Parents' Views of Football

[Calico Jack]

First of all, the latest study out shows that the concussion issue is a red herring & that sub-concussive hits are just as damaging. They also show evidence of CTE in TEENAGERS.

 

There are some problems with the conclusions drawn in those studies, including the fact that there is no test for CTE for living people. Hard to draw concrete conclusions using only dead brains. That said, denying a connection, or that the connection is not particularly strong in football, is just plain denial.

 

I played football. I coach football. I have a 6 year old son who, if he wants, will play football. I am not an anti-football nut. Nor am I soft. Those types of comments are wrongheaded and just further damage our game. Instead of attacking experts who are doing their jobs, maybe we should look at our game and figure out ways to prevent possible damage.

 

For instance, I still believe we start tackle football WAY too soon. If you ask me, there is no reason kids need to be playing full-contact football before they are 12 years old. Also, there are still a lot of coaches doing too many contact drills & beating their kids up -- all in search of "toughness." These are just two changes that, I believe, would make the game safer for players at all levels.

 

I can’t agree more with this ( and, some might find that hard to believe), especially no tackle football before 12. I’m not sure how much is really gained, thus not sure how much would be lost. The only defense I’ve heard of (and likely true) is that socccer would then become an even harder battle to fight.

[TribePride]

the game is safer today than ever before. Stop this war on football.

[MSU-70]

Pansies.

I bet that is what they said about Dave Duerson, Junior Seau or Mike Webster along with many many other players on the lower levels who have no clue what is happening to them right now because of the head injuries sustained when they played. They are a big bunch of pansies!

[HedgeHog8]

I can’t agree more with this ( and, some might find that hard to believe), especially no tackle football before 12. I’m not sure how much is really gained, thus not sure how much would be lost. The only defense I’ve heard of (and likely true) is that socccer would then become an even harder battle to fight.

 

We are fighting the battle currently to get flag football installed into our community. The people resisting believe they are saving football by having first graders run into each other full speed. They are fighting the good fight, but aren't seeing the bad practices in what they are fighting to protect. I don't have a son yet (crossing my fingers), but I would not like him to wear pads and a helmet until he has hit puberty and beginning to become physically mature.

 

I think the soccer argument is crap. (my opinion only) Are you telling me that a busy parent wouldn't want their son (or daughter) playing flag football that practices 1 night a week and plays games 1 day a week as opposed to the 2-3 practices per week that many youth programs practice. 1 practice/1 game is the youth soccer philosophy and they have huge numbers in my area, I think football can copy that model and get both parents and kids interested in football again without straining their attention spans.

 

If you can't tell, I'm a big supporter of alternative routes to youth football, especially flag.

[Calico Jack]

We are fighting the battle currently to get flag football installed into our community. The people resisting believe they are saving football by having first graders run into each other full speed. They are fighting the good fight, but aren't seeing the bad practices in what they are fighting to protect. I don't have a son yet (crossing my fingers), but I would not like him to wear pads and a helmet until he has hit puberty and beginning to become physically mature.

 

I think the soccer argument is crap. (my opinion only) Are you telling me that a busy parent wouldn't want their son (or daughter) playing flag football that practices 1 night a week and plays games 1 day a week as opposed to the 2-3 practices per week that many youth programs practice. 1 practice/1 game is the youth soccer philosophy and they have huge numbers in my area, I think football can copy that model and get both parents and kids interested in football again without straining their attention spans.

 

If you can't tell, I'm a big supporter of alternative routes to youth football, especially flag.

 

Same in our area with the 1 practice/1 game model with soccer, but I've just heard from several coaches out there with some shiny things on their fingers that this was there experience (not having tackle until say 3rd/4th grade) and it was a hard battle getting those kids back out out for football, if they ever did.

[Qryche11]

[True blue (and gold)]

First of all, the latest study out shows that the concussion issue is a red herring & that sub-concussive hits are just as damaging. They also show evidence of CTE in TEENAGERS.

 

There are some problems with the conclusions drawn in those studies, including the fact that there is no test for CTE for living people. Hard to draw concrete conclusions using only dead brains. That said, denying a connection, or that the connection is not particularly strong in football, is just plain denial.

 

I played football. I coach football. I have a 6 year old son who, if he wants, will play football. I am not an anti-football nut. Nor am I soft. Those types of comments are wrongheaded and just further damage our game. Instead of attacking experts who are doing their jobs, maybe we should look at our game and figure out ways to prevent possible damage.

