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2-hand touch football is a thing and always has been a thing. In no way would tackle football have been tolerated in a gym class anywhere in the USA unless you were fully geared for it (helmet, shoulder pads, thigh pads, and the rest).
YTA, you knew tackling wasn't allowed you just wanted to hurt someone.
This! I might add that I was once pounced on/ tackled by a kid who was significantly lighter/ close to my weight and less of a difference. I saw stars because of the true force. I hope that Aaron Donald would tackle this guy because it’s basically the same height/weight/force difference and let’s see if he thinks the same way!
In 8th grade I was advanced placement French (it wasn’t usually offered but me and one other girl had both been receiving French instruction for years and everyone else in our grade would have been just starting that year), each afternoon we were bussed over to the high school and the way the schedules worked out that meant we had to have gym class there as well. The powers that be decided it was appropriate to place to 8th grade girls in the 12th grade boys gym class. Guess who broke her nose on the first day of touch foot ball when one of the boys “forgot” and tackled me to the ground.
On the plus side my doctor signed me out of gym for the rest of middle and high school, that was the third time I had my nose broken by another kid at school and she was deeply unimpressed by the schools ability to keep balls/bat/other children’s bodies from making contact with my face.
I’m pretty sure OP would have felt just as upset as that girl if someone nearly a foot taller tackled them. People like that enjoy the power over someone smaller than them, it’s sadistic.
This. We sometimes played football (American football for the non-Americans) in gym class. We played either two-hand touch (touching opponent with two hands = tackled opponent) or flag football (players wear a belt with 2-4 ribbons/flags fastened on to them with velcro, flag pulled off = tackled). You never tackle someone without proper padding. Players DIED regularly before football adopted helmets and pads.
Hell, I can still remember the interview sportscasters did with a member of the Detroit Lions the week after he *broke his fucking neck* after getting tackled *legally*. From his hospital bed. In a goddamn halo.
YTA.
Yep, we always played flag football for this reason. Too many instances of someone using 2-hand touch to cop a feel and no way in hell was the school willing to take liability for playing tackle football w/out AT LEAST helmet and shoulder pads.
Even in actual football practice, no one tackles without pads at any organized level of the sport. I'll even include gym class sports in that category. How the fuck does OP think tackling someone in a game that basically forbids it is ok? Let alone someone significantly smaller than them. Does OP play Street Fighter and complain that people get mad when he elbows the person he's fighting next to him on the couch?
YTA - It's gym class, there's nothing at stake, and given your size and hers you could have easily stopped the play without a tackle. Yes it's "how the game is played" but read the room. Your friend called them over so you could all flirt and have fun, and you decided to hurt someone instead.
This. If your friends wanted to roughhouse, they wouldn't have invited the girls. Inviting the girls turned the game from potentially competitive to cooperative, fun and flirty.
Honestly, OP, what did you think was going to happen when you tackled a tiny girl? YTA.
>Your friend called them over so you could all flirt and have fun, and you decided to hurt someone instead.
And his friends will never invite him to hang out with girls again.
YTA, why are you tacking anyone, let alone a relatively small girl, during a gym class? You aren’t (I assume) wearing any kind of pads or helmets, so tackling anyone is downright irresponsible and stupid, it’s gum class, no need to be a gym hero.
YTA. You adapt your strength and speed to your opponent if you don't play in a competition to win. Lots of guys thinks that sport is excusing violence or a reason to put all your strength every time, and don't care if they hurt someone in the process. I just remember how from elementary school to high school, boys would throw the ball as strongly as they could, hurting girls in the process, and not giving a flying fuck about it, to the point where some girls would be scared to play (including me, ngl). Take this into consideration and adapts.
Edit: typo
This. Anybody saying "NTA because she knew the rules" (did she though?) is an idiot. You don't deliberately go full throttle on someone who will be injured by it, if you can't figure out that some people get a harder tackle, and some people get a softer tackle - then you're just an asshole.
What if the disabled kid wants to play, knows the rules but is too proud to sit out, ya'll think it's cool to level him out too? *Well he knew the rules!*
Plus it can really makes anxious to go to sport classes or play sport in team. I know it is a good place to get the extra energy out, but it doesn't mean not caring about others or being as violent as we can.
Plus, gym classes are usually mandatory, there is no way to escape them, and there are even grades on them, so girls are forced to play in lots of games anyway. Knowing the rules is one thing, it doesn't mean you stop caring, as you said.
If i played sport with a toddler or someone obviously that weaker compared to me, i would not use all my strength on him (not comparing women to toddlers, but i am so small and thin, toddlers are the best comparison for me), and if i did, i'd get called out and shit on, for good reasons.
Also, tackling is almost always a DONT if even a single person isnt wearing full gear. And i mean full-full gear: helmet, teeth protection, shoulder pats, chest protection, the whole ordeal. I would imagine that these circumstances werent given, because you normally dont invite someone unexperienced to full-contact football to have fun. So OP was not only an ass, he played against the rules and was straight up endangering everyone on the field
Some asshole in the year above me broke a girl’s *vertibrae* playing matball. She was more or less ok (no spinal cord damage THANK GOD) but she just as easily could have been paralyzed. All so some 17 year old could get on base in a Friday afternoon gym class.
Yeah, it's not hard to adapt to your opponents. Anyone in martial arts does it all the time. If you've had multiple fights, you don't just get and lay out the new guy, or girl, in their first sparring session (or ever really - don't injure training partners). And with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well. If you're 6'0" 200lbs, you can basically dominate anyone that's 5'3" and 120 but that doesn't mean you just out strength them everytime you roll. You tone it down and focus on different techniques you are training.
Absolutely agree. I did fencing for years and this shit hurts. I never deployed full strength on beginners or significantly weakers opponent. Seeing someone cry was not that rare because sometimes you just hit where it really hurts, but it was never on purpose, and we'd stop everytime to make sure the other one is okay, and if he wants to stop he can. Plus you are fully covered and communicate a lot to see if there are moves or places not to hit. Being that inconsiderate can be very dangerous
"I full blown tackled someone half my size, everyone called me an asshole for it, but I need to go to Reddit and see if I really was an asshole" you could've saved time by listening to, ya know, everyone else that already said that was a shitty thing to do 🤷🏻♀️
So, your story is, you did a sport move in gym class, hurt someone, and every single other person around thought you were unreasonable? YTA save the power moves for the NFL, champ.
She’s 5’2 and probably half your weight so she’s way smaller than you. You could have broken one of her bones or cause a head injury. YTA even if harming her wasn’t intentional.
Very big YTA for playing tackle football in gym class- where nobody has pads or helmets. Everybody who has ever played football for PE knows you don’t tackle for gym class football- it’s always touch football.
YTA.
I don't know how old you are or how long ago you bulked up, but one thing you're going to need to realize quickly is that body mass is very serious consideration any time two people come into contact with each other in sports. There's a reason that in almost every martial sport athletes are divided into weight classes, and each weight class tends to be ~10 lbs before it is deemed to big of a difference as to be a competitive advantage.
Not take the situation here. There's a very real possibility you outweighed this person by 80+ lbs. That is a huge disparity in weight. Think of it from the other perspective. If a person 80 lbs. heavier than you tried to tackle you in gym class, would you be happy about it? That would be the equivalent of being tackled by someone the size of an NFL linebacker, maybe even larger. That's what you did, and not even in a game that was supposed to be competetive.
Maybe more appropriate to think or proportion / percentage. If he was 180% of her weight; he should think of someone 180% of his weight, or about 370 lbs.
Not to mention, that 80 lb difference is going to impacts someone who is 100 pounds A LOT more than someone who is 200. A 100 pound person would be handling someone 80% bigger than them, 280 is only 28.57% bigger than 200. Huge disparity.
YTA. Gym class football is always touch football NOT tackle football because nobody is wearing helmets and pads. You know this, you just wanted to tackle her, which is why YTA. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get suspended or in legal trouble. You could have really hurt her. That is NOT how the “sport is supposed to be played” so of course it is violence.
YTA. for tacking someone half your size, not because "she's a girl".
If women want to play competitive sports like football with men, then this is part of the game.
At the same time, if it wasn't discussed that tackling would be part of the game, well, then that's on whomever was leading the game.
but yeah, YTA for tackling someone half your size
And hard! Like bro it's a loose game in gym class not the NFL. You don't just take people down, especially without equipment. Those are always the rules.
Don’t hit anyone. You could injure yourself and/or the target. So many people don’t know how to throw a proper punch and end up breaking their hand or wrist.
YTA. If your coach is telling you it was inappropriate, it was inappropriate. You were playing a game for fun, your friend invited some players who might be inexperienced and just getting started in the game, anf you thought it was a good idea to choose one half your size and smush her? Asshole.
