and a better Christian. But it doesn’t seem to take any time for him to start swearing on the field to players who are out of line.
One of the most interesting story lines in this season is that of Zoe Robinson, an 11 year-old girl starting with the Spartans. She’s a timid giant amongst her peers. Even though she towers above her competition she seems to be afraid to get too rough with them. Her mother is a powering force. Pushing her hard, and always in her face. It’s easy to feel sorry for Zoe. During one part of practice Zoe Robinson seems to be running out of steam doing laps. It’s real touching when her teammates band behind her encouraging her to finish. Zoe Robinson seems to just want to fit in and enjoy being with her team but her mother has other ideas.
There are a lot of story lines in this second season premier of “Friday Night Tykes.” It even ends with a controversial game. It will leave many wondering about it’s repercussions in the next episode.
This was fun to watch, but many people will find the toughness and brutality toward the kids tough to watch. Early on when a young player goes to the ground crying after a hard hit, his coach tells him to toughen up and walk it off. It seems to borderline on child abuse. A lot of people are going to disagree with some of the coaches methods, but that’s also why this will become must see TV for many. Controversy often draws the biggest crowds. While it’s not for everyone, I recommend you give it a try.
The new season premieres Jan. 20th at 9|8c on Esquire Television
