This is so frustrating. There is a huge sample size here. Millions of us have played youth football are in our 50s, 60s, 70s, and 80s without brain injury.
These people act as if youth football is 20 years old. This is all about money and destroying masculinity.
These people act as if youth football is 20 years old. This is all about money and destroying masculinity.
Yup, I totally agree with you! Youth football has been around in my area since the 1960s. My sons played and I coached youth football and we taught the kids proper tackling and blocking techniques, such as not leading with your head, which is the biggest causes of head injuries.
Exactly. Before playing in junior high and high school, I played sandlot tackle football (without pads or helmets) for years. And I can remember a few collisions that left me woozy for a moment, after bumping noggins with another player.
Of course, we were “protected” (if that’s the right word) by our size and relative lack of speed; we couldn’t generate the force necessary to generate concussions and similar injuries. Also worth remembering that, in those days, we were taught to tackle by leading with our shoulders, not our heads. That alone prevented a lot of head injuries.
And it’s not surprising that most of us survived playing football without long-term consequences for a very simply reason: we only played as part of a team (with full pads and helmets) for a relatively short period. For me, it was two years in junior high and one year of high school. The type of brain injuries found in deceased pro football players are the result of playing the game for years, at the highest levels of the sport.
Consider the typical NFL player. Many of them were identified as potential stars as early as junior high. So, by the time their pro career is over, they have been playing for an average of 14 years, with a much greater likelihood of suffering concussions and other head injuries. You can’t transpose their experiences over a much larger population that played the game at lower levels, with much less exposure to severe head blows.
I also believe there is a genetic component to this as well. Archie Manning, who is cited in the article, endured some of the worst pounding experienced by a QB in the NFL (playing for the Saints in the 70s would do that for you). But I’ve met him a couple of times and know people who are friends with him. Despite his experience in the NFL, Archie is in remarkably good shape and (so far) has avoided some of the issues affecting other players from his era. In fact, there are a number of ex-QBs who seem to be doing quite well, despite their injuries on the gridiron.
This is a part of the war on masculinity and an effort to neuter one of its last bastions, football.