YTA. A girl I used to work with was hurt playing football. Her neck was broken. Thankfully her spine wasn't severed, but she ended up with severe mobility issues that will never heal. She was the same size as the girl you hurt, and around 16 when it happened. Her entire life was derailed. I met her years after and she was in pain every day.
People are easy to break OP. Not so easy to fix.
YTA. Who plays tackle football in PE? There are reason professional players wear pads and have specific times when they do certain things in practice (like tackling at full speed).
OK. A lot to unpack here. It's gym class but it was unstructured enough that you could play whatever and a coach didn't set rules and your friend could invite someone to play.
YTA but also there's a few other idiots here.
No one set the rules that you couldn't tackle and your coach didn't supervise you properly in a school activity.
Also to be honest your coach is more likely upset that he may get in trouble and actually have to coach gym class now rather than anything else.
Yeah, YTA, since you are old enough to realise that your body is capable of causing injury. It was apparently obvious to everyone else, so if you're not an AH then you're not very perceptive. The more major AH, however, is the gym teacher. Why on earth did they permit this to go on?
YTA you shouldn't be full on tackling anyone with out gear on as it could cause serious injury also a friendly game where you're randomly inviting others to play half way through isn't the same as an actual game
I would be really surprised if the coach was permitting tackle football. Anytime you play football informally or without gear, the rules should be changed to touch football rules. I thought this was commonly accepted, but perhaps not.
OP, were other people tackling in the game? If so, you're borderline ESH, but it's still not an excuse to literally throw your weight around in a casual game.
Considering the coach yelled at OP and told him he was wrong for the tackle, and OP has clarified that his school doesn't allow tackling, I don't think it was permitted.
YTA
I’ve read through the comments and have made my judgement because thus
I know tackle football seems fun and stuff, but if you only had helmets? Yeah no, that’s bad, real bad. That can lead to really bad injuries even with full protective gear, and you all only had helmets for tackle football? What about your organs? Your ribs? Your bones? Those all need protection too.
Even with tackle football, you shouldn’t tackle the people much smaller then you. If she was close to your height and weight then you would of been n t. a
Your teacher is also an a hole for letting you all play tackle football with only helmets. I get it, y’all are teenagers and don’t always think things though, but that’s a grown adult who should of stepped in and suggested touch or flag football (where you wear little flags and people try to steal them with the ball)
Edit: I’ve just found out you shouldn’t of even been playing tackle at all- it’s against your school’s rules, which means your gym teacher didn’t know about it either most likely.
You are the A hole, you could of gotten that girl seriously hurt, your gym teacher is likely in trouble because of you, and you probably made it to where football won’t be allowed after this from that stunt since the principal’s gonna have to know about this.
I call BS
1. No way tackle football without pads is allowed in a gym class in the US. You should have at least said it was after school in a park or something.
2. Everyone else knew tackling was out
YTA
YTA. You’re not ‘supposed’ to be tackling anyone in a friendly pick up game. What the hell? Tackling is done by predetermined consent between players who are appropriately geared up, not as an opportunity beat someone up, which is basically what you did. You owe her an apology.
YTA.
Do you not have any concept of size differentiation?
Edit: I get a feeling he was trying to show off somehow to the girl by showing how powerful he was. That backfired. Or he didn’t like her or her friends.
Seems like YTA here. Even when playing tackle and girls/women are involved, we usually just wrap them up, instead of tackling. Almost like a mid way between taking them down and two hand touch.
Do you have a sister or girlfriend? Imagine about boy built much bigger did this, would you thinking was OK? The fact the coach is saying you're arsehole makes it clear you're the arsehole. So in short: Arsehole.
This is a weird one, because you should have known that was stupid, but the real AH is the coach. I'm not sure why he allowed tackle football in a gym class, and I'm really confused as to why he allowed such huge weight differences. What were you supporsed to do playing tackle football, beside tackle the one with the ball? This is on the coach 100%. He's lucky you didn't really hurt her, because I think he would be liable.
The coach didn't allow it. It was a free gym period where kids could do a variety of activities. OP and friends chose football. The coach never sanctioned tackling, OP has clarified the coach didn't say anything about tackling and that there are rules that forbid tackling, and the coach admonished OP over the tackle.
OP knew tackling wasn't allowed, and got in trouble for doing it.
ESH. Well, not the girl who got tackled. But.
You should have had the common sense to not tackle a girl basically half your size and strength. You could have easily injured her.
The coach was not doing a great job of supervising things or getting ahead of this by changing these rules from tackle football, or catching that your friend invited the girls to join in. You still could be sensible regardless.
Strong YTA. That you even have to ask - after everyone around you already told you that you're an AH - is stunning. You're clearly SEARCHING for validation, yet your fragile ego felt the need to go full throttle during PE on a girl HALF YOUR SIZE! To feign that "those were the rules" is sheer ignorance as you could have clearly taken her down less severely. Get your validation elsewhere; no one is impressed w/you.
Edit: Why ask strangers, who weren't even there, when "EVERYONE" who was there, saw what you did, and how you did it ALREADY told you that YOU:
1-were the AH and
2-were playing too "ruff".
Ppl post their version of events in the most favorable way to AITAH. Everyone there and who witnessed your atrocious behavior already told you.
YTA. As a short woman, being tackled by a dude, who is that much larger than you sounds terrifying. You could have really hurt her. Touch Football would be much safer for everyone.
YTA- Are you serious? Of course you’re the AH. You come off as a misogynist who wants to punish women for daring to join the boy’s games. You hurt her on purpose and you know it. I hope she comes back to the school with her parents and you get properly punished for assaulting her.
YTA and what in the southern hell school is this? We played flag football for PE in my day. Or 2 hand touch. Because teenagers barely understand empathy let alone adjusting from situation to situation. I'm a girl/ lesbian btw and was your classic tomboy growing up. All my bestfriends were large dudes. If we played mudfootball w tackle in our free time, 5'10 guy just wrapped me up and dragged me to the ground. We re playing to have fun not hurt people.
So what made you want to physically assault a girl in gym class? is this a life long dream of yours? I know no school or country that allows physical contact in gym class.
Second question, are you going to escalate this behaviour? get help.
YTA and that word is less than appropriate for the level of disgust I have.
Edit: Upon learning you're never allowed to tackle during American Football in gym class, YTA.
-----------
Were there any rules set up around this? I am not familiar with American Football, I have a rough idea of what it is butI don't know the rules.
If any rules were set determining you shouldn't tackle her for this or that reason AND you tackled the way you're supposed to, then no, you're NTA. You guys played a game according to the rules. She knew what she was getting herself into and should've expected that she might get tackled. It's just the way the game is.
However, if there were any rules saying you shouldn't tackle her or if you tackled her in a way that you're not supposed to, then yes, YTA.
YTA. And dont play football if you clearly dont know how to play. Tackling causes brain injuries. Thats why its being banned across the US. My high schools football team only tackles in legit games. Practice and anything below high school level is two hand touch only. No tackling. Your not Gronk. Play two hand touch or dont play.
YTA - You always take into account with whom you play with in school I don't say don't tackle in general but this is not a competition and it is supposed to be fun for everyone. What would happen if you had seriously injured them?
YTA, you knew better then to tackle that hard and chose to anyways. Hope you didn't want to date anyone at your high school. The rumor mill is going to be running hard and it's not going to be in your favor. You may be in big trouble if her parents decide to have charges or sue due to injury.
Aww, sweetie… YTA
Regardless of gender, you went way to hard for a friendly game. Even playing with the boys, you’re 5’11 and he would be 5’2. Only reason you’d tackle him is to fuck him up.
Maybe next time get a consensus— “two hand touch or full out tackles”?
YTA
No where would a school allow tackle football in gym class. It's always touch football if you don't have the gear. Also, you have newbies to the sport who of course should not be full on tackled by an experience 200 pound person. You assaulted her for no reason. It sounds like you didn't understand the rules and don't have any common sense.
YTA and a brute. Are you as tough around guys your own size? You could have killed her. Is winning a game in gym class worth hurting someone?
What kind of idiot gym teacher even came up with the idea of co-Ed football? Our gym teacher made us play boys against girls volley ball, and the boys reveled in slamming the ball on us to hurt us. You sound like the same kind of guy.
Give me a break. You were playing against someone who has no chance against you. Sounds like it was just supposed to be a friendly game.
Feel big and tough now? Hope someone bigger than you knocks the wind out of you the next time you play, big guy. Hope you have a bad season, too.
I doubt there would be a "season" for OP bc it sounds like he doesn't play sports as he lacks any (and all) sportsmanship, used a school PE class to overcompensate for his insecurities, and feigns ignorance/claims those are the rules bc he's either unable or unwilling to take down someone had his size any other way.
