Pop Warner Football is a national football program for boys in the United States. Pop Warner also conducts a cheerleading and dance program for girls. The organization is named for Pop Warner, a famous college football coach from 1895 to 1938. It was founded in 1929 in Philadelphia.
Pop Warner Football sponsors a Super Bowl for football teams and conducts a Pop Warner National Cheer and Dance Championship. Players, cheerleaders, and dancers must meet academic requirements for eligibility.
In Pop Warner Football, boys compete against opponents of a similar age and size. Competition is held in nine divisions, from Tiny-Mite, for boys 5 through 7 years of age, to Bantam, for players from 13 to 16. Each division also has a weight range. The minimum weight is 35 pounds (16 kilograms) in the Tiny-Mite division to a maximum of 185 pounds (84 kilograms) in the Bantam division.
Nationally, Pop Warner Football is divided into eight regions. Locally, competition is organized by leagues, which are supervised by local associations. Teams that win their leagues are eligible to play in regional and national competitions. Games follow rules used in high school and college tackle football. The organization also sponsors flag football competition in four divisions, from ages 5 through 16. In flag football, a play ends when a defender pulls a piece of cloth, called a flag, from the belt or back pocket of the ball carrier.
The Pop Warner Spirit Program provides opportunities for girls to compete in nine cheerleading and dance divisions, from ages 5 through 16. The girls are organized into Spirit squads, which must be associated with football teams in the same age division. Traditional Spirit squads compete during the Pop Warner season, from August 1 through December 31. Year-Round Spirit squads compete from January 1 through July 31, but members of such squads must have participated in the previous Traditional Spirit season.
The website for Pop Warner Football at http://www.popwarner.com provides additional information about the organization’s activities.
