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Yeah, I saw that. But this story popped up in the news after doing more studies. My point is that football is losing kids because parents think “soccer is safer” which sucks.
I do agree with the last part of your statement, however, I've personally seen multiple kids who looked like "no hopers" early in their HS careers develop into dudes their Junior and Senior years. Granted, it doesn't happen all that often, but it does happen. Some kids just want to be out there with their friends and want to wear a jersey to school on Fridays and be "on the team", though. While that wouldn't my first choice for my hypothetical kids, there is some merit to just wanting to be apart of a team in any capacity.
I played 3 sports in high school - Baseball (most knowledgeable), downhill skiing (best at), Football (most fun/rewarding). Of the 3 sports I played, I was probably the least successful at football, but being on my high school team developed me into a successful adult more than either of the other sports - it taught discipline, mental and physical toughness, teamwork, sacrifice; meaning that I had to do my part, every play, whether I wanted to or not otherwise the play would fail which no other sport really equates to; and percerverance (wanting to quit sometimes, but fighting through it). I agree, just because you don’t start, football teaches life lessons that no other sport can compare to. In the military, I can almost immediately tell who played football and who didn’t - not in a UNC sort of way. Point being, kids not playing football because “it’s the sport that will make you retarded and not worth it” is stupid in my opinion. (Flat out not wanting to play...totally different story).
I worry a little. But my son is also an all star catcher who takes foul balls off the face and had collisions at the plate. He’s excited to play football again (he played in CA a few years ago but we could t find a good team in VA until this year). Plus I am coaching and teaching not only proper tackling, but how to AVOID getting hit in the head. I think the younger you start and are able to learn the game before kids get too big and powerful, the better it turns out. If you wait too long, kids will be trying to learn WHILE getting pummeled by big/strong/fast players that have been playing for years.
Stacking onto that, one of the hardest things to teach kids is to see what they hit in football to avoid breaking their necks. When training that is the right time to train the right way on how to tackle in the rugby style and how to hand fight in the trenches instead of head butting each other.
How they determined what a concussion was back when I was playing is quite different than what it is now. That has got me to think about it some but not much. Seen and heard a lot of crazy stories from ex players the last few years, probably more scary than crazy. Don't remember who it was but he had to quit driving himself to the damn grocery store because he would forget how to get back home and ****. Good you are teaching the kids proper technique at a young age, can't stress enough how important that is. Nik made a good point about "seeing what you hit" as well. It'll never be perfect no matter what. You can get one from your melon bouncing off the ground just as easy, it is what it is I guess.
Never said you should because I already made my stance clear on this awhile back. The only reason I didn't let my son play his freshman year was because of grades only. He fixed that so I left it up to him to play or not.
My father often tells the story of Merrill Hoge forgetting how to get home after a game once.
100% agree. And the article I referenced above says that evidence shows girls are more affected (this particular article specifically talks about headers in soccer, but can be extrapolated to any form of concussion). But it goes back to my point, with such an emphasis on technique in football these days COUPLED with evidence of concussions in other sports, I think football could regain some traction.
That's how we did things when I was coaching. Most contact was done via bag drills, focusing on technique, with maybe once or twice a week having a period of wrapping up only. Keeps the kids healthier and fresher for Fridays (Saturdays).
It sucks, but I think with the youth football crowd (14 and under), that's a hard way to it. Once they reach maybe high school, and definitely college, it makes a lot of sense. But with the younger kids, if you don't hit enough, you won't find out who's willing to take/or give a hit. You won't know which kids will stay in and block as a back, which kids are willing to catch a ball over the middle, qbs staying in the pocket, or even which ones are willing to step into a RB/WR and bring them to the ground. I truly struggle with this as a youth coach.
I wish we would've practiced like that
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Bro, I agree with you but we might want to outlaw it if you can get hurt.
