Blake Birnie has loved football all his life. He plays outside
linebacker for the Raiders and he hopes his third season gets off
to a better start than his first two.
Blake Birnie has loved football all his life. He plays outside linebacker for the Raiders and he hopes his third season gets off to a better start than his first two.
A rough play on the rookie took him off the field for a few days the first year he played, and his chiropractor diagnosed him with a strained neck after a tough tackle during his second season. He sat out practice for a week before getting back on the field. “If I had a neck brace, I wouldn’t have gotten hurt,” the 9-year-old said.
So far this season things are going better for the experienced player, but practice just started Monday.
No this isn’t the NFL. It’s not even high school football. Blake plays Pop Warner football in the Mitey Mites league, for boys ages 7 to 9.
At first glance, Blake is the last kid you might expect to see out on the field in a tackle football game. He’s got short strawberry blond hair and fair skin with freckles. His light skin doesn’t deal well with heat. It’s bright red as he runs off the field during practice and games. He doesn’t have much muscle on his 4-foot-6-inch frame and he’s only gained four pounds since the end of last season, bringing him to 61 pounds. But none of that keeps him from being tough on the field.
Blake inherited his love of the game from his father Greg Birnie, who played the sport when he was younger.
“I played three years of Pop Warner and then two years in high school. I had to give it up then and get a job or else I would be a pro by now,” Greg joked, the laugh lines around his green eyes crinkling.
Last year, Greg Birnie – who has CPR and First Aid Certification – spent plenty of time on the field with his son working as a trainer for the Silver Raiders team.
“At this age, there is a lot of crying,” he joked, of his task dealing with the mostly minor injuries. He will be helping the team again this year and said it gives him an opportunity to watch his son improve on the field.
“His endurance is better,” Greg said. “A lot of his motor skills are better. It’s a combination of being older and being exposed to the techniques.”
As the new season starts, his dad hopes to have him work on his quickness.
“He needs to improve his speed and agility,” Greg said. “Because he’s light and small.”
Even though he is smaller than some of the other players, Blake still prefers tackle football to a summer stint playing flag football.
“It was kind of more boring,” Blake said. “I didn’t see people’s helmets flying off.”
Still, the game is not always easy for the small player. He said his least favorite part of the game is “having the kids always hurt me.”
But he’d rather be out on the field with his teammates than watching from the sidelines, even at games that bystanders might not think are ideal conditions.
Blake said his favorite game from last season was a game in Atherton, when he had to get up at 5am to get to the field in time for a 6:30am weigh in for an 8am game. The reason the early morning game was his favorite?
“It was raining and we were sliding all over in the mud,” he said, smiling.
For Blake, there doesn’t seem to be an end to his football days in sight. After all, he’s wanted to play football more than half his life, or at least since he was four.
He isn’t going to stop playing “until I’m a professional. For the [Atlanta] Falcons, my favorite team.”
