[walterwhite]

I like the idea of two teams in each grade in middle school. I've wondered if each grade had 25 players, why not have 11 play defense and 11 play offense? Let the coach split em up in a way that gives him the best chance to win. Would it hurt to make that mandatory?

We all want to win, me included. In fact, I'll admit that I hate to lose at any level. I do think winning breeds winning. That being said I still think the middle school could be very competitive and still get lots of people involved. Are we playing for middle school glory or to build a strong high school program? Football has so many different positions and aspects of the game that it should provide the perfect opportunity to play lots of people, certainly at the middle school level.Special teams, special situations, special packages such as goal line d, "hands" team, etc all offer playing time.As for two teams for each grade, at the start you might not have enough people to field two teams per grade level, but if you play lots of people and make it be known that you would like to field two teams later, you just might get something positive going.