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Learning The Game Safely!

Core Beliefs

Tiger Pride Youth Football believes strongly in making sure our young people learn to play the game in a fun and safe way.  Our ultimate goal is to develop a passion and love for the game of football in our athletes, so they can enjoy all the sport has to offer beyond their years in our organization.  Safety is a key component of this because if our athletes do not feel like the game is safe, they will naturally turn away from the game.  

Tiger Pride attacks player safety in multiple ways...

1. Quality and Safe Equipment

  • Our standards for equipment condition surpass even league standards
  • We put our hands on every single piece of equipment for inspection before it's assigned to your child

2. Our League

  • Mandates EMS on the filed for every game
  • Mandates coaches are USA Football certified
  • All practices open to parents for transparency

3. Our Coaches - our front line for safety and player development!

  • Undergo board interview process to ensure "Tiger Pride Way" mindset and commitment to safety and player development
  • USA Football certified 
  • 5:1 Player/coach ratio for optimal development opportunities

If there are ever any questions regarding safety, please always feel free to reach out to our safety director, Matt Limmer, at tpfcmlimmer@gmail.com.  

Equipment

Tiger Pride recognizes that outfitting our players in quality and safe protective equipment plays a large role in making the game safe to play.  A large portion of registration dollars are spent each year to provide our players with some of the best and safest equipment on the market.   

Tiger Pride outfits our players in equipment produced and manufactured by industry leader, Riddell.  The same Riddell logos you see NFL players wearing on Sunday, can be found on our Tiger Pride athletes on Saturdays.  In addition, we make sure our helmets are up to date and certified each season by taking part in the Riddell reconditioning program.  Please watch the short video to the right to learn about the reconditioning process.  

UYFL League

In order to provide a safe environment for our athletes to learn the game of football, Tiger Pride competes in the United Youth Football league that utilizes both an age-based and size-based model.  Not only are there age requirements for each division, but athletes must also meet a maximum weight requirement.  This makes sure that our athletes are competing against athletes their age and within a reasonable weight allowance.  See the weight limits for each division below...  

7 & 8 Year Olds

110 Pounds

9 & 10 Year Olds

130 Pounds

11 & 12 Year Olds

150 Pounds

In addition, the UYFL requires that all coaches complete both the CDC Concussion Awareness program and CDC Heat and Cardiac Arrest Awareness program annually.  The league also requires that home teams provide a certified EMT on both sidelines of each UYFL game.  

Our Coaches

Tiger Pride believes the number one way we can make the game of football fun and safe is through our coaches!  Each of our Tiger Pride head football coaches are interviewed by our board of directors before being approved by the board.  This process allows us to vet our head coaches on experience, knowledge of youth athletes, knowledge of, and the ability to teach, the latest skills and techniques of the game for player safety, and ability to communicate effectively with families. 

Tiger Pride also invests in the development of our coaches by providing coaching education opportunities annually.  All Tiger Pride coaches have the opportunity to attend any Glazier Football Clinic in the country including Pittsburgh.  In addition, we provide all of our coaches with on-line resources so they can improve upon their knowledge of the sport at their own pace as well.  

Below you will find all of the requirements we have of our Tiger Pride coaches...

  • All Head Coaches are required to be trained in USA "Heads Up" Shoulder tackling (see the intro video to the right)
  • All Coaches are required to submit up to date State Background Check and Child Abuse Clearances
  • All Coaches are required to complete the CDC Concussion Awareness certification annually
  • All Coaches are required to complete the CDC Heat and Cardiac Arrest Awareness certification annually

All coaches must meet these minimum requirements in order to receive board approval.