Help! -- Teen wants to start playing football

[Beer-man]

Reread your post and saw that he is a receiver...he will likely not see the larger blows that might cause Long term trauma. I was a defensive end and would frequently go head to head with pulling guards, tackles, and running backs. All in all with 3yrs of high school football and 2yrs of college I still am convinced that I had larger collisions while playing high school soccer(with no helmet)
I worry more about the repercussions of lording your parental power over an almost adult. Give him the tools to make an educated decision but be careful in flat out denying him based on your irrational fears.

 

[Brat]

When my son was in HS he had two clipping injuries with playing football, we said 'enough'. He opted for ski team instead (?!). My only thought was at least if he was injured ski racing it would be his legs that did him in.

Spring he started sailing, which ultimately brought him to the Maritime Acadamy.

I understand why team sports are important in developing skills that make a difference in the workplace but there are other activities, such as Scouting, that teach leadership skills. Think broadly about how your child can develop leadership skills, talk to his HS counselor.

 

[RetMD21]

I was interested in football vs soccer so I looked it up. Football is significantly worse than soccer for concussions. I didn't realize that for soccer females may be more susceptible to concussions. Here is the study:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2140075/

Concussions are not good for you but the sub concussive injuries in football may be contributing to CTE. People will have variable preferences but I don't think the future looks bright for football.

 

[bclover]

Football was great for my kids

In your case it would be a hard no due to the previous concussion. Both my kids played football , my youngest had a athletic scholarship for football. Now he had no illusions about his chances of going pro but the opportunities it afforded him were way more than the late old guy and I could have given him.
He never suffered a concussion though.

 

[eytonxav]

If he has a strong leg from soccer, what about the possibility of being a field goal, place kicker or punter? My son was friends with a soccer player in HS who went on to an NFL career, and he did not play a lot of football in grade school. Much less chance of taking a hard hit. Some kids who are gungho for football also change their minds after they get hit and then decide they want no part of it. We did not let our son play and I know that he wishes he had played. Our HS was a perennial state champ for many years when he was in HS and he saw a few classmates go on to the NFL after college.

 

[ivinsfan]

If he has a strong leg from soccer, what about the possibility of being a field goal, place kicker or punter? My son was friends with a soccer player in HS who went on to an NFL career, and he did not play a lot of football in grade school. Much less chance of taking a hard hit. Some kids who are gungho for football also change their minds after they get hit and then decide they want no part of it. We did not let our son play and I know that he wishes he had played. Our HS was a perennial state champ for many years when he was in HS and he saw a few classmates go on to the NFL after college.

This is a good option but your talking HS, you do what the coach tells you and can't really signup your kid and hope the coach complies with your wishes, Now if you make it to pro level things a better, that is if you don't mind missing a game winning FG in front of 60K fans.

 

[Brat]

To take the pressure off of Mom and Dad take your son to his physician, share his medical history, and let him/her deliver the news. These days most high schools require a physical and medical sign off... or at least they should.

 

[eytonxav]

This is a good option but your talking HS, you do what the coach tells you and can't really signup your kid and hope the coach complies with your wishes, Now if you make it to pro level things a better, that is if you don't mind missing a game winning FG in front of 60K fans.

If you are assuming kids do not go out for HS football specifically to be a kicker, you'd be wrong. In many HS football is a no-cut sport and everyone makes the team, however, if the HS is a highly competitive larger school, you won't play unless you are very good.

 

[JoeWras]

Well I never let my boys play football even though they were both pretty athletic and now play college baseball. They both do wear chest protectors on the ball field.

Are the chest protectors there to help stop the problem with balls hitting the chest and disrupting the heart rhythm to cause sudden death? That seemed to be a serious issue a while ago. If so, glad they made progress.

I played baseball: hot corner, third base. I never took a line drive to the chest. I took a few to my head, usually after a glancing blow off my glove (I guess my glove placement was a bit late). I also took a few to the head after bad hops in hot grounders. Played on lousy fields, which didn't help.

So, it sounds odd, but for a certain age group of kids, I'd like to see infielders wear helmets with face shields. The age group would be right when kids start hitting hard, but before high school age.