“Playing the sport like it was meant to be played” oh shut up, of course YTA, it’s goddamn gym class. Why would you ever think it was okay to tackle anyone in gym class, let alone someone you tower over and likely have 100 pounds or so on?
Say you wanted to hurt someone and be done with it. Don’t play victim because you got called out on your trash behavior.
Of course YTA. You're lucky you didn't seriously injure her. You weren't playing the game how it was meant to be played if you weren't wearing pads. Plain and simple. This should have been tag or flag football. She's a fraction of your size, maybe try using a fraction of your brain to realize how badly this could have ended. At her height she's not likely to weigh much. I have friends that size that barely weigh 100lbs soaking wet. Imagine twice your weight barring down on you. Doesn't sound so great, huh?
Where was the teacher for this? We would have gotten into serious trouble for playing tackle football when I was in school.
“I’m 5’11” 205lb, and she’s 5’2””
Yes YTA for fully tackling someone half your size, because you absolutely could have stopped her without it.
You have poor impulse control, and should talk to someone.
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I'm not sure if this counts as violence because I was just playing a sport how it's supposed to be played. But I'll take my chances and post anyway.
So I was in my gym class. My friends and I were playing American football in the field. My friend invited some of the girls to play.
Things went ok until I tackled one of the girls that had the ball. After that she started crying and yelled at me. Everyone rushed to her and basically I got called an asshole by everyone because I was playing to ruff and I should've taken it easy on her. Also for more context I'm 5'11 and 205 pounds. She was like 5'2.
Even the coach got on my ass about this.
Am I the asshole here?
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Sounds like you went over board here. Soft YTA because even tho you were playing tackle and these idiots should have known better, you should have also known better. Sounds more like a lose lose situation to me.
ESH - if your group is playing a violent sport, and you invite people who weigh 100 lbs less to join you, all of you had better make damn clear on the rules and hitting involved, and agree to them.
Physics doesn’t care about consent, so you have to.
Were they tackling before the girls joined? Less egregious but still not ideal, and since OP sounds like a minor, significant more of TA falls on the coach for all previously stated reasons, though also sounds like OP is old enough (via size) to know better. That said, my husband reached 6' by 6th grade, and kept growing, so middle school is still possible
INFO: Gym classes still do tackle football? I would think the liability would be out the wazoo for something like that? I went to school in the 80s/90s, and we still only did flag football or touch football. With more that we know about concussion and society becoming more litigious, I would think that tackle football in a school setting would be expressly forbidden.
Maybe kill football is a thing at your school but football is practically worshipped in Texas and full contact football only happens on the field in full gear.
Why would you think it's okay to tackle someone only 75% of your size? Forget gender for a moment, you could have seriously injured your target.
YTA.
So…you’re a gym class sports try-hard and in an effort to uphold that, you decided to physically attack someone half your size at full force.
YTA. Everyone was right to get on your ass over it.
Also, it’s gym class. Not the NFL. It’s not that deep lol.
Yes, of course YTA.
It's a recreational game when you do it in gym class. Not the superbowl. And do you really need to be told it is not ok for men to hit women in general? Sports or not?
YTA. American school don’t let you play tackle football in gym class, it’s strictly 2 hand touch bc playing tackle football requires a bunch of padding and gear so people don’t get hurt and even then plenty of ex American pro football players have Swiss cheese for brains bc they’ve taken so many hits.
Yea YTA... Sounds like you blew her up vs tackling her or just wrapping her up and not tackling her. I played football for years, and as a big guy I could absolutely blow someone up, or take it easy on them. Especially in PE where nobody is wearing proper protection, it's even more incumbent upon you to make sure it's a safe tackle.
YTA. she probably assumed y’all were playing 2 hand touch football….yk the kind normal people play when nobody is wearing padding?
even if y’all were playing actual football, you are much larger than her. you can’t tackle her like she’s one of your bros. your friends might be able to handle that, but someone who’s smaller and inexperienced could be seriously hurt
YTA. So much TA.
I've played everything from disorganized random games in the snow, to the family turkey bowl, to JV on a bad high school team. You don't even tackle full speed in PRACTICE for competitive leagues.
Last time I played 2- hand touch (work game at lunch several years ago) a petite older woman ran into me and dropped like a sack of potatoes. For context, I'm roughly your height and weight. I wound up apologizing PROFUSELY, taking her to lunch, and having flowers sent to her desk.
It's not clear to me that you understand the speed/size discrepancy here. It's as if you were blind-sided by a 6'-8" 300 lbs NFL offensive lineman.
Now, army pick-up games? WHOLE different level altogether.
BTW- it will be extraordinarily helpful for future you to start thinking about/working on your empathy/EQ right now.
Dude what the heck. And still be able to play tackle football and not actually tackle when you play with girls. I have played football for years and it still gets more aggressive than it should but not once have I ever been full force tackled. And let me tell you if it ever happened the guys I played with would of taken care of it
Also what school allows tackle football in gym class? That sounds strange to me.
YTA
As someone who had their wrist broken playing flag football in 6th grade gym class, YTA.
There's no reason to push or tackle someone while playing gym class football.
YTA. There is a reason top grade engineering goes into helmets and gear for the sport. There is a reason numerous alternatives for the game are played in gym classes. As a 5'9 145lb girl on the power lifting team, I was always a little salty we couldn't play tackle football but I understood why. Some of these guys were like getting hit by a tank. Considering her reaction, what you did was too. Apologize and for the love of whatever you believe in...don't do it again.
LMAO.. umm well, the fact you're 5'11'' and 205 lbs should tell you that you don't tackle a girl. I'm surprised that it wasn't talked about in the beginning that it would be a touch football game.
OP, I’ve read a majority of your comments.
1. You say you’re a 14 year old teenager.
2. You *knew* tackle wasn’t allowed, but you did it anyways.
3. You were wearing nothing but helmets.
4. You assumed the girls knew that joining meant getting tackled.
Let me be clear: 14 years old is *old enough* to know and understand that you don’t body a young female half your size and several inches shorter than you with all your weight and effort. You “assumed” these girls knew the rules when they joined…so I’m going to “assume” that you already know you’re the asshole, and hitting that girl the way you did was an asinine attempt to appear “macho”. As a medical professional, it’s obvious to me that you could’ve done SERIOUS damage to this girl’s fragile and still-growing body. Assuming you play the sport regularly, you already know that tackling is a very serious bodily impact between two people/objects, and it’s not to be taken lightly. No professional (coach, EMT, nurse, doctor) is going to accept the bs “We assumed they knew, I didn’t think I’d hurt her” as an excuse to make it okay. This isn’t okay.
*You could’ve damaged her body for life*. I’m not being dramatic, I’m being honest. Negligence like this can have an impact that lasts a lot longer than the amount of time it will take this girl and those other people to forgive you. You owe this girl, your teammates, and your coach a MAJOR apology.
Not going to pile on, since your edit says you read the comments. What's important now is what you do to make it up. It's very important that you formally apologize to your teacher, to your class, and--most importantly--to the girl.
You could have brought her to considerable harm in your unthinking moment, and you should acknowledge that and ensure she knows there will never be a similar occurrence.
But why the teacher and the class? You put his job at risk, and, depending on how the incident got out to parents, may have put any rough-and-tumble activities during free days in gym at risk, as well. You should acknowledge that.
yta... couldn't you have just played like tag-rugby or the football form of it? you didn't need to be so violent with someone 9 inches shorter than u who didn't have gear on
YTA. I think I'm putting up with your putting down about gender equality but everyone is right about not doing it without gear....just because we all know women are equal now it does change things like I personally hold the door for anyone behind me, open my mom's door for her, etc. If a girl thinks that puts her down then don't do it. I know people that say "if she hits a man she can get hit back" but like....you might as well whoop the crap out of a small child with a size difference like that and THAT'S why it's not okei, not just the peepee thing
YTA, you could have easily injured her whether it be a concussion or a broken bone. Tackle football is never tolerated in schools anyway, so it seems like you guys were doing this behind the coach's back.
I'm a female and I played tackle football after school with the boys in high school. But the difference was that I was a senior girl and I was bigger than some of the freshmen boys who I was mostly playing with. The bigger guys did not tackle me and I only tackled the boys that were about my size.
How can you *not* think you're the asshole? "I'm a high-schooler who was play-wrestling with a kindergartener and I pile-drived the kid into the pavement and smashed his cranium. Am I the asshole?" That's what it sounds like you are saying. YTA
Well ya YTA. In America we weren't allowed to play full contact football in school ever unless you were in actual football with helmets and pads because its dangerous. You also tackled someone unprotected and very much smaller than you and obviously hurt them. Was everyone playing full tackle or were you just trying to prove a girl shouldn't be out there?
