We went this route because my son and others wanted to play football. From my standpoint, flag football is closer to the game of tag than football. Our kids went from not knowing all the positions on the offensive line, to running complex plays. The development is great to watch.”

Andrew Trembath, Hastings Youth Coach

What is TackleBar Football?

It’s a unique combination of tackle football and flag football that teaches the correct targeting of making a safe tackle.

TackleBar football has made its way to one Hastings youth team, a group of third graders coached by Andrew Trembath and other Hastings dads.

“This program was brought to my attention by Glenn Petersen and Nick Gessner during our last flag football season,” explained Trembath. “We were all looking for a higher level for our children to grow into the next step of the sport. Once Cottage Grove agreed for us to have our own team, finding players was no problem. There was a lot of interest for something like this, but we lost some kids due to location.”

What is TackleBar Football? It’s a unique combination of tackle football and flag football that teaches the correct targeting of making a safe tackle. The safest tackle is made by the defender wrapping their arms around the midsection of the offensive player. TackleBar focuses on this wrap-up technique by placing two foam bars on the lower back of each player. The foam bars are held in place by rubber inserts on the harness worn by the players.

After seeing it firsthand, it is really a neat idea that functions well. During the final game of the season, kids were doing more tackling than grabbing the bars, but that is ok because of the transitional concept of the game play.

“We went this route because my son and others wanted to play football. From my standpoint, flag football is closer to the game of tag than football,” added Trembath. “Our kids went from not knowing all the positions on the offensive line, to running complex plays. The development is great to watch.”

The players were outfitted with the full complement of pads and helmets that the older kids wear with the exception of the additional harness that goes outside the uniform with the two bars on them.

TackleBar does have a little different set of rules also designed to teach the full tackle experience. The biggest difference is there is no true game clock or play clock. This is designed to be a learning league and coaches are on the field with the players during every play on both sides of the ball. Instead of a clock, they use a play count but they do suggest a 45 second play clock where the officials nudge the coaches to get the team moving if the official thinks they are taking too long. It is a very relaxed setup when it comes to things like the play clock and the game play. The officials have almost as big of an impact on the kids as the coaches do when it comes to teaching the game, which was amazing to watch.

Hastings finished with a 6-0-2 record, and Trembath was impressed with the athleticism of the kids.

“We had no losses on the season. We were a dangerous team that could threaten anyone. We have just a tremendous group of athletes. This third-grade class is something to behold. Of course, there is a lot of work left to do, but this group is extremely gifted,” he said.

The Blue team consisted of: Owen Cassidy, Leo Gessner, Knox Havard, Sawyer Hruza, Zayne Klintworth, Elijah Kummer, Jaxton Langeslay, Eli Mcgrath, Keaton McNamara, Luke Petersen, Brody Sieben, Cole Simpson, Caleb Stock, Landry Tennis and Clayton Trembath.

The Cottage Grove program has invited the team back for next year because their fourth grade league is tackle where Hastings is flag.

Could this work in Hastings?

Yes, it could, but it would require a change of the youth program here in Hastings. Currently, Cottage Grove’s youth football program is part of the Metro East association. Stillwater, Woodbury, Mahtomedi, Inver Grove and Mendota Heights are the communities that follow a similar program to Cottage Groves. First and second grades are flag football, third is TackleBar and fourth through eighth grades are all normal tackle football. The difference between Hastings and the Metro East group is they segregate the teams by grade where Hastings combines fifth and sixth grade onto the same teams. Hastings also does flag football through fourth grade.

Flag to tackle is a big transition and it was clear watching the TackleBar kids play, they were still adjusting to the full pads and the full contact aspect.

Now, changing the program from what Hastings currently has to fit what the rest of the Metro East are doing would mean more travel for games at a younger age, but each team would see many different teams instead of playing the same four or five teams multiple times.

“I'd love for the Hastings community to have something like this, and I believe there is adequate interest to support it,” added Trembath.

With basically the entirety of the High School Metro East Conference towns doing this, it is something Hastings should at least consider. It adds two additional years of tackling experience to the youth programs, which allows the older levels to focus less on the basics of tackling and more on the game knowledge.

In talking with the Hastings coaches, the kids seemed to really enjoy playing TackleBar and judging from the fans in attendance, the parents enjoyed it too. Maybe in the near future Hastings will be seeing this exciting change.