Football and Brain Injuries – Do I Let My Kid Play?
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Malcolm Gladwell currently has a piece in the New Yorker titled Offensive Play – How Different are Dogfighting and Football? It’s an excellent, yet disturbing article about football and brain injuries. One that has me questioning my future parental decisions.
I’m a football player. No, I don’t currently play, but I did through high school and college. I coached 14-16 year olds. And like many of you, I am a huge fan of the sport at all levels.
My six-year-old son is also a fan. We spend Saturdays watching Penn State and Sundays cheering the Eagles. Before reading this article, I had big dreams of watching him play for a 96-year-old Joe Paterno.
Gladwell describes several studies looking at the brains of football players, mostly linemen and linebackers. In these studies, researchers found that the brains of football players looked a lot like the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. They also frequently shared similar symptoms. Memory loss. Dimentia. Loss of cognition. And this was not just of NFL players, but also of college players.
So what impact does this have on my kid’s football future? What kind of father would I be if I allowed my son to take on this type of risk?
I have a few years to consider this and look further into the subject. But for now, he can continue with t-ball and soccer.
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November 2nd, 2009
for a long time, my husband would not let his son play tackle and kept him in flag football despite my stepson’s protest. it is a real body-battering sport as my stepson always has something that’s sore or hurting. he’s been playing tackle for about three years now, and he’s the quaterback on jv team. he loves it, but sometimes, as hard as he gets hit, i often wonder what kind of shape he’ll be in later. my hubs and stepson are counting on some type of sports scholarship for college. :0/
btw came via dad blogs
ciara´s last blog ..Football Confessional #8 and the Funny Things Girls Say: Monkey Spanking and Ice Cream