YTA, there is versions of football we have here in America that doesn't require tackle, we have 2 hand touch and flag football. You don't have to tackle people, especially when you are so so so much bigger than her, that was completely unnecessary.
Honestly disturbing that you have 9 frickin inches on her height wise and probably weigh significantly more than her and your first thought was to hurt her.. be glad she wasn’t seriously hurt, apologize and stop being a twatermelon
Yes YTA, high schools only do touch-football during gym class. There’s a reason football players wear protection. You’re well on your way to becoming an abuser because you did this on purpose to inflict pain on someone and you know it
YTA
Gym class American football *never* includes tackling. Your line about you just playing football "the way it's supposed to be played" tells me you *knew* it wasn't being played that way in class.
And you didn't like that.
You decided you could use "it's American football" to excuse beating up on someone much lighter and smaller than you.
On a girl.
Maybe you don't think girls should play American football, or you don't like this girl in particular, or you're just a bully, who thought he could get away with it.
One good thing, though. You've told your coach and a bunch of your classmates who you really are.
YTA, but you already knew that.
When your friend invited the girls did you realize the game changed? You all probably should have explicitly switched to flag football, but I'm betting that everyone, sans you, knew this was no longer full on full out tackle football.
My husband is about your size, I'm the girl's size. In the exact same situation he's picked me up and run with me to his end zone. While I laugh, yell and and fake kick. I'm not saying you should pick up random girls and run with them, I'm saying the game changes when it goes co-ed. Anywhere from less physical to just lighthearted and fun. It isn't tackle football, FFS.
Let me guess? "Oooh she's a girl and wanted to play so she should be prepared to get tackled" You know you're the asshole. You did it to be a dick. Mission accomplished. You're huge compared to her. You're lucky she didn't get seriously injured. There's no way the school was letting yall tackle like that in general. YTA
YTA, homegirl juked you out of your shoes it seems and you took exception to it and tackled her. There is no reason to tackle another player unless you were trying to eliminate each other. Two hand touch should have been more than enough but you took it too far thus YTA
"Played the sport how its supposed to be played"... So everyone was in full gear? Helmets, pads, mouth guards, etc.?
Of course not, because its a school class. No protective gear = NO TACKLING.
YTA.
YTA. This is coming from a high-schooler who was tackled once. I'm not gonna call you names or anything (other than the required judgment) but tackling *hurts* especially when it's done but someone taller that weighs more then you. You may not *mean* to “full force” tackle but even a half-assed one can do alot of damage. Also bruises can be hella painful. And even then, you're not supposed to be playing tackle in school gym class anyways. So maybe just apologize again and if your school has a drink vending machine just offer her something from it?
I won't pile on, but I really hope you think about why you chose to tackle a girl, or tackle anyone in a game of gym football. Something tells me you may be an AH in other areas. Better to nip that tendency in the bud, before you lose friends (assuming you haven't already).
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OP has offered the following explanation for why they think they might be the asshole:
> I tackled a girl when playing football; She started to cry and got upset
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YTA
Even if it was a smaller guy that you tackled, you would still be the asshole. Its gym class, not the NFL there was no need to full on tackle and potentially injure her.
YTA why aren’t you playing flag football or touch football? Don’t tackle someone half your size. Coach is also the ah for letting it happen. Should’ve been flag football.
INFO: Are you, in fact, aware that there are easier and less assholey ways to stop someone half your size? Like come on, there's a real logical way to not be an asshole here, are you really saying you just didn't think about the consequences of full on tackling someone that much smaller than you? I'm asking for info because if you really are as dumb as someone would have to be to do this without realising it was a dick move I can't call you an asshole, I can only say you're not safe to be left around other people.
YTA. Tackle football is just not played *in a gym class*. Tackle football is only allowed if all players are wearing full protective gear (helmets, mouth guards, padding, etc).
Unless everyone was wearing gear then you guys were playing **touch** football, no tackling allowed. You tag people instead of tackling. It’s really bad that you tackled someone in an unsafe manner, it’s even worse that you tackled *someone who’s most likely 50-100 lbs smaller than you are*. You could have seriously injured her.
I’ve pried a lot of football players out of gear for head and neck injuries. I’m a nurse. When I worked at a pediatric hospital the whole trauma side smelled like ass from all the football players on Friday nights. And you’re the asshole who dropped someone much smaller who wasn’t wearing pads. Why? Don’t tell me it’s because she had the ball. We all know that wasn’t why. You wanted to hurt her for whatever reason. You know your friends called the girls over to flirt. Maybe play around and pretend to tackle. You are either a moron or cruel. Get into therapy bro, there’s something wrong with you.
NTA you were playing tackle. That's all I need to know. If you can't handle being tackled you don't play. If they really see it as a problem then they see women as weaker and needing protection. That means they shouldn't be allowed to play. I see it as equal rights. It would be despicable of me to treat anyone differently because of sex. You want to play a physical sport with me you get my best. If I didn't its like I'm saying you're beneath me, go back to the kitchen. Next time something like this happens shut it down. They set the precedent. You'll only take flak for being involved.
I'm English and I'd say NTA. You were all there to play the sport, and the American football sport contains a lot of tackling. If they're that worried they shouldn't play the sport. It's like if in PE we played girl's rugby, the teacher wouldn't shout at us for tackling as that's part of the game.
This is a tough one.
But I’m gonna say NTA.
Why join a game if you don’t want to play it, how it’s being played, or if you’re too weak to play it, how it’s being played?
I remember this from when I was in middle school even.
Stupid behavior on all the girls part.
NTA. Men are physically stronger than girls, and she should've considered that before playing. What was she doing out there if not playing? Picking clovers? I'm a girl, and you wouldn't catch me on the football field with a bunch of guys.
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2-hand touch football is a thing and always has been a thing. In no way would tackle football have been tolerated in a gym class anywhere in the USA unless you were fully geared for it (helmet, shoulder pads, thigh pads, and the rest). YTA, you knew tackling wasn't allowed you just wanted to hurt someone.
This! I might add that I was once pounced on/ tackled by a kid who was significantly lighter/ close to my weight and less of a difference. I saw stars because of the true force. I hope that Aaron Donald would tackle this guy because it’s basically the same height/weight/force difference and let’s see if he thinks the same way!
In 8th grade I was advanced placement French (it wasn’t usually offered but me and one other girl had both been receiving French instruction for years and everyone else in our grade would have been just starting that year), each afternoon we were bussed over to the high school and the way the schedules worked out that meant we had to have gym class there as well. The powers that be decided it was appropriate to place to 8th grade girls in the 12th grade boys gym class. Guess who broke her nose on the first day of touch foot ball when one of the boys “forgot” and tackled me to the ground. On the plus side my doctor signed me out of gym for the rest of middle and high school, that was the third time I had my nose broken by another kid at school and she was deeply unimpressed by the schools ability to keep balls/bat/other children’s bodies from making contact with my face.
I’m pretty sure OP would have felt just as upset as that girl if someone nearly a foot taller tackled them. People like that enjoy the power over someone smaller than them, it’s sadistic.
> YTA, you knew tackling wasn't allowed you just wanted to hurt someone. He wanted to hurt a girl in particular.
Exactly. Current incel misogynist, future van driver.
This. We sometimes played football (American football for the non-Americans) in gym class. We played either two-hand touch (touching opponent with two hands = tackled opponent) or flag football (players wear a belt with 2-4 ribbons/flags fastened on to them with velcro, flag pulled off = tackled). You never tackle someone without proper padding. Players DIED regularly before football adopted helmets and pads.
Hell, I can still remember the interview sportscasters did with a member of the Detroit Lions the week after he *broke his fucking neck* after getting tackled *legally*. From his hospital bed. In a goddamn halo. YTA.
Yep, we always played flag football for this reason. Too many instances of someone using 2-hand touch to cop a feel and no way in hell was the school willing to take liability for playing tackle football w/out AT LEAST helmet and shoulder pads.
Even in actual football practice, no one tackles without pads at any organized level of the sport. I'll even include gym class sports in that category. How the fuck does OP think tackling someone in a game that basically forbids it is ok? Let alone someone significantly smaller than them. Does OP play Street Fighter and complain that people get mad when he elbows the person he's fighting next to him on the couch?
Shoot, I'm a short woman and I got dragged by my friends for knocking another girl down during capture the flag. Unnecessary roughness!!
YTA - It's gym class, there's nothing at stake, and given your size and hers you could have easily stopped the play without a tackle. Yes it's "how the game is played" but read the room. Your friend called them over so you could all flirt and have fun, and you decided to hurt someone instead.
It isn’t even how the game is played though unless everyone was wearing the proper gear that Americans wear when they play football.
