When I came out of HS in '76, our girls had choice to play basketball and softball. Now it's soccer, volleyball, basketball, tennis, swimming and softball. Hell we even had a girls several years ago wrestle.
My nephew plays football
- Thread starter PittCity
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At my high school there was nothing but cheerleading, majorettes and dance team for girls-all in support of football and boys basketball, my senior was the first year they created girls basketball and track that was '76-'77. .
know what you mean about Daddy ball. When my youngest was trying out for baseball post season team that would travel to tournaments as an 11 YO, I was sitting out in the outfield bleachers with other parents, and made note there were 8 Dad's assisting with tryouts. There were probably 30 + kids trying out. I looked around and said hmmm, the team will have 15 players, I guess there are 7 spots available. Everyone stopped for a second looked around. yea, I guess so. Frankly a lot of the parents were happy about that.
Daddy ball is the bad....but only second to these travel teams with kids playing one sport year round when they are 9.
Football is the greatest sport in America but it is going to change to be a shell of what it was...or it will drop incredibly in participation. You are a bad parent if you subject your child to any activity that is likely to cause brain trauma. Don't give me the exception of a kid who heads a soccer ball or the elbow in the face of the hockey player....they are exceptions.
You are a bad parent and clearly are not a second level thinker if you do not realize that any head trauma at a young age can strongly impact a person.
Football is the greatest sport in America but it is going to change to be a shell of what it was...or it will drop incredibly in participation. You are a bad parent if you subject your child to any activity that is likely to cause brain trauma. Don't give me the exception of a kid who heads a soccer ball or the elbow in the face of the hockey player....they are exceptions.
You are a bad parent and clearly are not a second level thinker if you do not realize that any head trauma at a young age can strongly impact a person.
I thought the evidence suggested hockey is just as bad as football?
Anyway, my approach with my son will be to encourage him to play basketball but I would not say "no you can never ever play football" if it's something he strongly desires and persists on. Honestly, Pittsburgh Public School football for the most part isn't as culturally as much of a pull as it is in some suburban communities, so he may never be interested in it anyway.
My daughter has never showed much interest in sports, which is fine by me, though a bit surprising considering the rest of our family's interest in them.
I would hope you would be a better parent and show interviews of Mike Webster and say..."are you willing to end up like this guy?".
http://www.historyvshollywood.com/video/mike-webster-interview/
you are proving my point that people look at pro's and think their kids would have the same fate if they played. How many more games did Webster play than your kids who have a 94% chance of not being good enough to continue past HS to any level of college? How many games did he play against guys his size or bigger compared to the typical HS kid?
Add the fact that people are more aware of concussions and the protocols chances are your kid would not play with "his bell rung" like in years past. My attitude if my son wants to play tackle football once he is in 7th grade is fine. You get a concussion you are done for the year no matter what clearances you get. You get a 2nd concussion you are done with the sport till you are 18 and I can no longer make the choice for him.
Why take the risk....and how can you diagnose if he did indeed receive head trauma. Sometimes its the multiple unknown instances that show effects years later...are you willing to jeopardize your child's future. Sounds like child abuse to me. Better off handing him a pack of cigarettes and a gun.
Some of us don't wear bubble wrap and believe our kids shouldn't either. When I die I am going to hand God a beat up body and thank him for it and show him how I used it well. I hope my son feels the same way, no matter if football is in his plans or not.
People get hurt all the time doing the most mundane things. My nephew got a concussion playing HS soccer. My niece cheerleading. A lady at work from banging her head on a drawer. I played football from 4th grade to freshman year college. Never had one. That is the point, life happens might as well enjoy it with calculated risk instead of living in fear.
Clearly you are not diagnosed by the response you just gave. CTE is rampant in your gord. Sad that parents would expose their kids to this and disguise it as being “tough”. I’ve got news for you....millions of years of evolution have proven that the human brain is extremely sensitive. We are thinkers not brawlers.
Then quit being a hypocrite and watching football and posting on a football board. My wife works in a medical clinic that rotates clinics, one day could be ENT, the next could be dermatology, etc and one of the clinics is concussion. Based off talking to the doctor, I am comfortable with him playing if he chooses to. Like I said you can't live in a bubble. Even people who do can still have an accident.
