General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHigh school football has to be limited to a non contact sport. Kids should not be dying
because of tradition. This is no longer a game but combat.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/12/arizona-football-player-dead-charles-youvella_n_4261623.html
rurallib
(62,465 posts)Time to join the rest of the world and play soccer (real football)
HERVEPA
(6,107 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)tkmorris
(11,138 posts)Travis_0004
(5,417 posts)This made the news, simply because it doesn't happen often. We are learning more about concussions, and doing a better job, and there is still room for improvement, but we cant ban a sport because of one death. Kids die from baseball and soccer too, probably other sports as well.
Posteritatis
(18,807 posts)JI7
(89,279 posts)1000words
(7,051 posts)Time for wiffleball?
Spider Jerusalem
(21,786 posts)with serious later-life neurological issues. A career in professional football though? Ex-NFL players are five times more likely to have some form of dementia than the general population; between 30 and 49? 19 times more likely. And studies seem to indicate that most of the damage from football comes from "sub-concussive hits"...that happen in the course of routine playes. (Signs of chronic traumatic encephalopathy...brain damage from repeated concussions and hits to the head...have been found in the brains of football players as young as 17.)
1000words
(7,051 posts)Parents keep signing the permission slips, as well.
CK_John
(10,005 posts)The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research at the University of North Carolina reported 25 deaths of high school football. .
tammywammy
(26,582 posts)25 out of millions is statistically insignificant.
Demo_Chris
(6,234 posts)1000words
(7,051 posts)NuclearDem
(16,184 posts)It needs to go.
1000words
(7,051 posts)Football is "religion" in many parts of the country. Particularly the South.
CK_John
(10,005 posts)1000words
(7,051 posts)It spends $25,000,000 to field a team. (To their credit, some of the cash goes towards funding other university athletics.)
http://www.forbes.com/sites/aliciajessop/2013/08/31/the-economics-of-college-football-a-look-at-the-top-25-teams-revenues-and-expenses/
Television contracts, sportswear licensing and Bowl purses means football is big business.
CK_John
(10,005 posts)1000words
(7,051 posts)You are actually bolstering my original assertion. You think Vegas is going to allow football to disappear?
CK_John
(10,005 posts)Logical
(22,457 posts)nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Decaffeinated
(556 posts)That's cute...
ScreamingMeemie
(68,918 posts)That said, I would hate for him not to be able to play it. He also loves to skateboard and bike ride, and I would not want to deprive him of that either. One day, too soon, he will get behind the wheel of a car...
clffrdjk
(905 posts)Football is violent because of the pads. Helmets and shoulder pads are weapons (that I loved to use btw) they protect the user while delivering force to the opponent. If you carry more energy than the other guy you hardly feel a thing. Now what do you think that encourages? If you turn it into flag football it will die some of you would agree with that conclusion. I feel that there is a need to provide a good outlet for competition and aggression. In my mind rugby is the perfect alternative. Contact regulated by your own body. I won't lie there are injuries but they are not any where as numerous as football.
tkmorris
(11,138 posts)All of the pads, helmets, and other "protective" gear give rise to MORE injuries, not fewer.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)In terms of the rate of fatalities, football is fourth.
Across all types of injuries, football consistently leads other sports because it has most participants. But when it comes to fatality rates, football isnt even among the top three, according to the data.
Researchers collected data from 1982 to 2011 for all high school sports and millions of high school athletes. Total fatality rates were then calculated per 100,000 participants.
The deadliest sport during this time had a fatality rate of 2.89 deaths per 100,000, which was more than double the second deadliest sport. Football was the fourth deadliest sport with a fatality rate of .81 per 100,000 participants
http://www.weather.com/health/deadliest-high-school-sports-20130812
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Certainly doesn't seem like a strong enough argument for doing away with the whole thing. Unless you're going to argue for banning softball, water polo, and gymnastics (the three deadliest) as well.
Jeff In Milwaukee
(13,992 posts)Limit the hitting in practice. Every time there's a collision, there's a potential for an injury. Repeated contact drills in practice doesn't really do much for a team, but it does increase the possibility of an injury.
And second -- and this is a former coach talking here -- TEACH KIDS HOW TO GODDAMNED WELL TACKLE THE RIGHT WAY......ahem.....Running into someone at full steam is not a tackle and any ignoramus can do that. Proper technique will prevent a lot of injuries.
cleanhippie
(19,705 posts)Can't take the risk, you know. Ban it all!
tammywammy
(26,582 posts)mythology
(9,527 posts)So obviously you need to start sooner than that. Bubble wrap in the womb.
Bazinga
(331 posts)I had a true knot in my cord. Most of the L&D team had never seen one before!
Nevernose
(13,081 posts)He's a varsity football player. A nice kid from a dysfunctional home, not he sharpest bulb in the deck, but far from dumb.
He's suffered diagnosed concussions at least once a year for the last three years, with probably several more.
It is heartbreaking to watch this kid's descent. It is painfully obvious to everyone -- parents, coaches, counselors, doctors, him, me -- that the concussions have had serious effects on him. However, he says that without football, there's really no point in going to school. I think the coaches have the flippant mentality of some of the posters on here ("What's next? Banning bathtubs?" , many of the teachers are so clueless they don't notice, and the parents just want him to stay in school. The kid's spent two weeks in a row unable to find the bathroom -- not ditching class, but literally coming back to class and asking for help on finding the bathroom.
Some kids DO get better after football, but I wonder how many kids never recover. It's easy to make judgments about how "Lots of people played football" or "you obviously just hate sports," but it's a lot harder to watch someone you care deeply about get brain damaged week after week because they like playing a child's game. It's fucking heartbreaking.
nomorenomore08
(13,324 posts)Jahvid Best - former star running back for Cal Berkeley, who also went to my high school - had a promising NFL career all but ended within a season and a half, due to head injuries. And I'm sure he's still perfectly fit to play otherwise, but nowadays teams (rightfully) aren't taking that risk.
