NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell attends a Pop Warner clinic in 2013.
Pop Warner announced a ban on kickoffs for its three youngest play divisions on Thursday — one day before a House of Representatives Committee on Energy and Commerce hearing on concussions in youth sports in Washington.
The youth league said in a release “it will become the first national football organization to eliminate kickoffs. The ban, which begins this fall, “is aimed at significantly reducing the amount of full-speed, head-on impact in games.”
Its three youngest divisions, Tiny Mite (5-to-7-years- old), Mitey Mite (7-9) and Junior Pee Wee (8-10), will instead begin a possession with the football on the 35 yard line.