Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding teams

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Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding teams

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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

Post by PeteRasche »

I'm absolutely seeing this among fellow parents of kids 0 through 10 here in the Midwest. The article astutely points out that there is less decline in the south (where football is barely a notch below religion) and parts of the west (presumably California, where football is huge, though that has always surprised me since Californians are famous for overprotectiveness).

It will be really interesting to see what happens. Data needs to be shown - and fast - that the new helmet technology is working and prevents these long term effects. A coworker suggested, and I guess in a worst-case scenario I'd agree, that without changes and proof of safety, football will become like boxing: a sport only played by the poor who sacrifice the risk in lieu of having a "way out" of a bad situation otherwise. The educated and/or "better off" folks generally aren't taking the risk with their children's future health.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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As a Bayshore Football Official doing games ranging from Annapolis to Ocean City, MD I can attest to what the article says. Part of it is the size of the schools but part of it is parents saying they don’t want to risk injuries. The sport better listen.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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If/When I have a son, I don't know if I'd let him play. It's not just the potential for head injury, which I don't think is as great in grade school and HS with proper technique, but the life long other issues. I have a two bad ankles, a bad knee, a bad shoulder, and disk issues. That said football taught me a lot about perseverance, team work, and responsibility so it would be a hard decision to make.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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windywave wrote:If/When I have a son, I don't know if I'd let him play. It's not just the potential for head injury, which I don't think is as great in grade school and HS with proper technique, but the life long other issues. I have a two bad ankles, a bad knee, a bad shoulder, and disk issues. That said football taught me a lot about perseverance, team work, and responsibility so it would be a hard decision to make.
I wimped out from having to make that decision for my now 31 year old daughter, and in the 90s folks were not yet seeing what we now see. I’ll tell you, when I officiate Pop Warner games and see 120 lb. 12 year olds laying wood on 80 lb. 10 year olds, I cringe. The mismatches are much worse than what I see in JV or varsity games. BTW, there are one or two girls playing Pop Warner.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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TUPF wrote:
windywave wrote:If/When I have a son, I don't know if I'd let him play. It's not just the potential for head injury, which I don't think is as great in grade school and HS with proper technique, but the life long other issues. I have a two bad ankles, a bad knee, a bad shoulder, and disk issues. That said football taught me a lot about perseverance, team work, and responsibility so it would be a hard decision to make.
I wimped out from having to make that decision for my now 31 year old daughter, and in the 90s folks were not yet seeing what we now see. I’ll tell you, when I officiate Pop Warner games and see 120 lb. 12 year olds laying wood on 80 lb. 10 year olds, I cringe. The mismatches are much worse than what I see in JV or varsity games. BTW, there are one or two girls playing Pop Warner.
F=MA ... I played O and D line or TE most of my life so I used my hands a lot and when getting tackled the munchkin DBs went low so I had little head to head contact. It's the guys who take running starts to tackle and the folks getting tackled that I think have the most chance to have an issue.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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windywave wrote:
TUPF wrote:
windywave wrote:If/When I have a son, I don't know if I'd let him play. It's not just the potential for head injury, which I don't think is as great in grade school and HS with proper technique, but the life long other issues. I have a two bad ankles, a bad knee, a bad shoulder, and disk issues. That said football taught me a lot about perseverance, team work, and responsibility so it would be a hard decision to make.
I wimped out from having to make that decision for my now 31 year old daughter, and in the 90s folks were not yet seeing what we now see. I’ll tell you, when I officiate Pop Warner games and see 120 lb. 12 year olds laying wood on 80 lb. 10 year olds, I cringe. The mismatches are much worse than what I see in JV or varsity games. BTW, there are one or two girls playing Pop Warner.
F=MA ... I played O and D line or TE most of my life so I used my hands a lot and when getting tackled the munchkin DBs went low so I had little head to head contact. It's the guys who take running starts to tackle and the folks getting tackled that I think have the most chance to have an issue.
More like E = mv2, but yeah ;)
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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windywave wrote:If/When I have a son, I don't know if I'd let him play. It's not just the potential for head injury, which I don't think is as great in grade school and HS with proper technique, but the life long other issues. I have a two bad ankles, a bad knee, a bad shoulder, and disk issues. That said football taught me a lot about perseverance, team work, and responsibility so it would be a hard decision to make.
And just like many things in the media today, it is so overblown and sensationalized that it leads to false conclusions - like 95% of NFL players have CTE. There was a good article which debunked many of the stats (when Concussion came out, can't find it now). Helps ad dollars when there's something negative to talk about.

