Pee Wee Football League Won’t Allow 300 Pound Kid to Play – Should They Bend the Rules for Him [POLL/VIDEO]

Interesting little conundrum.

Here we have a 7th grader weighing almost 300 pounds being barred from playing Pee Wee football because he exceeds the weight limit.

Not really a conundrum when you come to think of it.

After all, he’s not much of a “pee wee” is he?

But it’s his mom that wants him to play with kids he knows and not letting him give up on his dream, so what she’s doing is lobbying on behalf of her son to have the league bend the rules so her son can play.

The league says there are other alternatives for the kid, such as leagues with no weight limits, but mom is concerned that her “pee wee” doesn’t have the experience to play in those other leagues.

According to this:

The Pee Wee Football Association of Mesquite, Texas enforces a weight limit to give smaller children - who can't compete for elite teams - a chance to play football. But what happens when a child exceeds the weight limit yet doesn't feel prepared for more competitive leagues?

At 6-foot-1 and 297 pounds, Elijah Earnheart is considerably bigger than his seventh-grade peers. He practiced with the Mesquite Vikings for three weeks. But when the league weighed Earnheart on Sunday, they had some disappointing news. They couldn't permit him to play.

Seventh graders over 135 pounds cannot play in the Pee Wee league, explained Ronnie Henderson, president for the Pee Wee Football Association. "The rules clearly state that if you are in the seventh grade, big and strong," Henderson told the Daily News, "you should play seventh- grade football." For sixth graders, the weight limit is 160 pounds.

"We have a school league he can go to, as well as select leagues around town that don't have a weight requirement," Henderson said.

Earnheart, however, doesn't feel prepared for the rigors of the school league because of his relative inexperience.

The boy's mother Cindy Earnheart plans to protest the decision with protest signs and shirts that read, "Let Elijah Play." She is frustrated that her son cannot play Pee Wee football like the other boys in his grade.

Henderson said the league is just sticking to the rulebook that they go by every year. If the boys cannot find another place to play, they can join a team for the league with an X label on their helmets. The X restricts them (to playing mainly offensive and defensive line.)

Check out the report courtesy KDFW:

Dallas News | myFOXdfw.com

So, just to quickly break it down, you either give the smaller kids with little experience a chance to play with a much bigger kid with the same amount of experience; and possibly risk injury or give the bigger kid a chance to play with kids closer in size to him but with much more experience.

Which way would you go?

Oh, and let’s not forget the mom who wants to bend the rules for her “pee wee”.

Do you feel she should lobby for her son to play Pee Wee; or just have him join another league?

Should the oversized kid be allowed to play Pee Wee football?