Community Chat

[Lion]

With all we are learning about the serious dangers of playing football, I don't know how any parent would let their child do it.

While boxing and hockey probably do have similar high injury rates, football is much more mainstream. 

It's offered and promoted much more in schools across the country and played by far more children than hockey, and definitely more than boxing.

[scotnovel]

There are literally tens of thousands of people who have played football and other contact sports starting with peewee leagues all the way up to pro level.  While true some of those have had VERY serious injuries, the vast majority have not.  You can also make a case that running track or similar Olympic type sports like gymnastics at an early age puts undue strain on young, underdeveloped joints and muscles, even though they aren't contact sports.  Yet, we continue to cheer on our Olympic team members.  All sports include risks and it is up to those involved to make informed decisions, with input from their own physicians, etc to decide whether to take those risks. 

[kdgn]

I would really like to see a ban on youth football. I'm not speaking of high school football, but of the youth teams- kids that are 8 and 9 years old are playing on traveling teams. While the kids may be having a lot of fun, there are serious injuries happening to them. I'm not convinced by any stretch of the imagination that the coaches have been properly trained to teach these boys how to play. The coaches I know are volunteer parents with little training. 

At least at the high school level most coaches are PE teachers who have a background in sports. 

[Lion]

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@scotnovel wrote:

There are literally tens of thousands of people who have played football and other contact sports starting with peewee leagues all the way up to pro level.  While true some of those have had VERY serious injuries, the vast majority have not.  You can also make a case that running track or similar Olympic type sports like gymnastics at an early age puts undue strain on young, underdeveloped joints and muscles, even though they aren't contact sports.  Yet, we continue to cheer on our Olympic team members.  All sports include risks and it is up to those involved to make informed decisions, with input from their own physicians, etc to decide whether to take those risks. 

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I wouldn't risk my child being one of those having a very serious injury. 

Contact football innately carries much more risk than  other school sports.   

[INDIANA BONES]

As far as I have been informed, that is the main reason for the high salaries for the players.  They risk injuries every game.  Their career span is much shorter than other careers.   I was fortunate in growing up in an area that many Redskin players lived (many years ago) and they did not make the money the players make in today's time.

100 percent is not a shock at all to me.  Look up Cam Newton's salary (one of the highest paid in the league) and it is surreal.  

What amazes me is the number of great athletics that commit crimes and ruin these dream careers they worked so hard for.  

I would like to know if commercials pay for some of the salaries?   Does anyone know the percentage teams get of commercial sales?  

[hckynutjohn]

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@mstyrion 1 wrote:

That is a chilling statistic.

I would agree that hockey and boxing also probably have a 100% injury rate.  Unfortunately, parents let very young children play football and high schools and colleges put incredible emphasis on football as opposed to those other sports. 

I would like to see a ban on contact football for anyone under 18 years old. Long-term damage to still developing bodies is a terrible thing for a youn person to face.

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Kids start playing hockey in our city at 5 years old. At age 8 they can be on "travel teams", which play in other cities a big share of their games. Same with high school. We also have a Division I  College Team in our city which includes many scholarship players from around our country/Europe and Canada, just to name a few. And our city is nowhere close to a BIG market hockey city.

I quit being a Referee in Youth Hockey because of the parents and coaches putting way too much pressure on these very young kids. I no longer enjoyed doing these games so I did only Adult League games. 

A good friend of mine, who at the time was a Dentist, now an Oral Surgeon. His oldest son had a Full Ride Scholarship to Michigan University He had a concussion midway through his Senior Year, it was his 3rd.

His dad had him checked my many doctors and all said the same thing. If you play you have a high risk of permanent brain damage and possible paralysis. He loved the game but decided to give it up. He became a City Firefighter/EMT and now is also a Paramedic.

Parents do push hockey and I wanted to pass that on.

hckynut(john)

[INDIANA BONES]

@hckynutjohn

I have not been able to find statistics of every player having a major or minor injury. One team had a 100 percent rate of injury a few years ago.

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I think the key to the 100 percent is the sentence stating an injury of one kind or another.  This could include a jammed finger or other non serious injury.  

I think it is more important to worry about the youth playing in schools with undeveloped bodies that are receiving injuries that may affect them in a negative way for life. 

BTW -- Love hockey and that is a very rough sport.  Most co-workers are hockey fans. 

[chrystaltree]

I never thought about it and I honestly don't care.  The players choose to play, they are very well paid and they certainly know the risks.  So, I don't see an issue.

[INDIANA BONES]

At my age, I find many men at work that have problems walking up steps,etc. that when they get MRI are the results from injuries they received when playing youth sports. 

I would think a good doctor would determine if a child is fully developed to play certain sports such as football.  Better equipment?  I have no idea what would help. Everything stated was my opinion and I am certainly not trained to do so or I would have MD behind my name.   

I do know my daughters boyfriend had one broken leg, one broken angle and one broken thumb (which the last he broke himself in a hold) while High School wrestling.  

Of course, look at us that are middle aged that played sports through school that ended up fine. Aches and pains are from Old age.  

I personally have 2 nieces that had free rides through college and than were coaches at the college because they started sports so young. 

I know my brother coached for 20 years or more youth baseball and had to quit because of parents pushing children to play sports they did not want to play. They would fight him literally for not putting their child in the correct position, etc, etc.

I think young adult sports should be left to those that know more than I do such a doctors, coaches, etc.  

[INDIANA BONES]

on the bright side, can't wait for  the games tomrrow!!