Parent's Guide to USA Football 12U Youth Tackle Football 2026

USA Football's Levels of Contact describe how much contact a drill involves:

• Air: no opponent, no contact.
• Bags: hitting a bag or pad, not another player.
• Control: set speed, the coach picks the winner in advance, contact above the waist, everyone stays on their feet.
• Control to ground: set non-competitive speed, predetermined winner, a controlled take-down is allowed.
• Thud: competitive speed through contact, no predetermined winner, above the waist, players stay up, quick whistle.
• Live: competitive speed in game-like conditions.

Only Thud and Live count as full contact, and those are the minutes USA Football recommends limiting each week.

USA Football recommends leagues prohibit these high-risk contact drills:

• Bull in the Ring (also called King of the Circle)
• Oklahoma drill
• Board drill (offensive line vs. defensive line in-line run blocking with no run/pass or direction option)
• Pods / 3-spot without a run/pass read

It also advises against any full-contact drill with a player ratio greater than 2-to-1, and drills where players can win only through contact or collision rather than with speed or angles.

USA Football's goal is to remove drills with high head-impact exposure and little carryover to skill development.

USA Football recommends no more than one full-contact game or live-action scrimmage per week. In the postseason, at least three days should pass between full-contact games.

The aim is to keep the total physical and mental load on a developing player manageable.

No. USA Football recommends no full-contact practices on consecutive days, and that includes the day after a game or live-action scrimmage. The break gives soft tissue time to recover, and it matches NFHS and NCAA rules and recommendations.

USA Football's first practice guideline is heat acclimatization: practice intensity and equipment should be introduced gradually over time, with hydration, rest and safe conditions prioritized early in the season.

USA Football also recommends matching practice frequency and length to a child's stage of development and increasing workload carefully, in small steps.

So expect the first practices of the season to be lighter and in less equipment, building up to full pads and contact over the following days.

From the CDC's HEADS UP guidance for children aged 5 to 17:

What you might see

• Looking dazed or confused
• Sudden trouble remembering or concentrating
• Slower answers and reaction times
• Clumsiness
• Vomiting soon after the injury
• Changes in mood, behavior or personality

What your child might tell you

• Headache, dizziness or balance problems, nausea, vision problems, sensitivity to light or noise, tiredness
• Feeling foggy, groggy or slowed down; trouble thinking clearly or remembering
• Feeling anxious, irritable, sad or more emotional than usual
• Sleeping more or less than usual, or trouble falling asleep

Symptoms can take hours or days to appear and are usually worst 1 to 2 days after the injury, so keep watching after the game.

The CDC HEADS UP steps for coaches and parents:

1. Remove your child from play right away if they show any sign or symptom of a concussion after a bump, blow or jolt to the head or a hit to the body. When in doubt, sit them out.
2. Check for danger signs. Call 911 or go to the emergency department if you see any of these:
   • seizures or convulsions
   • not recognizing people or places
   • repeated nausea or vomiting
   • unusual behavior, increasing confusion, restlessness or agitation
   • loss of consciousness, increasing drowsiness, or can't stay awake
   • slurred speech, weakness, numbness or poor coordination
   • a headache that gets worse and doesn't go away
   • one pupil larger than the other, or double vision
3. Keep them out for the rest of the day and until a healthcare provider clears them.
4. Don't judge severity yourself. Have a healthcare provider evaluate your child.

Only when a healthcare provider clears them. Under CDC HEADS UP guidance, a child with a suspected concussion stays out of sports the day of the injury and until a healthcare provider says it's OK to return. Return to sports is a medical decision, usually done in gradual steps.

To help the provider and your child:

• Tell the provider how the injury happened and how hard the hit was, whether your child lost consciousness, had memory loss or seizures, any previous concussions, and any medicines or natural remedies they take.
• Schedule a follow-up with your child's regular provider. If symptoms last more than 2 to 4 weeks, see a specialist in brain injury.
• Offer emotional support: frustration, sadness and feeling left out are common while kids sit out.

Let the coach know about the injury and any clearance, so the team can watch for symptoms coming back.