If you choose not to let your kid play football that is your choice, but quit being such a pompous ass and belittling others. Add for your comment that the human race are thinkers and not brawler we are actually both. The human body is not as fragile as you make it sound. It hand handle abuse, obviously there is a limit but it doesn't break at first sign of it.
The paralyzed 10th grade kid at laurel-
Is enough reason for my son to never play.
There were several “stingers” I had playing when my arm went numb temporarily.
Forget a bubble.
He can play hoops, soccer, run track, swim, volleyball or play street hockey-
Or do none of it.
My uncle played at Duke on a full ride, was recruited by Pitt, psu, and wvu.
And he warned all of us to not play football until high school.
So we don’t get banged up and burned out.
None us listened.
I burned out - my cousin is banged up.
I like monkeys flinging poo at one another as well....it makes me laugh. It doesn’t make me a hypocrite because I do not let my children do it....it makes me smart because I realize how silly it is. Let your kid be my monkey in the future. The world is full of chimps.
There’s nothing weird at all about a grown ass man talking about high school girls like this. Nothing at all.
Drivers age 16-17 years are 7 times more likely to be in a traffic accident than other drivers. Thousands of 16-17 year old drivers die on the highways each year, upwards of 70% of those fatalities occurred in their first accident. This doesn't include those who are injured enough to be permanently affected. The risk is socially accepted. If you want to be a good parent let them have their permits until they are 18. Many things that one enjoys in life have risks. Over 700 children under the age of 14 drown each year (that is two a day, year after year), but we still allow them to swim.
Your kids your rules and my heart goes out to that kid from Lauel or any kid in any endeavor that is seriously injured. With that said and using the logic you are using may I suggest your kid also: never drive or be in a car at all, ride a bike, walk down steps, swim, climb a tree, etc if you want to be consistent with your world view. If you don't want to be consistent that is fine too. As I said your kid, your rules.
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The world is also full of illogical fools that think because "a poodle is a dog that must mean all dogs are poodles." Go ahead and be the illogical fool.
I don’t disagree with you. Everyone is different and what harms one person won’t hurt another. And other sports can be just as tough on the body as fball. My son had two hockey seasons end with Dislocated shoulders. It’s all a crap shoot. Had they wanted to play fball I would have allowed it.
It’s not much different than grown ass men slobbering over high school football players during recruiting season. Is it?
I suppose you’re right. Not quite the same element of sexualization involved though.
12. Twelve. That should be the minimum age for kids to play football. Nothing good comes before that. And this CTE issue, I mean it is not like 10 year olds are getting lit up, but those kids especially linemen who are butting heads every day, every practice let alone games, in their forming brain, can't be good.
No need for kids to play football before 12. No college coach is scouting, no pro contract is waiting, and no college or NFL team is also scouting for their next coaching staff for the Monaca Pee Wee team.
If anything, I will relent to flag football as just an entry to the sport at this age to develop some basic skills and teamwork. That's it. No tackle football until at least 12 years old.
No need for kids to play football before 12. No college coach is scouting, no pro contract is waiting, and no college or NFL team is also scouting for their next coaching staff for the Monaca Pee Wee team.
If anything, I will relent to flag football as just an entry to the sport at this age to develop some basic skills and teamwork. That's it. No tackle football until at least 12 years old.
Have you seen flag football for kids under 12? It's really odd, no blocking is allowed, the people that would be blockers are only allowed to try to stand in the way, but not initiate blocks.
No need for kids to play football before 12. No college coach is scouting, no pro contract is waiting... same applies for most every other male sport...
Nothing good comes before that.. Sure it does.. My 20 year old son still has friends and great memories and stories from football when he was ten years old. Having to show up for practice 5 nights a weeks to play 9 or 10 games in a season and not quitting does a lot of good for a kid at any age...
The main problem in football today producing the magnitude of injuries and CTE is pretty clearly the size discrepancy. My dad played OL at Miami (Ohio) in the 1930s. At 6-1 200 he was considered huge in that era since most OL were under 200 lbs. Upper 200s into the 300s was essentially unknown. Hence, far fewer injuries.