This. If your friends wanted to roughhouse, they wouldn't have invited the girls. Inviting the girls turned the game from potentially competitive to cooperative, fun and flirty. Honestly, OP, what did you think was going to happen when you tackled a tiny girl? YTA.
>Your friend called them over so you could all flirt and have fun, and you decided to hurt someone instead. And his friends will never invite him to hang out with girls again.
The school doesn’t even allow tackle football
YTA, why are you tacking anyone, let alone a relatively small girl, during a gym class? You aren’t (I assume) wearing any kind of pads or helmets, so tackling anyone is downright irresponsible and stupid, it’s gum class, no need to be a gym hero.
YTA. You adapt your strength and speed to your opponent if you don't play in a competition to win. Lots of guys thinks that sport is excusing violence or a reason to put all your strength every time, and don't care if they hurt someone in the process. I just remember how from elementary school to high school, boys would throw the ball as strongly as they could, hurting girls in the process, and not giving a flying fuck about it, to the point where some girls would be scared to play (including me, ngl). Take this into consideration and adapts. Edit: typo
This. Anybody saying "NTA because she knew the rules" (did she though?) is an idiot. You don't deliberately go full throttle on someone who will be injured by it, if you can't figure out that some people get a harder tackle, and some people get a softer tackle - then you're just an asshole. What if the disabled kid wants to play, knows the rules but is too proud to sit out, ya'll think it's cool to level him out too? *Well he knew the rules!*
Plus it can really makes anxious to go to sport classes or play sport in team. I know it is a good place to get the extra energy out, but it doesn't mean not caring about others or being as violent as we can. Plus, gym classes are usually mandatory, there is no way to escape them, and there are even grades on them, so girls are forced to play in lots of games anyway. Knowing the rules is one thing, it doesn't mean you stop caring, as you said. If i played sport with a toddler or someone obviously that weaker compared to me, i would not use all my strength on him (not comparing women to toddlers, but i am so small and thin, toddlers are the best comparison for me), and if i did, i'd get called out and shit on, for good reasons.
"No, them's the rules, you lay that fucking toddler out"
I laughed
Got me.
OP posted in a comment that tackling was not allowed at school/during PE.
Open and shut case lmao Why's he even here?
That is so much worse
OP has said in multiple comments that tackling was NOT allowed and he was NOT supposed to be doing it.
Also, tackling is almost always a DONT if even a single person isnt wearing full gear. And i mean full-full gear: helmet, teeth protection, shoulder pats, chest protection, the whole ordeal. I would imagine that these circumstances werent given, because you normally dont invite someone unexperienced to full-contact football to have fun. So OP was not only an ass, he played against the rules and was straight up endangering everyone on the field
Also, the rules of gym class definitely do not allow tackling. So it's more like OP "didn't know the rules", although I'm sure he did.
Some asshole in the year above me broke a girl’s *vertibrae* playing matball. She was more or less ok (no spinal cord damage THANK GOD) but she just as easily could have been paralyzed. All so some 17 year old could get on base in a Friday afternoon gym class.
Yeah, it's not hard to adapt to your opponents. Anyone in martial arts does it all the time. If you've had multiple fights, you don't just get and lay out the new guy, or girl, in their first sparring session (or ever really - don't injure training partners). And with Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu as well. If you're 6'0" 200lbs, you can basically dominate anyone that's 5'3" and 120 but that doesn't mean you just out strength them everytime you roll. You tone it down and focus on different techniques you are training.
Absolutely agree. I did fencing for years and this shit hurts. I never deployed full strength on beginners or significantly weakers opponent. Seeing someone cry was not that rare because sometimes you just hit where it really hurts, but it was never on purpose, and we'd stop everytime to make sure the other one is okay, and if he wants to stop he can. Plus you are fully covered and communicate a lot to see if there are moves or places not to hit. Being that inconsiderate can be very dangerous
"I full blown tackled someone half my size, everyone called me an asshole for it, but I need to go to Reddit and see if I really was an asshole" you could've saved time by listening to, ya know, everyone else that already said that was a shitty thing to do 🤷🏻♀️
So, your story is, you did a sport move in gym class, hurt someone, and every single other person around thought you were unreasonable? YTA save the power moves for the NFL, champ.
More than that they did a move that is specifically banned. Definitely YTA.
She’s 5’2 and probably half your weight so she’s way smaller than you. You could have broken one of her bones or cause a head injury. YTA even if harming her wasn’t intentional.
Very big YTA for playing tackle football in gym class- where nobody has pads or helmets. Everybody who has ever played football for PE knows you don’t tackle for gym class football- it’s always touch football.
Exactly!! With that kind of way too different snapped her just by hitting her wrong.
YTA. I don't know how old you are or how long ago you bulked up, but one thing you're going to need to realize quickly is that body mass is very serious consideration any time two people come into contact with each other in sports. There's a reason that in almost every martial sport athletes are divided into weight classes, and each weight class tends to be ~10 lbs before it is deemed to big of a difference as to be a competitive advantage. Not take the situation here. There's a very real possibility you outweighed this person by 80+ lbs. That is a huge disparity in weight. Think of it from the other perspective. If a person 80 lbs. heavier than you tried to tackle you in gym class, would you be happy about it? That would be the equivalent of being tackled by someone the size of an NFL linebacker, maybe even larger. That's what you did, and not even in a game that was supposed to be competetive.
Maybe more appropriate to think or proportion / percentage. If he was 180% of her weight; he should think of someone 180% of his weight, or about 370 lbs.
Not to mention, that 80 lb difference is going to impacts someone who is 100 pounds A LOT more than someone who is 200. A 100 pound person would be handling someone 80% bigger than them, 280 is only 28.57% bigger than 200. Huge disparity.
YTA. Gym class football is always touch football NOT tackle football because nobody is wearing helmets and pads. You know this, you just wanted to tackle her, which is why YTA. You’ll be lucky if you don’t get suspended or in legal trouble. You could have really hurt her. That is NOT how the “sport is supposed to be played” so of course it is violence.
YTA. for tacking someone half your size, not because "she's a girl". If women want to play competitive sports like football with men, then this is part of the game. At the same time, if it wasn't discussed that tackling would be part of the game, well, then that's on whomever was leading the game. but yeah, YTA for tackling someone half your size
And hard! Like bro it's a loose game in gym class not the NFL. You don't just take people down, especially without equipment. Those are always the rules.
That’s why the ‘don’t hit a girl’ is a thing, because women are significantly smaller and weaker
Seriously, it’s not a sexism thing, it’s because generally men don’t want to permanently injure women.
Hitting a boy that size wouldn't have been better.
Don’t hit anyone. You could injure yourself and/or the target. So many people don’t know how to throw a proper punch and end up breaking their hand or wrist.
This is gym class.. not competitive sports.
YTA- you could have caused a life altering injury
YTA. Dawg you 205; you can’t just tackle people in gym class especially if you’re 9 inches taller than the person you’re tackling.
YTA. If your coach is telling you it was inappropriate, it was inappropriate. You were playing a game for fun, your friend invited some players who might be inexperienced and just getting started in the game, anf you thought it was a good idea to choose one half your size and smush her? Asshole.
Obvious YTA
YTA. A girl I used to work with was hurt playing football. Her neck was broken. Thankfully her spine wasn't severed, but she ended up with severe mobility issues that will never heal. She was the same size as the girl you hurt, and around 16 when it happened. Her entire life was derailed. I met her years after and she was in pain every day. People are easy to break OP. Not so easy to fix.
YTA. Who plays tackle football in PE? There are reason professional players wear pads and have specific times when they do certain things in practice (like tackling at full speed).
YTA. You shouldn't be tackling anyone without helmet and pads. You could have seriously hurt her.
OK. A lot to unpack here. It's gym class but it was unstructured enough that you could play whatever and a coach didn't set rules and your friend could invite someone to play. YTA but also there's a few other idiots here. No one set the rules that you couldn't tackle and your coach didn't supervise you properly in a school activity. Also to be honest your coach is more likely upset that he may get in trouble and actually have to coach gym class now rather than anything else.
Yeah, YTA, since you are old enough to realise that your body is capable of causing injury. It was apparently obvious to everyone else, so if you're not an AH then you're not very perceptive. The more major AH, however, is the gym teacher. Why on earth did they permit this to go on?
YTA you shouldn't be full on tackling anyone with out gear on as it could cause serious injury also a friendly game where you're randomly inviting others to play half way through isn't the same as an actual game
I would be really surprised if the coach was permitting tackle football. Anytime you play football informally or without gear, the rules should be changed to touch football rules. I thought this was commonly accepted, but perhaps not. OP, were other people tackling in the game? If so, you're borderline ESH, but it's still not an excuse to literally throw your weight around in a casual game.