There are many things in life that are a risk. I feel my son playing football outweighs the risks. My opinion, I get it. But if we take the same approach to other interests and hobbies, we'd all be sitting in our homes reading or on the phones - period. What a great life that would be.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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doncecco wrote:
windywave wrote:If/When I have a son, I don't know if I'd let him play. It's not just the potential for head injury, which I don't think is as great in grade school and HS with proper technique, but the life long other issues. I have a two bad ankles, a bad knee, a bad shoulder, and disk issues. That said football taught me a lot about perseverance, team work, and responsibility so it would be a hard decision to make.
And just like many things in the media today, it is so overblown and sensationalized that it leads to false conclusions - like 95% of NFL players have CTE. There was a good article which debunked many of the stats (when Concussion came out, can't find it now). Helps ad dollars when there's something negative to talk about.

There are many things in life that are a risk. I feel my son playing football outweighs the risks. My opinion, I get it. But if we take the same approach to other interests and hobbies, we'd all be sitting in our homes reading or on the phones - period. What a great life that would be.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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Here in Kingsport there has been a student who has a second foam fitting over his regular helmet; I was told by the team physician (an orthopedics colleague) that the cost is an additional $500 on top of the $700 each helmet costs, is being used in him because of the number of concussions he has had. He has been told one more concussion and his football career is over. I happened to notice that the player had not dressed out this Past Friday, but had his left arm in a sling.

Personally if he were my son, that helmet would not be needed, because the only thing he would be playing would be trumpet or tuba in the band after that many concussions.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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doncecco wrote:
windywave wrote:If/When I have a son, I don't know if I'd let him play. It's not just the potential for head injury, which I don't think is as great in grade school and HS with proper technique, but the life long other issues. I have a two bad ankles, a bad knee, a bad shoulder, and disk issues. That said football taught me a lot about perseverance, team work, and responsibility so it would be a hard decision to make.
And just like many things in the media today, it is so overblown and sensationalized that it leads to false conclusions - like 95% of NFL players have CTE. There was a good article which debunked many of the stats (when Concussion came out, can't find it now). Helps ad dollars when there's something negative to talk about.

There are many things in life that are a risk. I feel my son playing football outweighs the risks. My opinion, I get it. But if we take the same approach to other interests and hobbies, we'd all be sitting in our homes reading or on the phones - period. What a great life that would be.
Did you just gloss over my post or not comprehend what I said? I said a bigger concern for me is the lifelong nagging injuries I have from football not CTE. Carry on.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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AO Sig wrote:Here in Kingsport there has been a student who has a second foam fitting over his regular helmet; I was told by the team physician (an orthopedics colleague) that the cost is an additional $500 on top of the $700 each helmet costs, is being used in him because of the number of concussions he has had. He has been told one more concussion and his football career is over. I happened to notice that the player had not dressed out this Past Friday, but had his left arm in a sling.

Personally if he were my son, that helmet would not be needed, because the only thing he would be playing would be trumpet or tuba in the band after that many concussions.
I think going to foam helmets and shoulder pads would be the way to go. The hard plastic transfers the energy and encourages hitting with the head, because you feel like you're in armor.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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windywave wrote:
AO Sig wrote:Here in Kingsport there has been a student who has a second foam fitting over his regular helmet; I was told by the team physician (an orthopedics colleague) that the cost is an additional $500 on top of the $700 each helmet costs, is being used in him because of the number of concussions he has had. He has been told one more concussion and his football career is over. I happened to notice that the player had not dressed out this Past Friday, but had his left arm in a sling.

