Pop Warner Football
Pop Warner football was founded by Joseph J. Tomlin in 1929. In its early days, Pop Warner Football program was a four-team conference in Northeast Philadelphia. Since then, participation has steadily increased to today's record numbers. Initially it was called Junior Football Conference. However, it was renamed Pop Warner Conference after American football coach, Glenn Scobey "Pop" Warner joined the organization. By 1938, the Pop Warner Conference had 157 teams which represents neighborhoods in big cities and towns with most of the players were at least 15 years old and a few were over 30. In 1959, Pop Warner Conference became a non-profit organization and was renamed to Pop Warner Little Scholars. By the 1960s, the organization had over 3,000 teams. In the 1970s, Pop Warner expanded into a cheerleading program for girls. In 1983, a flag football program was offered. As of 2005, Pop Warner Little Scholars has over 150,000 5-16 year old boys and girls participating in their programs in the United States. In addition, they have teams in Mexico and Japan making the estimated current total over 5,000 Pop Warner football teams. Pop Warner has nine different age/weight ranges:Over 250,000 youths participated in Pop Warner-sanctioned football programs last years, and those numbers are continuing to grow.
Since its early days, the Pop Warner programs philosophy has been that athletics and scholastics go hand in hand. At every level, Pop Warner programs seek to develop well-rounded young men and women who learn not only the fundamentals of football, cheerleading, and dance but also the importance of education in an atmosphere conducive to developing sound character while having a good time. Kids compete with kids of similar age and size. Pop Warner is the ONLY youth football program (local, regional and national) that sets and enforces a strict AGE & WEIGHT MATRIX that reduces the risk and reality of injuries. Pop Warner Football is also one of the safest athletic program. Pop Warner football has 12% fewer injuries per capita among 5-15 year olds than organized soccer in the same age range! (U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, NEISS).
Pop Warner only recognizes the athletic accomplishments of the team, not the individual. Pop Warner Football does not track personal tallies of touchdowns or yards rushing per game. As the only national youth sports organization that requires scholastic aptitude to participate, Pop Warner is committed to developing America's young people on the field and off. Each year Pop Warner continues to expand its efforts in team and activity participation, as well as visibility and outreach in the community.