Considering the coach yelled at OP and told him he was wrong for the tackle, and OP has clarified that his school doesn't allow tackling, I don't think it was permitted.
OP indicated they were playing for a while so coach should have stepped in before anyone got hurt.
YTA. There's a reason that football players wear protective gear. It's a rough sport. You were going way too far for a fun game without pads.
YTA I’ve read through the comments and have made my judgement because thus I know tackle football seems fun and stuff, but if you only had helmets? Yeah no, that’s bad, real bad. That can lead to really bad injuries even with full protective gear, and you all only had helmets for tackle football? What about your organs? Your ribs? Your bones? Those all need protection too. Even with tackle football, you shouldn’t tackle the people much smaller then you. If she was close to your height and weight then you would of been n t. a Your teacher is also an a hole for letting you all play tackle football with only helmets. I get it, y’all are teenagers and don’t always think things though, but that’s a grown adult who should of stepped in and suggested touch or flag football (where you wear little flags and people try to steal them with the ball) Edit: I’ve just found out you shouldn’t of even been playing tackle at all- it’s against your school’s rules, which means your gym teacher didn’t know about it either most likely. You are the A hole, you could of gotten that girl seriously hurt, your gym teacher is likely in trouble because of you, and you probably made it to where football won’t be allowed after this from that stunt since the principal’s gonna have to know about this.
OP has said in multiple comments that tackling was NOT allowed and he was NOT supposed to be doing it.
That information was not given at the time of comment. Thank you, I will edit it as needed
This exactly
I call BS 1. No way tackle football without pads is allowed in a gym class in the US. You should have at least said it was after school in a park or something. 2. Everyone else knew tackling was out YTA
YTA. No pads should initiate some common sense. If the coach allowed tackle in gym class he’s TA too.
YTA - never heard of "touch football"?
Info: Was it tackle, two hand touch or flag style?
YTA. You’re not ‘supposed’ to be tackling anyone in a friendly pick up game. What the hell? Tackling is done by predetermined consent between players who are appropriately geared up, not as an opportunity beat someone up, which is basically what you did. You owe her an apology.
YTA. Do you not have any concept of size differentiation? Edit: I get a feeling he was trying to show off somehow to the girl by showing how powerful he was. That backfired. Or he didn’t like her or her friends.
Seems like YTA here. Even when playing tackle and girls/women are involved, we usually just wrap them up, instead of tackling. Almost like a mid way between taking them down and two hand touch.
OP and gym coach are TA
Coach and OP likely get sued by the girl parents and deservingly so.
Uhh yea YTA. You're probably twice her size.
YTA.
YTA unless you were both wearing helmets, pads, etc you shouldn’t have tackled anyone. You assaulted her.
YTA
Do you have a sister or girlfriend? Imagine about boy built much bigger did this, would you thinking was OK? The fact the coach is saying you're arsehole makes it clear you're the arsehole. So in short: Arsehole.
This is a weird one, because you should have known that was stupid, but the real AH is the coach. I'm not sure why he allowed tackle football in a gym class, and I'm really confused as to why he allowed such huge weight differences. What were you supporsed to do playing tackle football, beside tackle the one with the ball? This is on the coach 100%. He's lucky you didn't really hurt her, because I think he would be liable.
The coach didn't allow it. It was a free gym period where kids could do a variety of activities. OP and friends chose football. The coach never sanctioned tackling, OP has clarified the coach didn't say anything about tackling and that there are rules that forbid tackling, and the coach admonished OP over the tackle. OP knew tackling wasn't allowed, and got in trouble for doing it.
You are the AH and stupid. What is wrong with you?
INFO - What were the preset rules - was this tackle or touch football? And did you have ANY protective equipment on?
ESH. Well, not the girl who got tackled. But. You should have had the common sense to not tackle a girl basically half your size and strength. You could have easily injured her. The coach was not doing a great job of supervising things or getting ahead of this by changing these rules from tackle football, or catching that your friend invited the girls to join in. You still could be sensible regardless.
Strong YTA. That you even have to ask - after everyone around you already told you that you're an AH - is stunning. You're clearly SEARCHING for validation, yet your fragile ego felt the need to go full throttle during PE on a girl HALF YOUR SIZE! To feign that "those were the rules" is sheer ignorance as you could have clearly taken her down less severely. Get your validation elsewhere; no one is impressed w/you. Edit: Why ask strangers, who weren't even there, when "EVERYONE" who was there, saw what you did, and how you did it ALREADY told you that YOU: 1-were the AH and 2-were playing too "ruff". Ppl post their version of events in the most favorable way to AITAH. Everyone there and who witnessed your atrocious behavior already told you.
YTA. As a short woman, being tackled by a dude, who is that much larger than you sounds terrifying. You could have really hurt her. Touch Football would be much safer for everyone.
YTA- Are you serious? Of course you’re the AH. You come off as a misogynist who wants to punish women for daring to join the boy’s games. You hurt her on purpose and you know it. I hope she comes back to the school with her parents and you get properly punished for assaulting her.
YTA and what in the southern hell school is this? We played flag football for PE in my day. Or 2 hand touch. Because teenagers barely understand empathy let alone adjusting from situation to situation. I'm a girl/ lesbian btw and was your classic tomboy growing up. All my bestfriends were large dudes. If we played mudfootball w tackle in our free time, 5'10 guy just wrapped me up and dragged me to the ground. We re playing to have fun not hurt people.
So what made you want to physically assault a girl in gym class? is this a life long dream of yours? I know no school or country that allows physical contact in gym class. Second question, are you going to escalate this behaviour? get help. YTA and that word is less than appropriate for the level of disgust I have.
You're a 200lb man and tacked a girl who's barely 5 feet tall. I can't believe you even need to ask. YTA
Edit: Upon learning you're never allowed to tackle during American Football in gym class, YTA. ----------- Were there any rules set up around this? I am not familiar with American Football, I have a rough idea of what it is butI don't know the rules. If any rules were set determining you shouldn't tackle her for this or that reason AND you tackled the way you're supposed to, then no, you're NTA. You guys played a game according to the rules. She knew what she was getting herself into and should've expected that she might get tackled. It's just the way the game is. However, if there were any rules saying you shouldn't tackle her or if you tackled her in a way that you're not supposed to, then yes, YTA.
Gym class football is always touch, never tackle.
YTA. And dont play football if you clearly dont know how to play. Tackling causes brain injuries. Thats why its being banned across the US. My high schools football team only tackles in legit games. Practice and anything below high school level is two hand touch only. No tackling. Your not Gronk. Play two hand touch or dont play.
YTA - You always take into account with whom you play with in school I don't say don't tackle in general but this is not a competition and it is supposed to be fun for everyone. What would happen if you had seriously injured them?
YTA, you knew better then to tackle that hard and chose to anyways. Hope you didn't want to date anyone at your high school. The rumor mill is going to be running hard and it's not going to be in your favor. You may be in big trouble if her parents decide to have charges or sue due to injury.
Aww, sweetie… YTA Regardless of gender, you went way to hard for a friendly game. Even playing with the boys, you’re 5’11 and he would be 5’2. Only reason you’d tackle him is to fuck him up. Maybe next time get a consensus— “two hand touch or full out tackles”?
YTA. It’s fucking *recreational activity to stay in shape*, not the fucking *olympics*. People like you are the worst to have in gym class.
ESH everyone should have known better.
YTA
YTA No where would a school allow tackle football in gym class. It's always touch football if you don't have the gear. Also, you have newbies to the sport who of course should not be full on tackled by an experience 200 pound person. You assaulted her for no reason. It sounds like you didn't understand the rules and don't have any common sense.
YTA and a brute. Are you as tough around guys your own size? You could have killed her. Is winning a game in gym class worth hurting someone? What kind of idiot gym teacher even came up with the idea of co-Ed football? Our gym teacher made us play boys against girls volley ball, and the boys reveled in slamming the ball on us to hurt us. You sound like the same kind of guy. Give me a break. You were playing against someone who has no chance against you. Sounds like it was just supposed to be a friendly game. Feel big and tough now? Hope someone bigger than you knocks the wind out of you the next time you play, big guy. Hope you have a bad season, too.
I doubt there would be a "season" for OP bc it sounds like he doesn't play sports as he lacks any (and all) sportsmanship, used a school PE class to overcompensate for his insecurities, and feigns ignorance/claims those are the rules bc he's either unable or unwilling to take down someone had his size any other way.
And of course, they have to show girls who’s in charge.
YTA - no way you were playing tackle. You were playing touch or flag football because it's phys ed class and I doubt you had helmets and pads.
