Youth Football

ALEXANDRIA, La. — She’d never kicked a football until her first NFL Punt, Pass and Kick competition. But 6-year-old Thamerin Balthazar beat out local and sectional contests and will compete against two other Louisiana girls and one from Mississippi on Sunday in the Superdome.

PAYSON — The city of Payson has filed a misdemeanor assault charge against a volunteer youth football coach accused of knocking down an opposing player and giving him a concussion last month.

RENO, Nev. — Prosecutors will determine whether to file criminal charges against two Nevada youth football coaches of opposing teams who got into a fist fight after a game and bloodied each other’s faces.

A police report on the fight between Luis Perez and Frank Sanchez in West Wendover, along the Utah border, was being submitted to Elko County prosecutors for review, said police Sgt. David Wiskerchen.

PAYSON — The Utah County Attorney’s Office says it will not file felony charges against a volunteer youth football coach accused of knocking down an opposing player and giving him a concussion.

TUSTIN, Calif. — The league president and head coach of a children’s football team in Orange County have been suspended amid allegations that players were offered bounties to knock opponents out of games.

The executives presided over last year’s Tustin Junior Pee Wee Red Cobras, a team of mainly 10- and 11-year-olds.

ROY — On a sticky Wednesday evening earlier this month, there was something unusual about the Roy Gold Junior Midget team’s football practice in the uncut grass at Roy Junior High School: The sounds of the sport, the unmistakable smacks of crashing helmets and pads, were absent.

Because of safety measures the Wasatch Front Football League adopted this season, youth practices without the usual sounds of football collisions will now be common throughout the Top of Utah. The league provides youths from 8-15 in 19 cities and Hill Air Force Base the opportunity to learn and play tackle football.

Each WFFL-affiliated team is allowed four practices per week, but only two may be full-contact. There was no such limit in previous seasons. The other two practices must be no-contact, with players wearing helmets but not pads.