Highland Park scraps tackle football

[weis21]

this may or may not make sense but i look at tackle football before high school as the equivalent of having a little league kid throw a ton of pitches/curveballs and then being surprised when they have to get TJ surgery in college. preserve their bodies in sports until they are at least somewhat matured in high school. i don't think it's really that hard of a concept to grasp but i'm just some idiot posting on a message board (though, never watched Star Wars - TAKE THAT, Ryan!)

[Sammy Sofa]

The NFL is horsefeathering horrible. And the worst part about it is, as you said, the NFL spending decades lying about it and covering it up, when they could have been working on finding a way to change. I'm not sure how much it will even help, but new technology could help some, particularly as it pertains to the football helmet. And they wasted decades of research. They are the Big Tobacco of sports.

 

Get rid of helmets. Seriously.

[Aaron_Kennelly]

The NFL is horsefeathering horrible. And the worst part about it is, as you said, the NFL spending decades lying about it and covering it up, when they could have been working on finding a way to change. I'm not sure how much it will even help, but new technology could help some, particularly as it pertains to the football helmet. And they wasted decades of research. They are the Big Tobacco of sports.

 

Get rid of helmets. Seriously.

 

Or at least practice without them to get used to playing like that and use a soft, flexible helmet in games to offer some protection. I'm not sure if that would be better or worse than just no helmets.

[bukie]

The NFL is horsefeathering horrible. And the worst part about it is, as you said, the NFL spending decades lying about it and covering it up, when they could have been working on finding a way to change. I'm not sure how much it will even help, but new technology could help some, particularly as it pertains to the football helmet. And they wasted decades of research. They are the Big Tobacco of sports.

 

Get rid of helmets. Seriously.

Play with rugby-style padding, and they'd learn quickly that an improper tackle is bad news for everyone involved. Still a lot of contact, but full-on head-first bone-crunching tackles would be a thing of the past almost immediately.

[Derwood]

The NFL is horsefeathering horrible. And the worst part about it is, as you said, the NFL spending decades lying about it and covering it up, when they could have been working on finding a way to change. I'm not sure how much it will even help, but new technology could help some, particularly as it pertains to the football helmet. And they wasted decades of research. They are the Big Tobacco of sports.

 

Get rid of helmets. Seriously.

Play with rugby-style padding, and they'd learn quickly that an improper tackle is bad news for everyone involved. Still a lot of contact, but full-on head-first bone-crunching tackles would be a thing of the past almost immediately.

 

But never in a million years would the NFL go with LESS head protection, even if it fundamentally changed the game for the better

[Sammy Sofa]

 

Get rid of helmets. Seriously.

Play with rugby-style padding, and they'd learn quickly that an improper tackle is bad news for everyone involved. Still a lot of contact, but full-on head-first bone-crunching tackles would be a thing of the past almost immediately.

 

But never in a million years would the NFL go with LESS head protection, even if it fundamentally changed the game for the better

 

They're going to have to do something drastic to change the game. There's no way around it.

[Derwood]

Play with rugby-style padding, and they'd learn quickly that an improper tackle is bad news for everyone involved. Still a lot of contact, but full-on head-first bone-crunching tackles would be a thing of the past almost immediately.

 

But never in a million years would the NFL go with LESS head protection, even if it fundamentally changed the game for the better

 

They're going to have to do something drastic to change the game. There's no way around it.

 

Recent history shows the NFL is more likely to make hitting more punitive (while increasing the body armor) than it would be to remove body armor and hope the players avoid their own injuries

[Ding Dong Johnson]

The posting history is documented proof of the dangers of tackle football. No further comment necessary.

 

Wait so it's q.e.d. that high school football should be abolished? Ok guys I must have cte.