Personally if he were my son, that helmet would not be needed, because the only thing he would be playing would be trumpet or tuba in the band after that many concussions.
I think going to foam helmets and shoulder pads would be the way to go. The hard plastic transfers the energy and encourages hitting with the head, because you feel like you're in armor.
The two football injuries I had in high school, a broken ankle and internal bleeding from getting hit in the kidney, would could not have been prevented using anything available at the time. It’s a violent sport. I loved it and still do, but I don’t kid myself.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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TUPF wrote:
windywave wrote:
AO Sig wrote:Here in Kingsport there has been a student who has a second foam fitting over his regular helmet; I was told by the team physician (an orthopedics colleague) that the cost is an additional $500 on top of the $700 each helmet costs, is being used in him because of the number of concussions he has had. He has been told one more concussion and his football career is over. I happened to notice that the player had not dressed out this Past Friday, but had his left arm in a sling.

Personally if he were my son, that helmet would not be needed, because the only thing he would be playing would be trumpet or tuba in the band after that many concussions.
I think going to foam helmets and shoulder pads would be the way to go. The hard plastic transfers the energy and encourages hitting with the head, because you feel like you're in armor.
The two football injuries I had in high school, a broken ankle and internal bleeding from getting hit in the kidney, would could not have been prevented using anything available at the time. It’s a violent sport. I loved it and still do, but I don’t kid myself.
And you'd still get those injuries today.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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And the treatment and conditioning is much better today. What passed for our athletic training staff in high school was a part-time chemistry teacher with a roll of tape and a bag of ice.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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LawGreenie wrote:And the treatment and conditioning is much better today. What passed for our athletic training staff in high school was a part-time chemistry teacher with a roll of tape and a bag of ice.
Don't forget salt tablets and rubbing some dirt on it!

More seriously, we didn't think about this stuff nor did our parents way back when. Safety technology does need to improve, but all sports carry risk (the two youthful injuries that give me issues in middle age are from baseball and moshing, respectively (no, not at the same time....)). Soccer carries significant concussion risk, too, although it's not talked about as much.

I have a nine year old son. He is very active in Tae Kwon Do, and has been for years. He wears protective gear but there's a risk, of course. The benefits he gets from participation outweigh that danger, at least for us. I doubt I would let him play tackle football at his age, although if he decides he wants to once he gets a few years older I would probably let him, given the safety equipment and staff now available at the places he would likely be attending middle/high school. It's worth noting that the Catholic schools down here only do flag football through seventh grade (there are tackle teams in the various park/recreation districts, though). Just my two cents; it's one of those things each parent has to consider individually, and I don't think there's a clear cut answer.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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People are just bigger, stronger, and faster than even 30 or 40 years ago, too. We all know the stats about how today's DBs are the size of 1950s linemen... With more speed and weight comes more damage.

There was a national story on our local news this morning about how females apparently take significantly longer to heal from concussions than males. Focus of the story was on a girls' high school soccer goalie who had already sustained two concussions this season alone. :shock: Didn't say how (presumably diving, rather than shots being drilled off her head?)
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

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PeteRasche wrote:People are just bigger, stronger, and faster than even 30 or 40 years ago, too. We all know the stats about how today's DBs are the size of 1950s linemen... With more speed and weight comes more damage.
Boy ain’t that the truth. I officiated a JV game this afternoon and they were the size of HS teams in the 70s. I think the biggest difference now is the combination of size and speed. Years ago you were big but never fast, fast but never big. I almost got blindsided today by a linebacker and reacted just in time.
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Re: Football’s decline has some high schools disbanding team

Post by Fan Since '54 »

The problem is that football glamorizes big soul crushing hits. You don't make SportsCenter highlights with a tackle around the waist.

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