Punishing the achievers comes to elementary school football.

Punishing the achievers comes to elementary school football. Sixth grader Demias Jimerson of Malvern, Arkansas is so good that he scores every time he touches the football. Instead of celebrating his talent, they’ve put a limit on how many touchdowns he’s allowed to score per game. Welcome to Obama’s America, Demias, where it’s assumed that you stole your rushing yards from the oppressed masses and where they must be redistributed to the other team so that the outcome is equal.

This post was last modified on April 12, 2021

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  • OK the NFL is going to keep their eyes on this boy and this little boy needs to keep at it and not give up. Overall he will have the last laugh. I really dislike this. Punishing (over)achievers is disgusting. This world is being controlled by nerdy lazy ass freaks who are angry because they never got the girl in High School.

  • HMMM, I find it interesting that the leftists haven't already contradicted themselves by claiming that preventing Demias from doing his best is RAAACCCIIISSSTTT!!!! And that it's all a right wing plot to keep a black kid down!

  • Too bad there wasn't a similar rule limiting attractive alpha males in my high school from dating all the girls. Forced abstinence was exceedingly difficult to bear.

  • Maybe its just that everybody else is soooo bad at the game this kid shines like a super star? Maybe he needs special training to understand that his lesser opponents must share in his mediocre talents? Nah. The kid should cut loose every chance he gets. If the skools are the only place he gets to do his thing, that's too bad. It would be good if he could find outlets for his talents that promote his ability rather than stifle it. Some not-skool league play or something, perhaps? Lets see that get on the nooos.

    • Okay. Messed up. This kid already IS playing for a league outside of skool. My bad. This is unfettered insanity. I remember when my son played T-ball 26 years ago or so and they didn't keep score. I wondered how they intended to stop the kids themselves from keeping track. After all, six year old kids were already counting to 10 or even 20 back then. Now my 6 year old granddaughter can count. Same way. So now, if a kid can smack a game with natural ability it must be stopped! Got it.

  • I learned to read when I was about three and was fully capable of reading and writing when I entered kindergarten. In first grade, I was reading at a fifth-grade level. By fifth grade, I was reading at a high school level.

    I mention this because we used to have to do these reading comprehension things called SRAs. Those of you from a certain age, who attended elementary school in the late 70s-early 80s, may remember them. They were little booklets, color-coded by difficulty level, and once you read them you had to answer some questions to show that you'd retained and comprehended what you read.

    One of my fourth grade teachers would not allow me to be first to turn in my SRA sheets. It wasn't that she didn't believe I'd finished them--she did--but she explained that it wasn't FAIR to the other kids for me to be first all of the time.

    This was in 1979-1980. I was hoping that we'd advanced somewhat in elementary education since then. Incidentally, I'll bet Mrs. Johnson votes Democrat.

    • And I was brought up in the 50's and 60's. where I was told in no uncertain terms that extra credit was actually REQUIRED for me, since I was doing better than most of the rest of the kids. Eventually they took me out of general classes all together and put me in a "special" class for gifted kids. In THAT class, I felt like a moron in comparison! A good athlete now, but as adolescence hits, that may change. Let him enjoy it while he can, but I agree with pulling him out if they are comfortably ahead, and givng other kids a chance to play and develop.

      • They had SRA's in the 60's, too. I did them in 6th grade in 1966. Went through the whole thing before the school year was even over. We did extra credit stuff, too. I usually had plenty of time because I'd get my regular stuff done way ahead of time. It's called life, competition, survival.

        Pulling kids out who do exceptional in my world is a bad thing for them and the other kids. The one being pulled for doing too well gets the message that it's bad to be exceptional. The kids being put in get the message they don't have to try to succeed.

        This is PC BS and should be banned. It also makes the kids who really try and play a game well suffer because when they put the ones who can't hack it in, the result is often that they lose a game and it's unjustified.

        • I started doing extra credit assignments in the second grade. While the other kids, who probably didn't have their mother reading to them every night since they were born, were struggling with reading and basic math, I was becoming an expert on Thomas Edison. I didn't feel singled out, overworked, "special," or any of that. I just got to read some cool books that the others didn't have time for.

  • We can only hope they don't keep score and that every kid receives the same trophy at the end of the year. Wouldn't want to traumatize the children by measuring success or failure. Some high schools in Kentucky did away with valedictorians last school year because they thought that those who came close but lost would have their feelings hurt.

  • ' “I’m gonna run hard and bring our team to victory,” said Jimerson. Then he added, “but God always comes first, before anything, and grades second.” '

    From the mouths of babes...

    Oh, and now I understand why the public school is trying to put him in his place. Damn stinking Christers gettin' all uppity and in-your-face again, huh?

  • It's the whole liberal philosophy in single example. Results must be "fair," not opportunity. Kids are smarter than adults; they know who's best. Their self-esteem doesn't go up if the bar is lowered.

      • Who decides? They same a-holes who don't want to keep score in childrens sports. But I'll let you in on something, despite the fact the adults & the youth leagues are not keeping score, THE KIDS ARE. They know who is worth what out there, & they want to win. They all have dreams of the wealth & fame that come with athletic success, & they know they won't be on the Wheatie's box if they are average. They know they better be really good if they want a shoe contract, even if the dolts running youth sports try to take away the compititive part of youth sports.

  • It's important to keep any one kid from doing too well because otherwise there might be some **gasp!** competition among the other kids to try to do as well. Remember, great players don't help anyone. They don't inspire others to greatness or give anyone else incentive to work harder. They just make everyone else feel inferior. I'm shocked they let this rotten little over-achiever play at all!

  • I think the coach is the person who failed to display a modicum of good sportsmanship here. Get a comfortable lead and let the rest of the team play. If it starts going south, put him back in. Your offensive line will never develop otherwise and the defense guys are gonna have to work harder. This rule ever being put in place is the result of a coach failing his team. Hill's coach. That age, a star will really stand out. He gets to 7th grade on up things will even out.
    My girls played soccer at that age. They were real good and their coach was able to teach them sportsmanship by reeling in the stars a bit after a lead was established. Pro teams won't even run up an embarrassing score on a lesser team.
    I like the way this young man is handling things. His attitude and ethics will get him far in life.

    • I totally agree with MGAP. Yes, I do think this is a stupid-ass rule. But the coach should take care of it on his own. A kid who is great in junior high may have stopped growing. But a kid who is a little chubby and slow in seventh grade may grow to be one helluva player. Why run off kids by doing this.

      I have been involved in sports for nearly my entire life, coaching, playing and writing about...and there is one thing I always tell parents (some who are friends) about getting too excited because little Johnny scores every time he touches the ball in junior high or Pop Warner football.....

      America is filled with 9th grade football teams that went undefeated....and it means NOTHING to how they will play as seniors.

      • That being said. I hope the kid does well and is a star for some high school and then gets a scholarship to play some great ball for either Pitt or Auburn!

        He seems like a nice boy.