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144

Why children are still playing tackle football, despite brain risks (apnews.com)

submitted 9 months ago by DocMcStuffin to c/health

26 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Many are opting out. Participation in youth tackle football has been declining for years. But especially in communities of color, tackle football’s lure remains strong and the balance tips toward opportunity, a four-month investigation by The Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and the Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland has found.

[...]

Last year, the Boston University CTE Center released a study that said the developing brains of children are at risk for damage from repeated impacts to the head and brain that have been associated with impulsive behaviors and cognitive problems.

The study notes that children who start playing tackle football at an early age or participate in the sport for more than 11 years run an increased risk of such impairment.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 9 months ago (1 children)

Ok, it's fun. It can also give you a concussion.

Not that I think you do, but do you think it's ok for kids now to play tackle football the way you did growing up?

[–] ThatWeirdGuy1001 4 points 9 months ago (1 children)

I mean kinda. I definitely wouldn't be okay with them doing it on concrete (so much road rash) but we also didn't try to hit each other full force. We weren't slamming into each other at full speed. We'd go for the legs or the waist and drag them to the ground in lieu of ramming our skulls together.

We were being careful while also not? Like we knew it was dangerous (there's a reason you wear helmets and pads in the real deal) but we took steps to limit those dangers.

So as long as everyone involved is willing to not go full speed and recognize the dangers of doing so (we had a couple kids who weren't allowed to play because they didn't) I don't really see a problem. Especially when it keeps them active and teaches them about their bodies and limitations.

Also it was one of the only times the other kids would really include me in anything so that's probably why I enjoyed it so much.

[–] MrVilliam 9 points 9 months ago

I had a similar childhood, and I understand that kids want to do things that are fun, but now we are the adults and it is our responsibility to make things safe at the cost of some fun. Remember how we didn't like grown-ups with their tyrannical authoritarian rules? Well now we're the grown-ups, and now we are privy to info that kids don't have, and it turns out that those grown-ups had reasons for not letting us do certain things, and now it's our duty to be the stick-in-the-mud fuddy-duddy who stops unnecessary brain damage. Not only that, but there's just generally more scientific evidence showing that this shit is way worse for kids than we ever realized. I have yet to see a study come out saying "football is actually not that bad for kids or their brains" and we will never see a study that says "playing football is better overall for kids than not playing football."

If we latch onto our childhood nostalgia, we'll find ourselves no better than dumbass boomers who glorify their "good ol' days" that were actually objectively pretty shitty for most people. Let's change with the times as we learn and understand things so we can pivot to gracefully accept improvements even if they're scary and new. Let's break the cycle. Let's not fail these kids the way our parents failed us.