[Fly Like a Duck]

I think it's good for the boys to be hitting the weights in off season (summer) but I don't know how mandatory it should be. This is also time for families to vacation and for the boys to work and try to get themselves things they want or need, ie a car.

Exactly.

June never was a big deal until passing leagues came around in the mid-late 90's. Then it became one of those things where coaches felt like they were supposed to be practicing.

For years it was graduation right around Memorial Day weekend, and then it was "The weight room is going to be open four days a week in June, twice a day to allow kids to come in around their summer jobs, etc & See ya the last Monday in July."

....and, I'm not so sure the quality of football was any less. Matter of fact, I know it wasn't.

Personally, I think all of this crap in the summer is one of the several factors why many struggle with numbers like they do.

Football already plays MUCH less and practices MUCH more than it's biggest competitors (basketball and baseball), and it's not even close. But, nahh...that' has nothing to do with people struggling with numbers.

Personally, I think we start way to early, but that's for another topic. Many states don't allow practice until the 1st of August (some being our neighbors, in VA, OH, IN...and, in Long Island NY, they don't start until the 2nd-3rd week of August with games starting the week after Labor Day). If we ever took this thing back to being a fall sport like it was intended to be, instead of the 3/4 summer sport that it seems like now..I think you would see a lot more participation.