golfballs
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Kids flee football in light of NFL violence, Pop Warner participation plummeting
Just more evidence. The fewer and fewer kids play, the less popular it becomes, the more talent starts to dry up. Obviously it's too early calling for it's demise, but I wouldn't be surprised if football has reached it's peak.
Rick Reilly makes a nice living off of the sport, but admits it weighs on his conscience:
Reilly: NFL becoming a guilty pleasure - ESPN
We haven't even begun to see the insurance implications at the lower levels of the sport. Which is surprising to me.
Thats already started. As mild traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy have become household phrases, participation in the countrys most popular sport has slumped.
During the 2012-13 season, boys participation in 11-player high school football declined to the lowest level since 2005-06, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. Football, however, remained the most popular high school sport.
USA Football, an umbrella organization partially funded by the NFL, estimated the number of children ages 6 to 14 playing tackle football decreased from 3 million in 2010 to 2.8 million in 2011. The National Sporting Goods Association reported that tackle football numbers dropped 11 percent since 2011.
And participation in the countrys largest youth football organization, Pop Warner, declined 9.5 percent from 2010 to 2012, as first reported by ESPNs Outside the Lines.
...
An October poll by HBOs Real Sports and Marist College echoed the concern. A third of respondents said links between football and long-term brain injury made them less likely to allow their son to play football. Even more 56 percent believed that long-term brain-injury risk was an important factor in whether they allowed their son to play football.
...
At least six high school football players died this year after on-field collisions. The tragedies involve a small fraction of the million-plus participants, but point to the growing body of studies about the impact of head injuries among youngsters.
The Institute of Medicine said high school football players were twice as likely as their collegiate counterparts to sustain concussions and that football had the highest such rate of any high school sport. Between 4 percent and 20 percent of high school football players will sustain a brain injury over the course of one season, the American Association of Neurological Surgeons estimated. Players as young as 7 years old sustain head blows on a par with high school players and adults, researchers at the Virginia Tech-Wake Forest University School of Biomedical Engineering and Sciences found.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported football as the most common reason for emergency room visits by children for nonfatal traumatic brain injuries from 2001 to 2009. That doesnt count undiagnosed concussions or ones deemed too mild for a hospital trip.
Just more evidence. The fewer and fewer kids play, the less popular it becomes, the more talent starts to dry up. Obviously it's too early calling for it's demise, but I wouldn't be surprised if football has reached it's peak.
Rick Reilly makes a nice living off of the sport, but admits it weighs on his conscience:
Reilly: NFL becoming a guilty pleasure - ESPN
We haven't even begun to see the insurance implications at the lower levels of the sport. Which is surprising to me.