Poll: Would you let your kid play (American) football in school?

[Lilani]

Recently, a 24 year old NFL player left the league because he feared getting brain damage from further concussions and injuries from continuing his career (he's already suffered two in his life so far). This comes after a lot of research has come out regarding brain damage and football, with all signs pointing to football players being at a much greater risk for just about every kind of brain disease under the sun, including dimensia, Alzheimer's, brain bleeds, you name it. The NFL claims football is safer than it has ever been since the league formed, which in sure it is, but that doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. And the risk even extends to people who just played football in school and never had a professional career.

I have never much been into sports, especially football, but even though it's considered a pastime and children's sports in general considered a rite of passage, if I have children I am going to absolutely prohibit them from playing football in school. There are plenty of other sports and nothing which makes me feel it's worth the risk even for those few years. To you Americans and non-Americans out there: would you allow your children to play American football in school if they had the chance, in spite of the risk of permanent brain injury?

Edited to make the thread title not contradict the poll question.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

I'm with you Lilani, No. The idea this is harmless is just a promotion of ignorance and denial. Those promoting that it is somehow safe or okay really do not understand the amount of money dished out to try and downplay this issue.

"Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major cause of death and disability in the United States, contributing to about 30% of all injury deaths.1 Every day, 138 people in the United States die from injuries that include TBI. Those who survive a TBI can face effects lasting a few days to disabilities which may last the rest of their lives. Effects of TBI can include impaired thinking or memory, movement, sensation (e.g., vision or hearing), or emotional functioning (e.g., personality changes, depression). These issues not only affect individuals but can have lasting effects on families and communities.

What is a TBI?
A TBI is caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or a penetrating head injury that disrupts the normal function of the brain. Not all blows or jolts to the head result in a TBI. The severity of a TBI may range from ?mild? (i.e., a brief change in mental status or consciousness) to ?severe? (i.e., an extended period of unconsciousness or memory loss after the injury). Most TBIs that occur each year are mild, commonly called concussions."

http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html

I do hope that in our lifetime we see drastic changes in how this is viewed and handled. For minors, honestly it should be consider under abuse and neglect unless they change how the sport is played to prevent head injuries. Just as it would be considered child neglect to not adequately supervise your children preventing them from engaging in dangerous activities, the same should be said for allowing them to engage in a " sport" that if played properly can cause serious brain injury. Brain injuries are not from playing the sport wrong, they are from playing the sport properly. A proper tackle shakes and damages the brain, as long as this is the case, the sport should not be considered for youth sports.

This should be viewed the same way we view " gladiators" of the past as being barbaric and uncivilized. Hopefully we will see a shift in this behavior within our lifetimes.

 

[Username Redacted]

Recently, a 24 year old NFL player left the league because he feared getting brain damage from further concussions and injuries from continuing his career (he's already suffered two in his life so far). This comes after a lot of research has come out regarding brain damage and football, with all signs pointing to football players being at a much greater risk for just about every kind of brain disease under the sun, including dimensia, Alzheimer's, brain bleeds, you name it. The NFL claims football is safer than it has ever been since the league formed, which in sure it is, but that doesn't mean it isn't dangerous. And the risk even extends to people who just played football in school and never had a professional career.

I have never much been into sports, especially football, but even though it's considered a pastime and children's sports in general considered a rite of passage, if I have children I am going to absolutely prohibit them from playing football in school. There are plenty of other sports and nothing which makes me feel it's worth the risk even for those few years. To you Americans and non-Americans out there: would you allow your children to play American football in school if they had the chance, in spite of the risk of permanent brain injury?

Edited to make the thread title not contradict the poll question.

The NFL can say whatever they want but any hypothetical future child of mine won't be contributing to their business. Safer =/= safe.

Related story:
I once spent a three hour plane right sitting next to an elderly gentleman and his wife. He told me he'd played football and showed me his Superbowl ring. I remembered his name once I'd gotten home and looked him up. Yup, he had played cornerback for a Superbowl winning team in the 60s. Here's the thing. We had that conversation where he asked me if I liked football, talked about him winning the Superbowl, etc. for 5-10 minutes at a time with about five minutes of down time on repeat for the entire plane ride. He had the long term memory of a bowl of pudding. Chronic traumatic encephalopathy is a scary thing.

 

[Albino Boo]

I have no issues with my son playing rugby, so not at all. In your version of the game you get to wear full body armour, in rugby, if a bit of your face/head falls off you tape it back on and get on with the game, unless you have blood on your top, and then you have to change it.

Pretty much my position. I dont have a problem with rugby, why would I have a problem with hand egg?

 

[Silentpony_v1legacy]

Not if I could help it, but I really wouldn't stop them. I played rugby for 10 years, so who am I to judge?

 

[senordesol]

People can get hurt doing all sorts of things, but I don't count that as an express reason to disallow it. I won't push my kids into sports like my dad pushed me; but if they wanna play, I won't stop them (let's face it, they'll do it on their own time anyway).

