The Youth Clippers are the Portsmouth Youth Football Association’s entry level program into the Youth Tackle class of the Northeast Junior High Football League.  It consists predominately of 3rd and 4th graders but available to 2nd graders who turn 7 before the first league game. This often is your child’s first experience into the realm of tackle football and the coaches know that.  Practices are generally twice a week and range from 1 to 1.5 hours.  There is one game per weekend that lasts roughly 1 hour.

At this level, coaches focus on, conditioning (this is probably the first time your child has put on a helmet and shoulder pads), team building, positional responsibilities, play calling, and fundamentals of heads up tackling.   Practices are scripted to keep your child’s attention and develop them as a player.  Most of all they are designed to be fun.  A progressive contact approach is adopted before advancing to full contact drills.  Full contact drills are limited during practice to reduce your child’s exposure to impacts.

During games, coaches are on the field with the players and referees use their time to correct behavior when they see it rather than penalize minor rule infractions. At the Youth Tackle level there are no kickoffs or punts during the game and weight restrictions are in place for ball carriers (Running Back, Quarterback, and Wide Receivers).  These rules are in place for the safety of all Youth Tackle participants.

Our goal is to keep your child safe and engaged while he or she in introduced into organized football while developing sportsmanship, camaraderie, and self-confidence.