 

You have a forum here full of this weird groupthink. I'm not sure if you are stupid or insecure in that you take an extreme opinion like football should be outlawed, Star Wars is important for adult males or game of thrones integrity matters, easy and apparently incontrovertible. The stronger you hold these thoughts and write them out and read them you reinforce them in some application of dual code theory. And the more you focus on the secret parentage of a game of thrones character or a new trailer for Star Wars and that football needs to be destroyed the more you can armor your psychological resilience and having never satisfied a woman resonates somewhat less.

 

Well I had sex with your wife.

his wife’s in a coma

[Sammy Sofa]

 

But never in a million years would the NFL go with LESS head protection, even if it fundamentally changed the game for the better

 

They're going to have to do something drastic to change the game. There's no way around it.

 

Recent history shows the NFL is more likely to make hitting more punitive (while increasing the body armor) than it would be to remove body armor and hope the players avoid their own injuries

 

They can try that all they want; it won't work and won't stave off the inevitable.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

The future of the NFL was accurately predicted in the 90s:

[bbvideo=560,315]

[/bbvideo]

[Derwood]

 

They're going to have to do something drastic to change the game. There's no way around it.

 

Recent history shows the NFL is more likely to make hitting more punitive (while increasing the body armor) than it would be to remove body armor and hope the players avoid their own injuries

 

They can try that all they want; it won't work and won't stave off the inevitable.

 

If you take away the helmets, some nut job like Vontaze Burfict will kill someone on the field and then the NFL would be screwed

[cl smooth]

The future of the NFL was accurately predicted in the 90s:

[bbvideo=560,315]

[/bbvideo]

 

bones jackson was the man!

[Sammy Sofa]

 

Recent history shows the NFL is more likely to make hitting more punitive (while increasing the body armor) than it would be to remove body armor and hope the players avoid their own injuries

 

They can try that all they want; it won't work and won't stave off the inevitable.

 

If you take away the helmets, some nut job like Vontaze Burfict will kill someone on the field and then the NFL would be screwed

 

Someone's going to get killed at this rate already. There's no "armor" that they can wear that's going to protect their brain from being rattled around so long as the game continues in the direction it's been going.

[Banedon]

 

They're going to have to do something drastic to change the game. There's no way around it.

 

Recent history shows the NFL is more likely to make hitting more punitive (while increasing the body armor) than it would be to remove body armor and hope the players avoid their own injuries

 

They can try that all they want; it won't work and won't stave off the inevitable.

 

Hold on now, I'd watch football again if all the guys were in these....

 

http://www.podsinflatables.co.uk/assets/images/17082006215.jpg

[raw]

As a youth tackle football coach, for 6-8 year olds, I have to chime in here. You guys are dead on that there's really no reason for kids this age to be playing tackle football. My son plays, and I really wish there was another way available (there was flag, and may be next year but it was so informal and the same 2-3 teams played each other every week). I coach to essentially keep an eye on him and make sure he's being treated fairly and he's being safe.

 

I can't vouch for other teams in other cities/states and in other organizations, but the organization that we play/coach in has not had a confirmed head injury in the last 5 years. This is me and my son's 2nd year being involved, but the only head injury in the last 5 years was a player and his parents saying he had a concussion but never got him checked out for one apparently.

 

But anyway, as coaches we definitely harp on tackling form and teach the kids the right way to tackle. 95% of the contact we have in practice is with pads, handheld by the coaches or on tackling/blocking "dummies". Including, these which teach the kids the "wrap and roll" technique rather than trying to destroy another kid with your shoulder or helmet.

 

http://www.fisherathletic.com/images/Football/TackleWheels/tw-group-web.jpg

 

All the coaches have to take classes to know how to teach this technique and how to spot a concussion....every year. Also, it's worth pointing out that helmet to helmet hits aren't typically the cause of head injuries. Helmet hits cause NECK injuries (AKA whiplash type of things). Head injuries are mostly caused by heads hitting other places on someone else's body or by being slammed on the ground.