 

For instance, I still believe we start tackle football WAY too soon. If you ask me, there is no reason kids need to be playing full-contact football before they are 12 years old. Also, there are still a lot of coaches doing too many contact drills & beating their kids up -- all in search of "toughness." These are just two changes that, I believe, would make the game safer for players at all levels.

Do you have a link to this latest study? I'd like to read it.

[Voice of Reason]

Concussions in football have received all the attention but it appears to me that there are more concussions in almost every sport now than there used to be. Is there ever going to be a time when people say no soccer because of all the concussions? I have heard parents say they forbid their kids to do headers because of concussion worries

[GCHS]

Do you have a link to this latest study? I'd like to read it.

 

A new study shows that hits to the head, not concussions, cause CTE - The Washington Post

 

BU-Led Study May Explain CTE without Concussions | Research

 

Here is a link to the study, itself, for any medical researchers out there. lol:

 

Concussion, microvascular injury, and early tauopathy in young athletes after impact head injury and an impact concussion mouse model | Brain | Oxford Academic

[GCHS]

Concussions in football have received all the attention but it appears to me that there are more concussions in almost every sport now than there used to be. Is there ever going to be a time when people say no soccer because of all the concussions? I have heard parents say they forbid their kids to do headers because of concussion worries

 

I think part of this is because of two issues: 1) Awareness is increasing & 2) More accurate diagnosis.

 

Again, though, it seems more and more clear that damage is not just done by concussions, but by repeated hits. As a coach, TWO questions are important:

 

1) What amount of force is sufficient to create sub-concussive damage?

2) How can we change our teaching to protect from this as much as possible? As far as this question goes, I suspect tackling will be less of a problem than blocking.

[GCHS]

Same in our area with the 1 practice/1 game model with soccer, but I've just heard from several coaches out there with some shiny things on their fingers that this was there experience (not having tackle until say 3rd/4th grade) and it was a hard battle getting those kids back out out for football, if they ever did.

 

I guess I am missing the argument, here? What does it mean that programs had a hard time getting people "back" to football? Wouldn't more flag make it MORE likely parents allow their kids to play football?

[GCHS]

I have also heard coaches complain about having to teach their kids how to tackle, because of flag - but that is silly... Teaching kids how to tackle is OUR JOB. If you have a little league/MS program that is so good a teaching tackling that you never have to drill it at the HS level, I will pay a lot of money to get access to it!

[rjs4470]

I have also heard coaches complain about having to teach their kids how to tackle, because of flag - but that is silly... Teaching kids how to tackle is OUR JOB. If you have a little league/MS program that is so good a teaching tackling that you never have to drill it at the HS level, I will pay a lot of money to get access to it!

 

The other thing about flag, is it also teaches kids how to play in space, and move their feet. You still have to be in good position to block and "tackle" in flag, sometimes more so than in the tackle game.

[Jackie Ed]

I love football. I wasnt allowed to play until 6th grade, not bc of injury worries but bc the way my older brother was treated by the local youth coach when he was a 3rd grader (a little more hands on than my parents wanted).

 

I got my butt whipped as a 6th grader and then as a freshman and sophomore. I didnt give up, I actually worked as hard as I physically could in the weight room, ran as hard as I could in conditioning and practiced as hard as I could during the week just to be able to get on special teams. I had more stingers than would be allowable today, but I just assumed it was just a hard hit. My parents never once discouraged us from playing football (mid-late 90's), and were very involved in giving advice and relating hard work to the real world.

 

I love football so much that I became a football official. I see all kinds of stuff, broken bones, sprained ankles, tore up knees, but a very minute (?) amount of hits that I would consider concussion causing. My son is currently nine years old, he as a kindergartner asked to play, no push by me or mom. He was to small for tackle but we found a local flag league. He did three years of that, then in the summer following second grade he asked us (again not us asking him) if he could play tackle. Mom was concerned even though she came from a big time football family as well as myself. We discussed it, I told her myself and three brothers, her two brothers and her 3 uncles all played through high school. We are all very functional human beings ranging from 27-59 years of age.

 

My biggest gripe is the media stating the obvious, concussions do occur and need to be tracked. But failing to stress that the percentages of concussions vs any other injury. Yes banging skulls cant be good, but how many people who played football only up until high school have had a life altering head injury? The problem lies with the NFL intentionally hiding the fact that their players were coming back to soon or even coming back after taking a serious blow and not giving them the truth.

[GCHS]

I agree. Also, you can give EVERYONE a chance to run, catch, & touch the ball. How many kids do we lose early because they think they will always be pegged into a certain position?

 

I really don't see a downside to playing flag longer.