Esquire Network‘s Friday Night Tykes has been one of the more controversial new shows of the year. The reality series, which airs its regular season finale March 25 at 9pm ET/PT, offered a glimpse into youth football as played by the 8- and 9-year-olds in the Rookies division of the San Antonio region of the Texas Youth Football Association (TYFA). Given the revelations of the potential for serious injury, especially head trauma, in recent years as related to the NFL, college and high school football, the ways in which parents and coaches could be seen pushing these children during the course of Friday Night Tykes — as well as the punishing hits the kids were taking — caused concern among some viewers.
Esquire Network has announced that a 90-minute special episode of Friday Night Tykes, called Tackling Tykes, will air April 1 at 9pm ET/PT to talk about these and other topics raised during the series. Esquire says that the program will “go beyond a mere season recap with the cast and will explore issues surrounding competitive youth sports in America.”
Tackling Tykes will be hosted by Kevin Frazier (The Insider), and will feature coaches, parents, the CEO from the TYFA, NFL players and sports experts such as psychologists and neurologists. Coaches and parents featured include Charles Chavarria and Lisa Connell of the Jr. Broncos; Marecus Goodloe and Paul Wingate of the Colts; Brian Brashears of the Predators and Fred Davis, Tony Coley and Eric Nolden of the Outlaws. Former NFL players Brandon Jacobs and Clinton Portis will also be featured.
From Esquire Network:
“Tackling Tykes features thoughtful discussion and some heated debates on topics such as safety, the role of coaches and parents, values learned in youth sports, and more. The core questions: How hard is too hard? How young is too young? What is the role of youth sports in our culture? Are we helping our children or hurting them by pushing them to get involved in youth sports at such a young age? Additionally, coaches and parents from Friday Night Tykes discuss their feelings about the passionate response the series garnered from viewers.”
Tackling Tykes premieres April 1 at 9pm ET/PT on Esquire Network.
Friday Night Tykes airs its regular season finale March 25 at 9pm ET/PT.
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Friday Night Tykes image: Walter Iooss/Esquire Network
How perverted has the TV public become, that they consider watching children being abused as entertainment. Regardless, as to whether it’s staged or not, there is a problem if the public actually enjoy this show.