4th grade football

Ok, so I am sitting at the football field yesterday watching 3rd and 4th graders tackle eachother to the ground - some rejoicing in their ability to pull their opponent to the ground, some frustrated that they didn't make their tackle or score the touchdown, and yet some picking the grass, daydreaming - (so funny when you see a kid out there like that who totally doesn't want to be there but mom or dad signed them up). What I think is fabulous though about little league football is the amount of kids who can succeed on the field. Other sports are so individually focused (baseball - you make an error and everyone knows, or basketball, where there are 5 kids on the court) but football - a slightly obese child, who has the ability to sack the quarterback, jumping up in triumph and celebrating his skill is totally FAB. I am not a huge fan of football - but I am a HUGE fan of pumping up kid's self esteem. Kids are so fragile - they pay attention to everything and this has become apparent to me when my 10 year old mentions things to me that I would have thought he didn't notice or care about (like what another parent said to him after the game or how a friend treated him at school). Building kid's self esteem is so important and football seems to be an avenue to several kids to experience the chest bump, the high five, the "way to go - you ROCK" feeling!