 

[Lilani]

People can get hurt doing all sorts of things, but I don't count that as an express reason to disallow it. I won't push my kids into sports like my dad pushed me; but if they wanna play, I won't stop them (let's face it, they'll do it on their own time anyway).

Is there not a point where an injury is a bit more than just "getting hurt," especially when the injury is unavoidable and unpreventable even with protective equipment? I got hurt as a kid--broke my wrist playing outside, got scraped up when I crashed my bike. But I was playing near my house and I wasn't riding my bike on a road where vehicles are. And those were only a couple of instances out of the hundreds of times I played outside of rode my bike. But I doubt my parents would have let me do these things if the chance of me getting injured in a way which could permanently impair me was practically guaranteed, as is the case with playing football for any length of time.

 

[madwarper]

especially when the injury is unavoidable and unpreventable even with protective equipment?

Prove that injuries from Football are both "unavoidable" and "practically guaranteed", else I'm simply calling bullshit on your entire argument.

Injuries can happen in any activity. To single out Football is asinine. In Soccer, head-butting the ball also causes brain damage[footnote]http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/does-heading-a-soccer-ball-cause-brain-damage/[/footnote][footnote]http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/06/130614-soccer-heading-concussion-brain-injury-science/[/footnote]. As would talking a line drive to the helmet in Baseball.[footnote]http://www.nj.com/passaic-county/index.ssf/2012/08/wayne_little_league_player_paralyzed_after_being_hit_in_chest_with_ball_to_receive_145m.html [/footnote]

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

especially when the injury is unavoidable and unpreventable even with protective equipment?

Prove that injuries from Football are both "unavoidable" and "practically guaranteed", else I'm simply calling bullshit on your entire argument.

Injuries can happen in any activity. To single out Football is asinine. In Soccer, head-butting the ball also causes brain damage. As would talking a line drive to the helmet in Baseball.

The problem with American football is that the brain is shaken and damaged during a proper tackle and wearing the proper equipment. You would have to remove tackling and contact in order to prevent damage. Even shaking the brain can cause damage.

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/sports/concussion-watch/76-of-79-deceased-nfl-players-found-to-have-brain-disease/
http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070917112516.htm
http://www.mayfieldclinic.com/PE-TBI.htm
http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html
http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/tbi/detail_tbi.htm
http://www.msktc.org/tbi/factsheets/Seizures-After-Traumatic-Brain-Injury
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronic_traumatic_encephalopathy

 

[madwarper]

The problem with American football is that the brain is shaken and damaged during a proper tackle and wearing the proper equipment. You would have to remove tackling and contact in order to prevent damage. Even shaking the brain can cause damage.

That is HAS happened is not the same thing as it WILL happen. Neither unavoidable nor guaranteed.

So, try again. Show me one source that explicitly supports Lilani's claim.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

The problem with American football is that the brain is shaken and damaged during a proper tackle and wearing the proper equipment. You would have to remove tackling and contact in order to prevent damage. Even shaking the brain can cause damage.

That is HAS happened is not the same thing as it WILL happen. Neither unavoidable nor guaranteed.

So, try again. Show me one source that explicitly supports Lilani's claim.

OH please. Now you are just being ridiculous. Every study is showing the exact same thing, by the time you get results of any study in the history of ever, it is already past and not in the future. No one can tell you about something that hasn't happened yet, so quit trying to act like that is an argument or something.

Lilani's claim has already been verified by every single study on the issue. Every single one of them. Trying to say " that is what has happened doesn't mean it will" is asinine. You try again. LMAO.

How about we just stop it? That we say "kids brains are more important than this game.", and have them play a game that doesn't damage their brains instead? It isn't like football is more important than anyone brain, to think anyone would think it is is disturbing.

 

[Zontar]

If my kid wants to play handegg, rugby, hockey or any other sport who the hell am I to tell them no? I played handegg, and my brother did and still does play hockey, and we both turned out fine. Though these days I prefer the more elegant sports of fencing and curling.

Keeps them fit, builds character, and best of all it helps them form a backbone, which is something that my generation surely needs. Though I think my children wouldn't have that problem since the inevitable reforms that will come from the societal-wide failure of "everyone's a winner" and "no need for competition" attitudes are already in sight.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

If my kid wants to play handegg, rugby, hockey or any other sport who the hell am I to tell them no? I played handegg, and my brother did and still does play hockey, and we both turned out fine. Though these days I prefer the more elegant sports of fencing and curling.

Keeps them fit, builds character, and best of all it helps them form a backbone, which is something that my generation surely needs. Though I think my children wouldn't have that problem since the inevitable reforms that will come from the societal-wide failure of "everyone's a winner" and "no need for competition" attitudes are already in sight.

How do you know you are fine? Some people do not know they had brain damage until they get the autopsy reports back after their death. It is just a matter of where the injury is as to how much it impacts your life. It is like playing Russian roulette, and allowing your child to do so, hoping their results turn out as good as yours. There are plenty of ways to build character and to compete that do not involve risking their brain.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Sure, why not although here in the UK it's Rugby and they don't wear any protective gears (before you asked what injuries I ever got from Ruby was a cut from my ear during a mishap in a tackle and yeah I wasn't exactly diving in at Ruby).