Weighing in on the original question - my wife and I compromised on letting our son play football once he got to middle school if he wanted. He started soccer at 4 years old. He has been playing ever since (now 13). Once he hit middle school, we told him he could play, but he would have to give up some of his soccer (he plays cup and was playing on his middle school team). He decided to stick with soccer and added cross country to the mix instead of football, since he could balance XC with soccer more easily.
Our reasoning for middle school was becuase we felt at that point he would be able to communicate injuries to us more accurately. If he had head trauma at a younger age, it would be easier for some meathead dad living vicariously through his kid as a football coach to talk him into “just playing through.”
If he wanted to play now, I would have no issue. Mom would, but she would allow it as well.
I see the positives and negative at starting younger than middle school. Most sports have some degree of risk. Even soccer, which is viewed by the meathead contingent of our society as a “pansy” sport, has its risks. My son played goal for quite a few years and took a few heads shots, kicks to the throat, etc.
Our reasoning for middle school was becuase we felt at that point he would be able to communicate injuries to us more accurately. If he had head trauma at a younger age, it would be easier for some meathead dad living vicariously through his kid as a football coach to talk him into “just playing through.”
If he wanted to play now, I would have no issue. Mom would, but she would allow it as well.
I see the positives and negative at starting younger than middle school. Most sports have some degree of risk. Even soccer, which is viewed by the meathead contingent of our society as a “pansy” sport, has its risks. My son played goal for quite a few years and took a few heads shots, kicks to the throat, etc.
How do you do Cross Country and soccer at the same time? The seasons overlap?
And yes, soccer is pretty brutal, concussions are not uncommon.
A very, very accommodating XC coach.
He didn’t play middle school soccer this season, but did last season. Two soccer teams plus XC was a bit too much. He definitely had some burnout. He decided to stick with cross country and Cup soccer over middle school soccer this season.
Please don't take this as advocating for size of player restrictions as a solution. Better baseline of players for concussions prior to any concussion and holding them out after concussions until a 100% return to the baseline has occurred is the best approach, IMHO.
This is what I view as good parenting. You hold them out when risk is too high for various reasons. When they mature in a variety of ways you let them make the choice and support and guide them allow the way. This isn't drugs where it should be a firm NO!
Play flag football until then as I mentioned. No need for the physical aspect of the game, especially young linemen butting heads every day and games.....with all that is known about CTE, this is likely where at least some of the beginning damage is incurred.
I don't think Bill Fralic in anyways would have been affected if he didn't block from a down 3 point stance vs standing in the way up until he was 12.
I've yet to see someone tell me the benefit of an 8, 9 year old in pads, playing contact football. And don't give me the other sports, because even hockey at that age is a no hit sport.
what's with this "no need" stuff"? there is "no need" for any sport. Ever see 8 year old lineman butting heads? geez, If we are truly concerned about this CTE stuff then football should stop at age 12 and not start there as from there on out is where the damage is likely to occur......
Football is arguably the one sport that is not played by adults on an amateur level. Why? Because we all know how dangerous it is and we have to go to work.
Why would anyone expose their child to this type of abuse? Sad.
Football is a weird sport in this respect. You can do things like basketball, volleyball, baseball, soccer well into middle age, for fun. Football is not fun in the sense of typical sports, I played real football 5 years and I was hurt to some extent almost every year. I played basketball literally for 40 years and was never really hurt badly doing it.
First of all there is semi pro football played by adults on an a mature level. The reason why it is not popular is a thing called plays which takes time to learn and synchronize. Most adults don't have that can of time to put into a hobby. Most other sports while there are plays and timing, they don't require the level of precision that football requires so you can just show up on game day and play at a competitive level.
Is there more punishment on the body in football than most sports? Yes. Some of us think it is worth the risk. If you don't, that is your prerogative.
I coached adult "semi pro" (which really just meant amateur.) Both men and women actually in two different stints.
I had fun and was good at the X's and O's stuff (not as great at the motivator role), but I regret it. It is just too punishing on the body.
I had fun and was good at the X's and O's stuff (not as great at the motivator role), but I regret it. It is just too punishing on the body.
