Seems like we have some aging jocks in the father ranks who want to relive their own glory days. First comes the scorekeeping. Then, ways will be found to give less and less playing time to the second-and-third-stringers. No scoring - let the kids enjoy the game without the adult-induced pressures.

By the by, your poll is skewed. I voted AGAINST the score policy and it did NOT register.

As they say in the Navy, belay my second comment - the poll result came through.

I'm all for every child in a youth league being required to play at least a quarter of the game, but scoring should remain. It's a great way to measure achievement. Even when kids play touch football at the park they keep score among themselves.

I can't think of a sporting event where a score is not kept. I agree completely that the score is way down the list of what the league and the coaches should be trying to achieve. And also that there will always be coaches that skirt the rules to "win". I also know that the majority of the kids that play would like to go on and play football or some other sport in high school, and possibly beyond high school. High school athletics is not the place to "learn" for the first time how to respond the good and bad end of a score. Call me old school, but I don't think it's really an improvement in the way youth sports have changed, with all of the travel teams and specialization on a single sport (and the de-emphasis of the lessons learned by being humble and gracious in victory and keeping your head up in defeat). This, in my opinion, is the primary job of youth coaches, particularly in team sports.

Scoring should remain. If this becomes a trend, future generations will lack discipline, leadership skills, good sportsmanship and hard work, all that come from any competitive sport.

I wasn't aware that WS football league did not keep score. However, the coaches know....the kids know (maybe not the 7-8 year olds!)....and the parents know. Team scores are kept in the Little League and youth basketball and seems like most of the psyches seem to be in tact. Kids are a little more resilient than we give them credit for. If coaches can down play the score a little and focus on the team play, special individual performances and effort, why not keep score. As far as I know this particular league does not have post season playoffs, so in my opinion the league has watered down the competitive aspect of it pretty well. Why not ask the players if they want to keep score?

If they dont keep score, why do the coaches stack the teams?

I think it's fine to keep score as long as the emphasis is on instilling good sportsmanship as well as an understanding and love (or like) of the game itself. I don't know how it works in WS football, but in WS baseball they have a draft which I suppose could lead to stacking teams by parent coaches. The unfortunate thing about WS baseball is that kids are told (I think by 3rd grade) that they either move up a level or don't. So basically instead of instilling a love of the game, you are telling these kids they are not good enough (at what, age 9??) to play with their peers (sometimes only a few kids are kept down). This seems more appropriate for a travel team, not a recreational league. I have no problem with All-Star teams--of course there are going to be better players. But for the basic teams, I think they should all play within their age group.