1000words
(7,051 posts)Just in the last three years, there has been several rule changes (helmet-to-helmet, "targeting" , limits on contact during practices, and uniform sideline concussion evaluation. There is a new protective helmet that is slowly being integrated into play.
TransitJohn
(6,932 posts)It's no longer transportation but slaughter.
B Calm
(28,762 posts)By Connie Leonard
(LOUISVILLE) -- A tragic accident has taken the life of a Jefferson County High School student. On Tuesday, a Western High School soccer player died from injuries he suffered in a game against Pleasure Ridge Park a day earlier. As district play continued Tuesday night, WAVE 3 Investigator Connie Leonard got reaction from other soccer players and families on the unexpected loss of life.
Big district soccer match ups: an important game for rivals Male and Manual, and in the practice field Tuesday night, St. X was getting ready to take on Central, but on this night, the excitement was overshadowed.
As one mom put it: "It's just a tragic thing for the whole soccer community."
At Manual Stadium, everyone from administrators to parents to players, was thinking of the Western Warriors and the tragedy that befell one of its members.
"In my experience as a high school athletic director, which is 20 years, I've never heard of that type of tragedy in soccer," said Manual Athletic Director Larry Woolridge.
Western Principal Louis Hughley was also in shock. "I've been in this business for 30 years," he said, "and I never thought that I would have a day like this. It's something you never imagine would happen."
Parent Bob Kaufman says "it's just something that makes you sick. It passed around, word of mouth, and everyone gets that look on their face."
Jacob Martin plays goalie St. Xaiver's soccer team. "It's weird to think somebody can die playing a sport you play every day."
But, that's exactly what happened to Western High Goalie Francisco Valle Victorino. The 17-year- old died at Kosair Children's Hospital Tuesday, from injuries he received during a Monday game against PRP.
Players learned that just as Francisco was making a dive for the ball to block a goal, a PRP player kicked it, sending it into the goalie's throat with great force.
Afterwards, witnesses say Francisco tried to stand, but immediately collapsed and was rushed to nearby Caritas Medical Center before being taken to Kosair, where he died around 8 a.m. the next day as his teammates, family and friend stood vigil outside his door.
"Everybody on the team really loved him," said his coach, Montrelle Irvin. "He was very outgoing and always had a smile on his face. Everybody depended on him."
"How can you feel anything but just absolute sadness for the family?" asked Paul Neumann, whose son, Alex, plays for the Crimsons.
As a parent and former coach, Neumann says he thought it was the drive home he had to worry about -- until now.
For Martin, who usually thinks of broken legs or twisted ankles when he thinks about the risks of his game, Francisco's death is sobering. "I've thought about getting hurt and stuff, but I've never thought about somebody dying playing soccer.
For the first time, St. X trainer Alex Stovall brought the school's defibrillator, normally used for the football team, to Tuesday's practice.
"It makes you want to think maybe that's your team out there," he said. "It's your friend out there that's dying like that, and you want to be prepared for it."
But being prepared, everyone fears, isn't always enough.
As Neumann put it, "What you're worried about is that family, and what they're going through and the fact that they don't have a kid tonight ... and that's about as bad as it gets."
The injury to Francisco came in the second half of Western's 5-0 win over PRP.
Preliminary autopsy results indicated that Francisco suffered a vertebral artery laceration that caused massive bleeding, mostly in the head, Jefferson County Deputy Coroner Gayle Norris said Wednesday.
Eric Chudler, a research associate professor in the University of Washington's Department of Anesthesiology, said he could not recall someone dying while playing soccer.
"It may happen, but I just haven't heard of it," said Chudler, who tracks soccer safety issues and was a youth soccer coach himself for a number of years.
Western was to play again Tuesday but the match was postponed. The team plans to dedicate its season to Francisco, who will always be remembered as a top player and a team leader, but more than anything, he'll be remembered as a happy kid who was always smiling.
A fund has been set up to help Francisco's family take care of funeral arrangements and other costs. Donations can be made at any Fifth Third Bank.
Online Reporter: Connie Leonard
http://www.wave3.com/story/3969686/soccer-community-mourns-after-death-of-western-high-player?clienttype=printable
B Calm
(28,762 posts)ONEONTA, Alabama - A 17-year-old Blount County girl died Thursday night after she was struck in the chest during soccer practice at the city's recreation center fields.
The girl, whose name authorities are withholding at the request of the family, was taking part in a co-ed practice. Though the girl was a junior at Oneonta High School, Blount County Coroner John Mark Vaughn said the practice was not a school-related team or event.
The teen was running, going for the ball, as was another player, Vaughn said. "Neither saw the other and had a collision on the field,'' the coroner said. "The second player struck the girl in the sternum with his head. She collapsed immediately."
Efforts to revive her were started immediately, Vaughn said. She was taken to the hospital which was just blocks away, but was pronounced dead. The incident happened about 6 p.m.
Vaughn said there will be no autopsy performed. The manner of death has been ruled accidental, and the cause was blunt force trauma to the chest.
He said friends and family packed the hospital Thursday night. The incident was heart-wrenching for all involved, he said, including the first responders.
"They went far beyond what would be considered heroic measures. They did absolutely everything that could be done,'' he said. "It's an extremely upsetting event in a town this size.''
http://blog.al.com/spotnews/2013/10/hard_hit_in_soccer_practice_ki.html
Ganja Ninja
(15,953 posts)Should we stop running track too?
Decaffeinated
(556 posts)... No matter how small.
Capt. Obvious
(9,002 posts)I love Randy