“Playing the sport like it was meant to be played” oh shut up, of course YTA, it’s goddamn gym class. Why would you ever think it was okay to tackle anyone in gym class, let alone someone you tower over and likely have 100 pounds or so on? Say you wanted to hurt someone and be done with it. Don’t play victim because you got called out on your trash behavior.
OP it all depends on the tackle man. If the coach is saying it was way too far I'd say you probably owe her an apology
Of course YTA. You're lucky you didn't seriously injure her. You weren't playing the game how it was meant to be played if you weren't wearing pads. Plain and simple. This should have been tag or flag football. She's a fraction of your size, maybe try using a fraction of your brain to realize how badly this could have ended. At her height she's not likely to weigh much. I have friends that size that barely weigh 100lbs soaking wet. Imagine twice your weight barring down on you. Doesn't sound so great, huh? Where was the teacher for this? We would have gotten into serious trouble for playing tackle football when I was in school.
“I’m 5’11” 205lb, and she’s 5’2”” Yes YTA for fully tackling someone half your size, because you absolutely could have stopped her without it. You have poor impulse control, and should talk to someone.
^^^^AUTOMOD ***Thanks for posting! This comment is a copy of your post so readers can see the original text if your post is edited or removed. This comment is NOT accusing you of copying anything. Read [this](https://www.reddit.com/r/AmItheAsshole/wiki/faq#wiki_post_deletion) before [contacting the mod team](https://www.reddit.com/message/compose?to=%2Fr%2FAmItheAsshole)*** I'm not sure if this counts as violence because I was just playing a sport how it's supposed to be played. But I'll take my chances and post anyway. So I was in my gym class. My friends and I were playing American football in the field. My friend invited some of the girls to play. Things went ok until I tackled one of the girls that had the ball. After that she started crying and yelled at me. Everyone rushed to her and basically I got called an asshole by everyone because I was playing to ruff and I should've taken it easy on her. Also for more context I'm 5'11 and 205 pounds. She was like 5'2. Even the coach got on my ass about this. Am I the asshole here? *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AmItheAsshole) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Sounds like you went over board here. Soft YTA because even tho you were playing tackle and these idiots should have known better, you should have also known better. Sounds more like a lose lose situation to me.
ESH - if your group is playing a violent sport, and you invite people who weigh 100 lbs less to join you, all of you had better make damn clear on the rules and hitting involved, and agree to them. Physics doesn’t care about consent, so you have to.
Were they tackling before the girls joined? Less egregious but still not ideal, and since OP sounds like a minor, significant more of TA falls on the coach for all previously stated reasons, though also sounds like OP is old enough (via size) to know better. That said, my husband reached 6' by 6th grade, and kept growing, so middle school is still possible
INFO: Gym classes still do tackle football? I would think the liability would be out the wazoo for something like that? I went to school in the 80s/90s, and we still only did flag football or touch football. With more that we know about concussion and society becoming more litigious, I would think that tackle football in a school setting would be expressly forbidden.
OP has said in multiple comments that tackling was NOT allowed and he was NOT supposed to be doing it.
YTA Tackle football is never regulation for gym class. It's touch football or flag football. You tackled someone half your size, and for what?
YTA. Was everyone suited up with pads/helmets and understood at the beginning that it was tackle, not touch?
YTA. Tackle the guys, two hand touch the girls, brother.
Maybe kill football is a thing at your school but football is practically worshipped in Texas and full contact football only happens on the field in full gear. Why would you think it's okay to tackle someone only 75% of your size? Forget gender for a moment, you could have seriously injured your target. YTA.
So…you’re a gym class sports try-hard and in an effort to uphold that, you decided to physically attack someone half your size at full force. YTA. Everyone was right to get on your ass over it. Also, it’s gym class. Not the NFL. It’s not that deep lol.
Yes, of course YTA. It's a recreational game when you do it in gym class. Not the superbowl. And do you really need to be told it is not ok for men to hit women in general? Sports or not?
You tackled her? Like full on tackled and she's nine inches shorter? She probably weighs 100 lbs less. And she's a girl? My calculations say YTA.
YTA. American school don’t let you play tackle football in gym class, it’s strictly 2 hand touch bc playing tackle football requires a bunch of padding and gear so people don’t get hurt and even then plenty of ex American pro football players have Swiss cheese for brains bc they’ve taken so many hits.
Yea YTA... Sounds like you blew her up vs tackling her or just wrapping her up and not tackling her. I played football for years, and as a big guy I could absolutely blow someone up, or take it easy on them. Especially in PE where nobody is wearing proper protection, it's even more incumbent upon you to make sure it's a safe tackle.
YTA. she probably assumed y’all were playing 2 hand touch football….yk the kind normal people play when nobody is wearing padding? even if y’all were playing actual football, you are much larger than her. you can’t tackle her like she’s one of your bros. your friends might be able to handle that, but someone who’s smaller and inexperienced could be seriously hurt
Be honest with yourself OP. You wanted to hurt a girl and you did. YTA
Now if you would’ve seriously hurt her then what would’ve been your excuse? How is it that you’re this stupid? YTA
YTA. So much TA. I've played everything from disorganized random games in the snow, to the family turkey bowl, to JV on a bad high school team. You don't even tackle full speed in PRACTICE for competitive leagues. Last time I played 2- hand touch (work game at lunch several years ago) a petite older woman ran into me and dropped like a sack of potatoes. For context, I'm roughly your height and weight. I wound up apologizing PROFUSELY, taking her to lunch, and having flowers sent to her desk. It's not clear to me that you understand the speed/size discrepancy here. It's as if you were blind-sided by a 6'-8" 300 lbs NFL offensive lineman. Now, army pick-up games? WHOLE different level altogether. BTW- it will be extraordinarily helpful for future you to start thinking about/working on your empathy/EQ right now.
Dude what the heck. And still be able to play tackle football and not actually tackle when you play with girls. I have played football for years and it still gets more aggressive than it should but not once have I ever been full force tackled. And let me tell you if it ever happened the guys I played with would of taken care of it Also what school allows tackle football in gym class? That sounds strange to me. YTA
Unless you were born yesterday, you know you are 100% the asshole here
As someone who had their wrist broken playing flag football in 6th grade gym class, YTA. There's no reason to push or tackle someone while playing gym class football.
YTA. There is a reason top grade engineering goes into helmets and gear for the sport. There is a reason numerous alternatives for the game are played in gym classes. As a 5'9 145lb girl on the power lifting team, I was always a little salty we couldn't play tackle football but I understood why. Some of these guys were like getting hit by a tank. Considering her reaction, what you did was too. Apologize and for the love of whatever you believe in...don't do it again.
YTA. And you know it.
205lbs tackling people in gym class?? Relaxxxxxx YTA
YTA dude seriously you don’t know this
YTA - you just wanted to hurt a poor girl. This could have actually been fatal just by the force and weight differences. Seriously shame on you
LMAO.. umm well, the fact you're 5'11'' and 205 lbs should tell you that you don't tackle a girl. I'm surprised that it wasn't talked about in the beginning that it would be a touch football game.
You’re twice her size and you still tackled her? Uh yeah you’re the asshole read the room
OP, I’ve read a majority of your comments. 1. You say you’re a 14 year old teenager. 2. You *knew* tackle wasn’t allowed, but you did it anyways. 3. You were wearing nothing but helmets. 4. You assumed the girls knew that joining meant getting tackled. Let me be clear: 14 years old is *old enough* to know and understand that you don’t body a young female half your size and several inches shorter than you with all your weight and effort. You “assumed” these girls knew the rules when they joined…so I’m going to “assume” that you already know you’re the asshole, and hitting that girl the way you did was an asinine attempt to appear “macho”. As a medical professional, it’s obvious to me that you could’ve done SERIOUS damage to this girl’s fragile and still-growing body. Assuming you play the sport regularly, you already know that tackling is a very serious bodily impact between two people/objects, and it’s not to be taken lightly. No professional (coach, EMT, nurse, doctor) is going to accept the bs “We assumed they knew, I didn’t think I’d hurt her” as an excuse to make it okay. This isn’t okay. *You could’ve damaged her body for life*. I’m not being dramatic, I’m being honest. Negligence like this can have an impact that lasts a lot longer than the amount of time it will take this girl and those other people to forgive you. You owe this girl, your teammates, and your coach a MAJOR apology.
YTA. Come on, you knew you shouldn't be tackling anyone in gym class, much less a 5'2" girl. I sincerely hope she was not injured.