 

It's really not a huge risk for head injury in the grand scheme of things at the youth level. There are weight limits and most teams will communicate before the game to try to match up their little guys on the field when everyone is required to play 5 plays. That being said, there's really no logical reason for that risk to be more than 0 for a 6-year old. There's simply no benefit to the individual kid and the only benefit to the organization is having a group of kids that get to the HS level and have a ton of experience playing together. Of course, even then that only happens if the kids A) stay together in the same school district and B) kids stay generally the same AKA big kids stay big and form an OL, fast kids stay fast and are the QB/RBs/WRs. Maybe I'm a hypocrite for letting my son play, but this is something he wants to do and I have talked to him about the risks, though at 6 last year I'm sure he doesn't understand....hence why I'm with him at practice every day.

[Banedon]

I appreciate that you're there for your kid Raw, and I understand that you're doing everything you feel you can to mitigate the risks. And every parent has to make those risk evaluations on their own, obviously.

 

But I just feel like there's so many other sports to play, and football is a naturally violent sport that just has a natural level of risk that others don't. (Hockey is probably right there too.)

 

I mean...there's really no level of protection that's can prevent injury. My son's friend, 10yo, got a concussion playing basketball over the summer...fell and hit his head on the court IIRC. Even being there and teaching the "right way to hit"...you're still teaching kids to hit each other. It just takes a mistake...

 

And really there's no possible way for a 6yo to understand and consent to the any of these risks. He's 6.

[JudasIscariotTheBird]

The future of the NFL was accurately predicted in the 90s:

[bbvideo=560,315]

[/bbvideo]

 

bones jackson was the man!

I was more of a Darkstar man. ...was that his name? He was the one that wasn't the lizard or the two oafs who always got beheaded. What a great, dumb show. Had nothing on Exo Squad, tho.

[raw]

I appreciate that you're there for your kid Raw, and I understand that you're doing everything you feel you can to mitigate the risks. And every parent has to make those risk evaluations on their own, obviously.

 

But I just feel like there's so many other sports to play, and football is a naturally violent sport that just has a natural level of risk that others don't. (Hockey is probably right there too.)

 

I mean...there's really no level of protection that's can prevent injury. My son's friend, 10yo, got a concussion playing basketball over the summer...fell and hit his head on the court IIRC. Even being there and teaching the "right way to hit"...you're still teaching kids to hit each other. It just takes a mistake...

 

And really there's no possible way for a 6yo to understand and consent to the any of these risks. He's 6.

 

Yeah, I get that and said as much. But like the basketball thing, there's risks everywhere. Baseball, you can take a ball to the face. A batted ball to the skull from an aluminum bat. Hockey doesn't allow kids to hit from what I understand, but they're going to do it because they see it in the NHL. And in football, you have to consider that a 6-8 year old is only going to get hit with the force of another 6-8 year old. Granted, there could be great size discrepancies among those ages but most of those kids aren't going to be very capable of causing injury, not to mention the smaller kids are protected as much as possible by playing safety or playing DL against OL of a similar size.

 

I agree there's no level of protection that's going to prevent every injury. And I stated there is really no benefit to the child. But to some extent, you have to let the kids do what they want to do to have fun and make sure they are as safe as possible. Whether that's football, riding a bike, skateboarding, whatever.

[illiniguy]

 

Wait so it's q.e.d. that high school football should be abolished? Ok guys I must have cte.

 

You have a forum here full of this weird groupthink. I'm not sure if you are stupid or insecure in that you take an extreme opinion like football should be outlawed, Star Wars is important for adult males or game of thrones integrity matters, easy and apparently incontrovertible. The stronger you hold these thoughts and write them out and read them you reinforce them in some application of dual code theory. And the more you focus on the secret parentage of a game of thrones character or a new trailer for Star Wars and that football needs to be destroyed the more you can armor your psychological resilience and having never satisfied a woman resonates somewhat less.

 

Well I had sex with your wife.

his wife’s in a coma

Because of Ryan's sex, he's that good.

[biittner77]

Our football coach said that participation state wide (Maryland) is down 750 kids this year. Not sure where that number comes from.

