Youth leagues generally forbid the slide tackle since it easily result in serious injury, especially when done incorrectly by inexperienced players. That’s a no brainer. Many leagues also have rules stating that a player who falls down on the ball or on the ground in the vicinity of the ball may not play the ball since young kids love to kick at the ball even if its underneath another player!

So here’s where the question comes in. Supposed the ball is headed for the touch line and a player, all alone, runs after it and makes a sliding save to keep the ball in bounds. Is it legal? Does it depend if other players are in the vicinity? Our officials call this very tightly. If you slide, you lose possession, regardless of who is nearby.

I’m not say that’s right or wrong, though as a coach I think its good to call that way. Young kids may not be ready to make the split second decision of ‘is it OK to slide kick the ball? Is anyone nearby?’ They are more likely to just go for it anyway and possibly hurt someone. So I’m curious what other leagues do at the rec level for this situation.
Do you allow a sliding save? Do you require other players be X yards away? Do you ban it?