Do you mean let them played as in pursuit it as a career otherwise it will diminished any worries if they continue to played it for long seeing how sports in school (P.E.) changed monthly well that what I remember from my time during PE.

 

[madwarper]

Lilani's claim has already been verified by every single study on the issue.

I suggest you read the part of her post I quoted, because if you any of it has been substantiated, then it's obvious that you don't understand the studies you linked.

There is not one study that states that brain injury is unavoidable, nor guaranteed, by simply playing football.

How about we just stop it? That we csay "kids brains are more important than this game.", and have them play a game that doesn't damage their brains instead?

Sure, if you want to wrap your kids with three layers of bubble wrap every time they leave your side, that's your option.

 

[Lilani]

The problem with American football is that the brain is shaken and damaged during a proper tackle and wearing the proper equipment. You would have to remove tackling and contact in order to prevent damage. Even shaking the brain can cause damage.

That is HAS happened is not the same thing as it WILL happen. Neither unavoidable nor guaranteed.

So, try again. Show me one source that explicitly supports Lilani's claim.

Perhaps "unavoidable" was a bit hyperbolic in terms of injuries, but the point I was trying to make was that the one of the major maneuvers of football is for the players to hurl themselves on top of one another, often headlong and covered in heavy equipment which is supposed to make them safer but conversely makes inflicting serious harm easier in many ways. Children play in many ways and can get injured doing so, but they are typically broken up when things get "too rough." But the way football works is to put players into those "too rough" situations time and again, leading to constant bangs to the head and constant abrupt stops. Due to the nature of football, even minimizing the likelihood of those violent collisions is unavoidable, unless all such contact is eliminated.

What's stranger is that games like red rover and tag have been banned by many schools because of the fear of injury, when in recent years there have been several students killed or permanently impaired by tackle football, and I've never heard of such gruesome injuries coming from either of those games.

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

Sure, why not although here in the UK it's Rugby and they don't wear any protective gears (before you asked what injuries I ever got from Ruby was a cut from my ear during a mishap in a tackle and yeah I wasn't exactly diving in at Ruby).

Do you mean let them played as in pursuit it as a career otherwise it will diminished any worries if they continue to played it for long seeing how sport in school (P.E.) the type of sports played changed monthly well that what I remember from my time during PE.

http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/08/americas-most-dangerous-football-is-in-the-pee-wee-leagues-not-the-nfl/279229/

Apparently the worst of it is before any of them are of age to reach the NFL..

 

[Lil devils x_v1legacy]

Lilani's claim has already been verified by every single study on the issue.

I suggest you read the part of her post I quoted, because if you any of it has been substantiated, then it's obvious that you don't understand the studies you linked.

There is not one study that states that brain injury is unavoidable, nor guaranteed, by simply playing football.

How about we just stop it? That we csay "kids brains are more important than this game.", and have them play a game that doesn't damage their brains instead?

Sure, if you want to wrap your kids with three layers of bubble wrap every time they leave your side, that's your option.

Not allowing your kids to play Russian roulette =/= wrapping your kids in bubble wrap. There are plenty of great things kids can do that do not involve brain injuries.

 

[Zontar]

If my kid wants to play handegg, rugby, hockey or any other sport who the hell am I to tell them no? I played handegg, and my brother did and still does play hockey, and we both turned out fine. Though these days I prefer the more elegant sports of fencing and curling.

Keeps them fit, builds character, and best of all it helps them form a backbone, which is something that my generation surely needs. Though I think my children wouldn't have that problem since the inevitable reforms that will come from the societal-wide failure of "everyone's a winner" and "no need for competition" attitudes are already in sight.

How do you know you are fine? Some people do not know they had brain damage until they get the autopsy reports back after their death. It is just a matter of where the injury is as to how much it impacts your life. It is like playing Russian roulette, and allowing your child to do so, hoping their results turn out as good as yours. There are plenty of ways to build character that do not involve risking their brain.

Russian roulette is a terrible example because all but one of those involved ends up dead. Meanwhile those who end up with serious injuries are so few to say it's the inverse would be overstating how many players get seriously injured, to say nothing of killed.

Plus, have you seen kids? Be they pre-pubescent or teenagers, they WILL find a way to put themselves in that type of danger just climbing around things. Just look at the jungle gym of any school. Pretty much all of them prohibit climbing on the outside of those things, yet there's always plenty of children who do so anyway, and of them some of them will fall, and of those that fall some will be seriously hurt. That doesn't stop the children from trying, not even those who fall.

If my or anyone else's kid wants to play a sport, why should I stop them because of something that MIGHT happen that statistically will most likely not? I'll tell you this, if my parents had been the sort who prevented my brother and I from doing that, we'd be one of two different ways: we'd either be people who are completely averse to risk taking to a degree that prevents us from functioning in proper society (something my generation has a massive problem with) or we'd have become more rebellious then we already where and taken even bigger risks. In terms of development of a person of that age, there is no scenario which leads them better off then just letting them play the sport they want.