“Figures from the California Interscholastic Federation… have shown consistent decreases in the number of high-school students in California turning out for tackle football over the past decade.”
1 Like
PAC 12 need to look to Texas for players
4 Likes
I think this is a trend that is playing out across the country. I think it’s a combination of things but largely the concussion issue. Parents are reluctant to put their kids into football. I have seen a few articles about the numbers at the pee wee/pop warner level are down too. I think in 10 years HS and college football will look different.
My youngest had 2 concussions as a player, both in jr high. He played in HS. His mom said with what we know now she would not let him play after the first one. The issue is real. I recall the first one he had and how I just rolled my eyes when he complained about symptoms a week later. My feel was he just wasn’t a tough enough player and just needed to get back on the field. Looking back, boy was I wrong to just downplay and dismiss his symptoms.
I think many of us grew up in the “walk it off” or “rub a little dirt in it” mind set, but times they are a changing.
7 Likes
Once your brain goes what do you have? The helmets have to be redesigned for player
protection and we can start by getting rid of the ultra hard outer shells.
I’ve seen more than a few concussions in kids’ basketball, soccer and even volleyball.
2 Likes
But a new helmet will not protect the brain from moving inside the skull. But I agree something new has to change. Not sure if you have kids. Would you let your kids play?
One of mine played from 6th all the way through HS. He would play now if he could, he misses it to this day. He was a WR and the only thing he has had to deal with are his crooked fingers. He broke or dislocated most of his fingers. I would let both play but with a much more careful eye.
1 Like
Agreed, every sport has them. Many youth soccer leagues have made it illegal to do headers until certain ages. Football just seems to have under the microscope much like professional cycling (think Armstrong) for doping.
Of course the brain can be ruined by smoking dope and snorting cocaine.
Choices !!
I listened to a very interesting discussion on the radio last week which was surprisingly contradicting a lot of the current thought on the subject. For instance, did you think a kid jumping on a trampoline actually caused many impacts to the brain? Well, each time the person comes down and is bounced back up, it causes an intracranial collision. Most surprising was that, despite all of the brain scans we have seen, according to this study, there is no actual scientific support that football causes CTE any more than a whole lot of our normal activies.
2 Likes
This just in…Living can be a primary cause of Death !
1 Like
I’m doing some work with a company called neurologics. They are on the cutting edge of concussion therapy. https://neurologics.com/
The way it;s explained to me is when you have a concussion, where it happens becomes a black spot. If certain pathways are cut in the process (learning, behavior, mood, etc) they are able to “re-route” to gain full brain functionality. This has nothing to do with CTE however.
1 Like
While football participation is down across a lot of the country, it’s actually up in the southern region (and Utah)
Just saw a story about 3D printed helmets that Riddell is currently developing. The helmets are custom printed to fit each player’s dome… Pretty Cool! #savethetrenches
There was a really good story on this subject on HBO’s Real Sports this past week. I highly recommend checking it out.
1 Like
Good tackling form prevents concussions too. Always have to remind teenage boys to wrap it up.
Having 2 NFL teams back in LA should help drive interest in football and get youth more interested.
1 Like
It’s not about concussions anymore. It’s about body impacts that cause the brain to impact inside the skull. Every time someone comes to a sudden stop from blocking, being blocked, tackling, being tackled or hitting the ground, it can cause minor brain impacts. Happening several times a day, many days a month, many months a year and many years in a lifetime, causes CTE. It’s not just a football thing but it’s definitely not something that proper tackling techniques will slow down.
1 Like
Imagine the future of football: all the players wearing sumo suits.
1 Like
I think it comes down to weighing out rare catastrophic injuries versus common long term brain damage. I predict that the only way football survives the CTE problem is to turn all practices into non-contact workouts. With offensive line and defensive line in practices, they can line up several yards further apart and only do their initial lunge at the snap of the ball instead of colliding. It might look silly but if the only contact is in games, you might see an uptick in less severe injuries but it would most certainly decrease CTE exposure by a large margin.
I got hit in the balls playing at the net in tennis then got a concussion when I landed on the hard court.
1 Like