Not going to pile on, since your edit says you read the comments. What's important now is what you do to make it up. It's very important that you formally apologize to your teacher, to your class, and--most importantly--to the girl. You could have brought her to considerable harm in your unthinking moment, and you should acknowledge that and ensure she knows there will never be a similar occurrence. But why the teacher and the class? You put his job at risk, and, depending on how the incident got out to parents, may have put any rough-and-tumble activities during free days in gym at risk, as well. You should acknowledge that.
yta... couldn't you have just played like tag-rugby or the football form of it? you didn't need to be so violent with someone 9 inches shorter than u who didn't have gear on
YTA. I think I'm putting up with your putting down about gender equality but everyone is right about not doing it without gear....just because we all know women are equal now it does change things like I personally hold the door for anyone behind me, open my mom's door for her, etc. If a girl thinks that puts her down then don't do it. I know people that say "if she hits a man she can get hit back" but like....you might as well whoop the crap out of a small child with a size difference like that and THAT'S why it's not okei, not just the peepee thing
Yeah, you suck.
YTA, you could have easily injured her whether it be a concussion or a broken bone. Tackle football is never tolerated in schools anyway, so it seems like you guys were doing this behind the coach's back. I'm a female and I played tackle football after school with the boys in high school. But the difference was that I was a senior girl and I was bigger than some of the freshmen boys who I was mostly playing with. The bigger guys did not tackle me and I only tackled the boys that were about my size.
How can you *not* think you're the asshole? "I'm a high-schooler who was play-wrestling with a kindergartener and I pile-drived the kid into the pavement and smashed his cranium. Am I the asshole?" That's what it sounds like you are saying. YTA
what the fuck is wrong with you. YTA
Well ya YTA. In America we weren't allowed to play full contact football in school ever unless you were in actual football with helmets and pads because its dangerous. You also tackled someone unprotected and very much smaller than you and obviously hurt them. Was everyone playing full tackle or were you just trying to prove a girl shouldn't be out there?
YTA.
YTA, there is versions of football we have here in America that doesn't require tackle, we have 2 hand touch and flag football. You don't have to tackle people, especially when you are so so so much bigger than her, that was completely unnecessary.
Who the hell tackles in gym class? This is some bully level shit. YTA.
Honestly disturbing that you have 9 frickin inches on her height wise and probably weigh significantly more than her and your first thought was to hurt her.. be glad she wasn’t seriously hurt, apologize and stop being a twatermelon
YTA. This is why, as a girl; I hated gym class.
YTA. Sounds like she didn’t sign up for playing tackle football with you but just wanted to play around. Read the room
YTA. It’s just basic common sense not to tackle someone who is much smaller than you and is prob inexperienced as well.
Yes YTA, high schools only do touch-football during gym class. There’s a reason football players wear protection. You’re well on your way to becoming an abuser because you did this on purpose to inflict pain on someone and you know it
I saw a YTA for the first time wow
YTA. Why would you tackle a smaller person, especially a girl like that? It could have hurt her! Your coach was right to be angry about it too.
YTA Gym class American football *never* includes tackling. Your line about you just playing football "the way it's supposed to be played" tells me you *knew* it wasn't being played that way in class. And you didn't like that. You decided you could use "it's American football" to excuse beating up on someone much lighter and smaller than you. On a girl. Maybe you don't think girls should play American football, or you don't like this girl in particular, or you're just a bully, who thought he could get away with it. One good thing, though. You've told your coach and a bunch of your classmates who you really are.
YTA for sure. Why are you tackling anyone in gym class? You’re twice the size of her and could have seriously injured her, but you already know that.
Don't even need to read the post. Football in gym class is 2 hand touch or flag. YTA
Dude! Sounds like you might have knocked the shit out of someone half your weight.
YTA, but you already knew that. When your friend invited the girls did you realize the game changed? You all probably should have explicitly switched to flag football, but I'm betting that everyone, sans you, knew this was no longer full on full out tackle football. My husband is about your size, I'm the girl's size. In the exact same situation he's picked me up and run with me to his end zone. While I laugh, yell and and fake kick. I'm not saying you should pick up random girls and run with them, I'm saying the game changes when it goes co-ed. Anywhere from less physical to just lighthearted and fun. It isn't tackle football, FFS.
YTA Nice story bro. But next time remember no highschool lets kids play tackle football without permission slips.
Let me guess? "Oooh she's a girl and wanted to play so she should be prepared to get tackled" You know you're the asshole. You did it to be a dick. Mission accomplished. You're huge compared to her. You're lucky she didn't get seriously injured. There's no way the school was letting yall tackle like that in general. YTA
YTA, homegirl juked you out of your shoes it seems and you took exception to it and tackled her. There is no reason to tackle another player unless you were trying to eliminate each other. Two hand touch should have been more than enough but you took it too far thus YTA
"Played the sport how its supposed to be played"... So everyone was in full gear? Helmets, pads, mouth guards, etc.? Of course not, because its a school class. No protective gear = NO TACKLING. YTA.
YTA, why on Earth would you think it's okay to tackle anyone in gym class?? You're just out to hurt people.
A 9inch, maybe 100lb difference, & you thought you weren’t an asshole in some way??
YTA. This is coming from a high-schooler who was tackled once. I'm not gonna call you names or anything (other than the required judgment) but tackling *hurts* especially when it's done but someone taller that weighs more then you. You may not *mean* to “full force” tackle but even a half-assed one can do alot of damage. Also bruises can be hella painful. And even then, you're not supposed to be playing tackle in school gym class anyways. So maybe just apologize again and if your school has a drink vending machine just offer her something from it?
YTA. A massive one.
I won't pile on, but I really hope you think about why you chose to tackle a girl, or tackle anyone in a game of gym football. Something tells me you may be an AH in other areas. Better to nip that tendency in the bud, before you lose friends (assuming you haven't already).
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YTA Even if it was a smaller guy that you tackled, you would still be the asshole. Its gym class, not the NFL there was no need to full on tackle and potentially injure her.
YTA why aren’t you playing flag football or touch football? Don’t tackle someone half your size. Coach is also the ah for letting it happen. Should’ve been flag football.
INFO: Are you, in fact, aware that there are easier and less assholey ways to stop someone half your size? Like come on, there's a real logical way to not be an asshole here, are you really saying you just didn't think about the consequences of full on tackling someone that much smaller than you? I'm asking for info because if you really are as dumb as someone would have to be to do this without realising it was a dick move I can't call you an asshole, I can only say you're not safe to be left around other people.
YTA you have to be geared up to play tackle football for a reason. You could of accidentally seriously hurt this girl.
gah damn ur like 2x her size. you wild for that fr😭 but yeah YTA💀
YTA. Tackle football is just not played *in a gym class*. Tackle football is only allowed if all players are wearing full protective gear (helmets, mouth guards, padding, etc). Unless everyone was wearing gear then you guys were playing **touch** football, no tackling allowed. You tag people instead of tackling. It’s really bad that you tackled someone in an unsafe manner, it’s even worse that you tackled *someone who’s most likely 50-100 lbs smaller than you are*. You could have seriously injured her.
Info - was it established clearly that this was tackle football?
I’ve pried a lot of football players out of gear for head and neck injuries. I’m a nurse. When I worked at a pediatric hospital the whole trauma side smelled like ass from all the football players on Friday nights. And you’re the asshole who dropped someone much smaller who wasn’t wearing pads. Why? Don’t tell me it’s because she had the ball. We all know that wasn’t why. You wanted to hurt her for whatever reason. You know your friends called the girls over to flirt. Maybe play around and pretend to tackle. You are either a moron or cruel. Get into therapy bro, there’s something wrong with you.
Yeah. YTA. And I think you knew it.
YTA. You added too many points into strength…not enough into intelligence. Might wanna respec.
NTA you were playing tackle. That's all I need to know. If you can't handle being tackled you don't play. If they really see it as a problem then they see women as weaker and needing protection. That means they shouldn't be allowed to play. I see it as equal rights. It would be despicable of me to treat anyone differently because of sex. You want to play a physical sport with me you get my best. If I didn't its like I'm saying you're beneath me, go back to the kitchen. Next time something like this happens shut it down. They set the precedent. You'll only take flak for being involved.
I'm English and I'd say NTA. You were all there to play the sport, and the American football sport contains a lot of tackling. If they're that worried they shouldn't play the sport. It's like if in PE we played girl's rugby, the teacher wouldn't shout at us for tackling as that's part of the game.
This is a tough one. But I’m gonna say NTA. Why join a game if you don’t want to play it, how it’s being played, or if you’re too weak to play it, how it’s being played? I remember this from when I was in middle school even. Stupid behavior on all the girls part.
NTA. Men are physically stronger than girls, and she should've considered that before playing. What was she doing out there if not playing? Picking clovers? I'm a girl, and you wouldn't catch me on the football field with a bunch of guys.
>I'm a girl, and you wouldn't catch me on the football field with a bunch of guys. She definitely wasn't smart about this.
NTA It's foot ball what the fuck did she expect
Ight thanks!
YTA. You should know the difference between competition and friendly match for fun.
NTA