Football concussions, killing the sport?

#1

golfballs

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#1
Kids flee football in light of NFL violence, Pop Warner participation plummeting
That’s already started. As mild traumatic brain injury and chronic traumatic encephalopathy have become household phrases, participation in the country’s 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 country’s largest youth football organization, Pop Warner, declined 9.5 percent from 2010 to 2012, as first reported by ESPN’s “Outside the Lines.”
...
An October poll by HBO’s “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.
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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 doesn’t 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.
 
#7
#7
Time to kick in a few 10's of millions into some high tech helmets. You can't convince me there are not materials or combinations of materials that can not do the job very effectively. Gases and mechanisms that self inflated to counter G-forces, that change molecular structure, hell a helmet 1' thicker of the right material.
 
#8
#8
If my kid was playing multiple sports, I would hope football wasn't his top choice.
 
#9
#9
I LOVE football, but the only way a son of mine plays is in a position of less head impact.
 
#13
#13
Mine don't play anymore. I pulled them. New helmets have protected the head so much, there is no energy release, like a fracture, etc. It's scary. 7 and 8 yr olds getting concussions. 10 yr old championship game this year had 5 kids out with concussions. I have friends that coach and sons kids that play and it scares me. I asked him the other night about it. Some just don't seem to worry. I do. I love the sport and my little one was good. He's going to play flag and soccer now. May revisit down the road when more info comes out, but rattling the brain isn't good and there are more concussions now than ever due to the equipment and kids/people in general being bigger and faster.
 
#15
#15
Mine don't play anymore. I pulled them. New helmets have protected the head so much, there is no energy release, like a fracture, etc. It's scary. 7 and 8 yr olds getting concussions. 10 yr old championship game this year had 5 kids out with concussions. I have friends that coach and sons kids that play and it scares me. I asked him the other night about it. Some just don't seem to worry. I do. I love the sport and my little one was good. He's going to play flag and soccer now. May revisit down the road when more info comes out, but rattling the brain isn't good and there are more concussions now than ever due to the equipment and kids/people in general being bigger and faster.

I never got injured in football, but I got injured in baseball. I took a linedrive to the chest. just think what could of happened if it was just a little higher.

people are having knee jerk reactions to this. I wouldn't worry so much until they get to highschool.
 
#16
#16
The good version of the sport is.

The "good" version died once clothesline tackles, head slaps and the wedge formation were all outlawed.

Concussions aside, the Baltimore Ravens are doing their part by wearing uniforms that look like women's pajamas with padded shoulders.
 
#17
#17
I never got injured in football, but I got injured in baseball. I took a linedrive to the chest. just think what could of happened if it was just a little higher.

people are having knee jerk reactions to this. especially in the early ages. maybe people should be worried by the time kids hit highschool.


Sorry, but when I see 7 and 8 yr old kids throwing up from concussions, it's not a knee jerk reaction. There are probably no less than 50 kids on the Blaze teams this past year from ages 6-13 that had to sit out due to concussions and there is nothing normal about it.
 
#18
#18
Sorry, but when I see 7 and 8 yr old kids throwing up from concussions, it's not a knee jerk reaction. There are probably no less than 50 kids on the Blaze teams this past year from ages 6-13 that had to sit out due to concussions and there is nothing normal about it.

I stand corrected, I've never seen that, or heard of that. you sure they didn't just over eat, and then try to play a sport? I don't think 7/8 years old can hit each other hard enough to cause a concussion.
 
#19
#19
Concussions happen at every level of play. Concussions happen when the brain is jarred inside the skull. If equipment isn't developed to eliminate the possibility of concussions, and soon, there will be a bleak outlook for football in the future. NFL owners will drown in the litigation. It will continue down to all levels. Rule changes won't be enough to end this problem
 
#20
#20
I stand corrected, I've never seen that, or heard of that. you sure they didn't just over eat, and then try to play a sport? I don't think 7/8 years old can hit each other hard enough to cause a concussion.


Yes. And parents and kids get fired up each year about their aggressive son being able to get his energy out and hit someone. And parents and kids each year pull their kids out after one of theirs is concussed or see a bad situation. I've been both. These kids are popping too and it doesn't take much at all to get a concussion from a hit on the helmet, or an awkward fall or hard turf. I just got a call from a friend who moved to Florida. His 11 yr old son plays and is pretty good. He has had no problems. Their 7 yr old played and ended up at the hospital one night because he was so out of it. If anything, I think more sick or flu symptoms in kids during football season could be related. That's jmo. After you see a couple, you notice other kids and how they act. I couldn't put my kids back out there. I don't want to preach and tell others they shouldn't. I just think ignoring the head deal isn't a good idea. To each his own. I still love the sport. Just not for my kids right now.
 
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#21
#21
In regards to the "10 year olds with concussions" thing. I've always kind of thought football was a difficult sport for young kids to learn how to play, especially from a technique point (including stuff like how to tackle someone safely) compared to a sport like baseball or basketball.

In my opinion middle school is a pretty good age to start playing tackle football. Of course injuries and concussions still happen at that age but the kid's are so much more coordinated at this age that proper technique is much easier to teach.

Regardless though football is a violent sport. I had concussions playing in high school but I'm grateful my parents allowed me to play. Football teaches lots of life lessons IMO.
 
#22
#22
The forensic pathologist who was the first to tie head trauma suffered by American football players to a neurological brain disorder says children should not be allowed to play high-impact sports until they are 18 years old and can make decisions about the risks for themselves.

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/07/opinion/dont-let-kids-play-football.html

If a child who plays football is subjected to advanced radiological and neurocognitive studies during the season and several months after the season, there can be evidence of brain damage at the cellular level of brain functioning, even if there were no documented concussions or reported symptoms. If that child continues to play over many seasons, these cellular injuries accumulate to cause irreversible brain damage, which we know now by the name Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, or C.T.E., a disease that I first diagnosed in 2002.

Depending on the severity of the condition, the child now has a risk of manifesting symptoms of C.T.E. like major depression, memory loss, suicidal thought and actions, loss of intelligence as well as dementia later in life. C.T.E. has also been linked to drug and alcohol abuse as the child enters his 20s, 30s and 40s.
...
We have a legal age for drinking alcohol; for joining the military; for voting; for smoking; for driving; and for consenting to have sex. We must have the same when it comes to protecting the organ that defines who we are as human beings.
 
#24
#24
I find it interesting that the ones that seem to say the most about how the game is being ruined and that people are overeating are fans; while I'm seeing more and more ex-NFL players come out and say they either refuse to let their kids play or strongly discourage it.
 
#25
#25
It's possible that we end up with a game where you're not allowed to lead with the shoulder or helmet on offense or defense. If that saves the sport, I'm OK with it.

I would discourage my kids from playing football and I never thought I'd be saying this.
 

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