Would you allow your son to play football?

[Goober]

If a kid wants to make a living playing sports, there's more money and opportunity in baseball; and it's far safer.

 

[EmpireWF]

I wouldn't want them playing football. Far greater risk of injury than any other sport (although amateur wrestling is pretty fucking brutal on the body, too) and especially with head injuries.

 

[MvP]

If I have a son I plan on leaning him towards playing Baseball and Golf, but if the kid wants to play football with all his buddies then I don't think I'd stop him. Considering the rapid rate of CTE-related incidents, concussions, etc. lately the rules will start to change in regards to player safety from High School all the way down to Pop Warner flag.

 

[kyhadley]

Here's a paper I wrote about brain injuries in sports last semester. It's a decent overview, not the best written as I was trying to stretch it out and it was the end of the semester. But the sources at the end are all good too.

https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B7Wsq0jAucgeVk9ERC1aU1B4blk

 

[NAHSTE]

If I have a son I plan on leaning him towards playing Baseball and Golf, but if the kid wants to play football with all his buddies then I don't think I'd stop him. Considering the rapid rate of CTE-related incidents, concussions, etc. lately the rules will start to change in regards to player safety from High School all the way down to Pop Warner flag.

What rule changes could prevent it though? Short of legislating the hitting out of the game, there's no fix available.

 

[EmpireWF]

If I have a son he'll play football. That's it.

Just make sure he's not wearing a Riddell helmet.

Or fuck it, give him a leather helmet and tell him to man up!

 

[Tailback U]

I don't think I'll ever have kids but if I do...

I think Pop Warner is a complete waste of time. Some of the coaches are flat out horrible and some of the drills are simply retarded. I'm not going to have my son risk getting hurt for that. I'll have him play other sports, like I did, and when he gets to high school he will play football if he wants to.

Football is a sport you can walk into in high school and earn a D1 scholarship by the time you leave if you are physically talented and good enough. Sports like baseball, golf, soccer, etc. require years of practice and acquired skill in order to become elite.

 

[1ke]

Excellent topic Nashte. I think about this all the time as my nephew is three and my wife and I are planning our second child. My little girl is three. So nothing to worry about there.

I started playing football in 7th grade and played all the way up to two years in juco. I'm 5'8 and a buck nothing. So I was a relying on my speed and agility to not get killed. I'm fine. Well I think I am at least.

So that leads to my answer. With my past(relatively healthy. 1 concussion) and what I think I know. Combined with all that's coming out. I say yes. But I say yes with specifications.

-No pop Warner. That's shit. And just unnecessary contact when the kids are the absolute worse at tackling due to their lack of knowledge.
-7 on 7 leagues are a must. Learn the route tree, learn to catch, learn to juke, and learn some subtleties that are needed to succeed as a waterbug.
-I will take it upon myself to teach proper tackling techniques.

Sent from my MB865 using Tapatalk 2

 

[leaffan]

If I ever have a kid and he/she wants to play a sport and I can affoard it they can play it.

 

[RosettaStoned]

I will try to discourage my son from playing. He already loves football though so I don't know if I'll be able to stop him.

 

[EmpireWF]

He already loves football though so I don't know if I'll be able to stop him.

Isn't your kid really young? No way to tell if he'll still be into it in a decade.

 

[FirstTimer]

Repeated trauma?



That is Pop Warner football which is much more competitive than local leagues in most areas of the country which could lead to higher driven coaches and parents. I think for the most part you are reading way too much into the damage of older players who have suffered injuries after playing football at highly competitive levels for a great deal of time. Not too mention that there is increasing amounts of precautions going into the game. For instance, in GA this past year, it became legislation that a person trained to recognize and treat head and heat injuries must be on hand at all High school practices and games. Going further, they placed a law that some type of heat index meter be available and that if that meter reads to a certain temperature all action must stop.

And I refer back to Nahste's studies saying the damage starts younger than we think.

Frankly, I think you're simply looking for an excuse to have your kid play...which is fine..I guess..but please don't sit there and try and explain to us that head trauma to younger kids isn't as bad as it is to adults. That's great states have people on hand to recognize head injuries......but if they are able to recognize it that means the trauma had already occurred. Which is kind of the point of what we want to avoid.

 

[EmpireWF]

I'd feel safer with kids taking MMA type classes (minus learning submission holds or any legit sparring until they were teenagers probably) than playing football, to be honest.

 

[Warner2BruceTD]

I think the only sport I would discourage my kids from taking part in would be something like auto racing.

I wont push my kids towards football, but wouldnt stop them or forbid it either.

 

[LiquidLarry2GhostWF]

The damage of concussions starts at the lowest levels. You think a kid knows what a concussion is? A pop warner or optimist kid? Hell nah. They just get hit hard and knocked a little loopy...they'll keep playing, especially down here in SoFla where there are real stakes on the line when these kids play.

 

[GoChargers]

I played American Football for 2 years during high school with my 2 best mates.. One of them fractured his knee cap and the other fractured and dislocated his ankle. No other serious injuries on the entire team IIRC.

If my kid really wanted to play the sport then I wouldn't tell him he's not allowed.. But probably wouldn't let him until he was at least 15-16.

 

[SHOGUN]

Not until high school.

 

[stevsta]

when I have kids they will play football, but if they get stuck as a linemen im pushing them towards baseball or basketball

 

[BiggaAdams]

Middle school so he has the basics down, especially if he's a qb

 

[Derrville]

Broke my back in hs playing but Im still going to allow my kids to play the game. Its too great not to experience.