Success With Hyperlinking Gets Parental

I played 2nd through 4th grades. Tackling was taught properly there. I’d rather my son play when he’s young and the impacts aren’t too hard and learn the right way. It is up to him of course.

Is the sheer number of HS football players in America today even close to what it once was? With competing fall sports such as, fall baseball, fall soccer, cross country, club and association leagues for more traditional winter sports, like AAU basketball etc, you could argue that there are already less kids playing football than 10 years ago. Yet the instances of concussions have increased. Granted, a lot of that may be attributed to head injury research, but still. That suggests that there’s a hell of a lot of people that sustained multiple concussions 15+ years ago. Did we see a real-world impact as a result of those concussions?

I’m not trying to discount the research. I coach my son’s middle school team, and we recently began offering IMPACT testing to all players to attain a baseline prior to the season. However, this reminds me of when I played about 20 years ago. At that time, the biggest fear was paralysis. Because of high profile cases like Chuckie Mullins and Mike Utley, you’d think, from the media reports, that thousands of kids had been paralyzed. But I wonder if the number was any greater than in any other year.

http://www.pennlive.com/midstate/index.ssf/2012/01/penn_state_official_vowing_to.html

and cheerleading scares me more than if I had a son who wanted to play football. Seriously… think about some cheerleaders you knew in high school. Would you trust them to not get distracted by something shiny and drop you? Not to mention, having a swimming pool, or later on, worrying about her driving. At least there are some real safeguards in football and usually a trained medical person around.

….that Sandusky was in Spanier’s Beaver Stadium box for the Illinois game. So expect a solid 48 hours of outrage for that.

Those still intending to join the Nittany Lions make up a class that doesn’t address the team’s needs, most notably at running back and defensive back, according to Jeff Junstrom, a Penn State graduate and editor of BlackShoeDiaries.com, a blog on the athletic program. Junstrom said in an e-mail that the school targeted 21-24 open spots before the season, and currently has 14 verbal commitments.

"Two months ago to the day, I’d say we were on pace for one of the best classes in some time," he said. "One scandal, two months and three (so far) decommitments later, we’re on the verge of total collapse."

my 7 and 1/2 month old son to play organized football. I will see where the science is at in a couple of years and if he wants to play, I will cross that bridge then.

George Godsey, currently of New England QB coach fame, formerly of the single greatest player profile pic ever in the history of collegiate sports.

Less dangerous and you can still earn that free ride to school!

We were unanimous that we did not want our kids playing football. I remember a few years back a Penn football player committed suicide. The autopsy showed definite brain damage similar to that seen in people with concussions, even though he never had a concussion that was recognized. The implication was that a number of small hits to the head can build up over time and mimic the damage done by one big hit.

It is grim, but every time I see a bad injury on the football field, I tell my wife that it is a matter of time until someone dies during play. Frankly, I’m surprised it hasn’t happened yet.

my family has notoriously hard heads though.

When you wear a helmet, you feel like that then allows you to go out and use your head as a part of the tackling motion, or to put your head in harm’s way with impunity. Helmets should NOT be viewed in this way; they should be viewed as something you wear IN CASE your head gets hit. But that isn’t something that will jive with our subconscious. Wear a helmet, take more risks.

OR, you could get rid of helmets altogether. Take away that false sense of security, and I guarantee you won’t see people spearing the ball carrier head-first. Granted, you’d have to remove the hard plastic off the other padding. Rugby isn’t going anywhere anytime soon, and I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt the long-term future of the NFL if you went with soft pads and no helmets.

of parents on here not allowing their sons to play football (or hockey, or any other contact sport). I have nothing wrong with that and respect that decision.

It just has never crossed my mind, nor anyone in my families mind ever. We are/were all athletes and all had our bumps and bruises (including concussions) but we feel our experiences in athletics, specifially football and hockey made us who we are. Friendships were born, lessons were learned, etc…

Would I have a different opinion if a family member was paralyzed from football…Maybe, but I believe in allowing other people to express themselves and have free choices to do what they want to do (without crossing the line of legality and what not). Its a risk you have to take.

We all take risks everyday. Do some people not drive/fly for fear of an accident? Yes. Do some people think those people are crazy? Yes, but its their choice.

We each have our own views on how we should raise our kids and we are both right, to ourselves. I am fairly young at 25, but grew up with a lot of freedom from my parents to allow me play whatever sports I wanted, even if it was encouraged by my father. If I did not want to play, I could’ve easily stopped, if I wanted to play, I could’ve easily played any sport without my parents telling me no. Now that doesnt mean they still were not looking out for my safety, as they would not allow me to do a lot of dangerous things as a child.

Even though I am not a parent yet, in the end, we all want whats best for our family and their future. If that means risking by playing football, then so be it. If that means risking by not playing football, then so be it.

It all comes down to “what is best for my son/daughter’s future?” And that is the choice of both the son/daughter/and their respective guardians to choose.

it seems prior to this swell of concern for concussions, lots of kids were playing full contact football from the time they were little kids all the way through to high school, which in turn resulted in more physically and technically prepared fooball players to move on to the college game. Now that parents seem much more reluctant to let their kids play contact sports and at least holding off until they’re older, will we see the pendulum swing the other way to where kids coming out of highschool are less experienced and are just not physically and mentally prepared enough to come in and start on the college level? Therefor, incoming recruits are much more likely to require more development from coaches, and longer stays in college, to be able to play at a high level, which then would separate the real coaches and molders of men from those who are simply x’s and o’s gameplanner types. Curious to see if that is the case down the road as a result of these concerns.