 

I don't mean to marginalize the effects of cte and other head injuries but they do provide an easily defensible excuse to drop football which is a very expensive sport to run. The net effect of that will be better programs drawing more talent and, along with it the best athletes and the biggest kids. So whatever margin that high school football is safer than college or the NFL, that gap is going to close as participation drops.

 

But I believe football survives because in many small towns it's seen as such a defining part of local identity. In the inner city, it's viewed as a means to a better future/ escape from poverty. The NFL is a multi billion dollar industry and it's not going down without a fight.

[jersey cubs fan]

. The net effect of that will be better programs drawing more talent and, along with it the best athletes and the biggest kids.

 

I'm gonna need you to show the math.

[biittner77]

. The net effect of that will be better programs drawing more talent and, along with it the best athletes and the biggest kids.

 

I'm gonna need you to show the math.

 

Perhaps a bigger concentration of talent is what I meant to say. If their school drops football, the kid's that have talent will go to the most successful program they can find that's close enough to travel to. So the good teams will get bigger and better. With fewer schools having a team, only the bigger/ more talented players will be out there and with increased competition there will likely be an increase in meatballery. Wouldn't you agree that the highly successful HS coaches are the most prone to having an "old school, toughen up" type mentality?

[jersey cubs fan]

. The net effect of that will be better programs drawing more talent and, along with it the best athletes and the biggest kids.

 

I'm gonna need you to show the math.

 

Perhaps a bigger concentration of talent is what I meant to say. If their school drops football, the kid's that have talent will go to the most successful program they can find that's close enough to travel to. So the good teams will get bigger and better. With fewer schools having a team, only the bigger/ more talented players will be out there and with increased competition there will likely be an increase in meatballery. Wouldn't you agree that the highly successful HS coaches are the most prone to having an "old school, toughen up" type mentality?

 

25 years ago I knew highly talented kids whose parents wouldn't let them play football. I'm not sure why you think that decreasing participation only means the bad players stop playing and the talented ones keep going.

 

And FYI, this isn't about a high school, it's about a park district program stopping the tackle football program for kids.

 

I'm also not sure I agree with the last point about successful HS coaches. Probably true in shitholes like Texas and Ohio, but there's a lot more football out there than just those places. And most people aren't moving school districts based on sports, even talented kids.

[biittner77]

 

I'm gonna need you to show the math.

 

Perhaps a bigger concentration of talent is what I meant to say. If their school drops football, the kid's that have talent will go to the most successful program they can find that's close enough to travel to. So the good teams will get bigger and better. With fewer schools having a team, only the bigger/ more talented players will be out there and with increased competition there will likely be an increase in meatballery. Wouldn't you agree that the highly successful HS coaches are the most prone to having an "old school, toughen up" type mentality?

 

25 years ago I knew highly talented kids whose parents wouldn't let them play football. I'm not sure why you think that decreasing participation only means the bad players stop playing and the talented ones keep going.

 

And FYI, this isn't about a high school, it's about a park district program stopping the tackle football program for kids.

 

I'm also not sure I agree with the last point about successful HS coaches. Probably true in horsefeathers like Texas and Ohio, but there's a lot more football out there than just those places. And most people aren't moving school districts based on sports, even talented kids.

 

If there are fewer teams, it stands to reason that the remaining teams would be able to cut less talented players.

 

I was talking about high school. Why does a park district even have football?

 

In the small city where I teach, people are changing schools for sports all the time. Plenty of people drive their kids to a neighboring town to play a sport that is not available at their local school. A guy I know is driving his daughter 1 hour each way to a school because they have a better softball team. I know another person that drives his son even farther to play football. People are crazy when it comes to kids and sports.

[jersey cubs fan]

 

If there are fewer teams, it stands to reason that the remaining teams would be able to cut less talented players.

 

But if the reason there are fewer teams is because there are fewer players willing to play, how would this make it easier for those teams to cut more players?