I'm a Brain Scientist and I Let My Son Play Football

Discussion in 'The Thunderdome' started by CardinalVol, Sep 20, 2017.

  1. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

  2. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    I found the article interesting, but it came off like a man trying to justify letting his son play football. Not saying he is wrong, but just how I read it.

    I don't think letting a 12 year old play football is going to cause CTE or dementia 50 years later, necessarily. But I have seen a 9 year old get a concussion, and that just cannot be good, and the odds of it happening in youth football is probably far higher than in any other sport. Yes, you can get beaned by a pitch, yes you can take a header or a kick to the head in soccer, or hit the water wrong on a high dive, but those pale in comparison to hit after hit after hit you take in football.

    I let my sons play, and I am glad they took the decision away from me when they both quit after on season saying they didn't enjoy it. I am not going to lie.
     
  3. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    At the youth level, you might want to take a look at soccer versus football, girls soccer specifically. You might be surprised.
     
  4. IP

    IP Super Moderator

    Soccer has a lot of youth injuries, including brain injuries.

    I think it is worth listening to other perspectives.
     
  5. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    My son is playing grasshopper level this year. I'm infinitely more times worries that he breaks his neck by blocking tackling with his head down that I am him getting a concussion and/or CTE.

    (And am thankful our coaches stop it/correct it on the spot when kids do go in head down.)
     
  6. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    Please don't get me wrong, I am open to a discussion on this. And I admit that soccer has issues as well. My son plays u-12 and they are VERY strict on heading and you cannot play the ball if you are laying on the ground.
     
  7. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    Boys youth soccer and football are about dead even in concussions.
     
  8. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    Is there a divergence as the kids get to middle and high school or is that across all levels of youth soccer/football?
     
  9. CardinalVol

    CardinalVol Uncultured, non-diverse mod

    All I have seen is "youth". Not sure I've ever seen the term defined.
     
  10. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    correct. No heading until our u12 games and tournaments this year. I've been around both sports with kids for a few years now and though there may be some data on ages @ 8-12, I can't recall kids being concussed or out for symptoms or hearing about it from parents, but every week in football, 2-3 kids are not playing due to concussions.
     
  11. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator

    There's a lot of misinformation out there about the concussion stuff. I'm glad it's lead to a change in tackling though.

    http://aansneurosurgeon.org/features/play-football-despite-learning-brain-injury/
     
  12. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator

    Football is where the money is at in this country
     
  13. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    That is my anecdotal evidence as well. When my sons played football, there was a couple of kids that had to sit out (one in a dark room for two days). I have never seen a collision or any other thing happen in my youngest's soccer league.

    All anecdotal of course.
     
  14. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator

    Girls soccer in college has more concussions to injuries than college football.
     
  15. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    I do wonder if the jump to concussions->CTE happened too quickly. Is it NFL only or also those that played Div I football but not NFL? Only high school? Is there a correlation between steroids/HGH and CTE? Pain killers and CTE? Not concussions per se but constant small hits to the head over and over akin to boxing? A combination of all of these?

    NFL players do horrible things to their bodies Monday thru Saturday just to play on Sunday.
     
  16. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    How about girls rugby? Are girls more susceptible to concussions than men?

    A lot of questions about all of this, really.
     
  17. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator

    They're starting to see it in the general population that' never played contact sports but has a high usage of pain medicine.

    NFL players live off of pain medication
     
  18. Volst53

    Volst53 Super Moderator


    The science is showing that girls are more susceptible because increased muscle mass in the neck dramatically decreases concussions. Most football programs are now training the neck because of this, which is a good thing.
     
  19. NorrisAlan

    NorrisAlan Founder of the Mike Honcho Fan Club

    And the NFL wants to lengthen the season to 18 games. That would be akin to premeditated murder, imho.
     
  20. Ssmiff

    Ssmiff Went to the White House...Again

    wonder if that's from awkward falls on the ground and hitting their heads.
     

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