I don't think I got a concussion from these, but the blows to the head couldn't have helped. Black eyes, and even the impression of the baseball stitching pressed into my forehead for a few days.

 

[ivinsfan]

If you are assuming kids do not go out for HS football specifically to be a kicker, you'd be wrong. In many HS football is a no-cut sport and everyone makes the team, however, if the HS is a highly competitive larger school, you won't play unless you are very good.

I didn't know that, but if you go out to be a kicker and don't get picked to kick then what happens? Do you ride the bench to get moved to another slot. In our small school the kicker is just the best kicker on the team and plays another position.

 

[eytonxav]

I didn't know that, but if you go out to be a kicker and don't get picked to kick then what happens? Do you ride the bench to get moved to another slot. In our small school the kicker is just the best kicker on the team and plays another position.

Probably would be a backup kicker and ride the bench or if the kid is so inclined, possibly another position if the kid and coaches agree and work him out in that role. However, smaller HS may not have much flexibility if they do not have enough kids on the roster.

 

[Bir48die]

If I was your son and was denied ability to play I would never forgive you.

 

[ExFlyBoy5]

I think you made a good decision. I think cross country is the best high school sport. CTE is serious and I think we'll see a lot of changes in attitudes as people come to accept this.

Yep. Reminds me of smoking 50 years ago...it was obvious that this wasn't a smart thing to do, but people did it anyway. Now, kids are out getting mowed over (football or soccer) and in a number of years, society will look back and wonder why we allowed it.

 

[Brat]

I still say he should discuss this with his physician.

 

[badatmath]

Cars kill more teenagers than organized sports.

Its not the being killed that would worry me. . . but the possibility of permanent disability.

 

[charais]

I also think you made a good decision. My two boys played pee wee, middle and high school football and true they didn't get to play much because it was a huge school , they hit plenty in practice. My deceased father played college and semi-pro football in the 1940's and was a running back. He had injuries that kept him in pain much of his adult life. (Of course that scrap of leather didn't offer much protection.) Do you have any flag football leagues in your area? I think flag football will replace contact football certainly at ages below high school and possibly even high school as more facts about head injuries come out. There are national flag football organizations that put teams together and help coordinate the individual clubs. Just a thought.

 

[Sanbenito1]

Nephew is an ortho surgeon and won’t let his kid play football. Says his kids’ knees and back will thank him when the kid is 60.

 

[PoorOldCountryBoy]

no way

FWIW,
I could not play football due to a childhood skull fracture (likely all healed by 9th grade) and concerned parents with a backbone to back it up. It was not the most popular choice in a working class community high school back in the day.

Forty years later, I golf with some of the same guys who are getting knee replacements, etc etc. It's not just the CTE issues. In short, they grouse about "paying the price" etc. and "wish they chose otherwise". I count my blessings now.

So good for you if you say no, especially with the past issues. Note that soccer likely has a higher concussion rate, so make sure junior is going with low impact sports like cross country etc.

 

[lukeaa]

All my 70 year old high school friends from Texas have screwed up knees, shoulders, and backs. My father, the doctor , would not let me play because he saw the results. Have him go out for track or golf or the debate team.

 

[RetMD21]

If I was your son and was denied ability to play I would never forgive you.

parents who are aware of CTE and encouraged a son to play football might have trouble forgiving themselves if he developed irreversible neurological problems

 

[Amethyst]

The hard part of this conundrum is that the health problems don't show up right away. So the young person sees his/her friends having fun, seemingly without dire consequences.

No young person can imagine himself/herself being middle-aged, let alone with serious health problems. At that age, we are focused on the present and maybe a few years ahead.

That is why parents have to make the hard choices, as fairly and kindly as they know how, and bear any resulting resentment. And it can be a Morton's Fork choice. I wish the OP and their son best of luck in this. Definitely bring the doctor into it as much as possible, to deflect some resentment onto the outside authority.

parents who are aware of CTE and encouraged a son to play football might have trouble forgiving themselves if he developed irreversible neurological problems

 

[Beer-man]

Lol I know plenty of 35yr olds with messed up knees and backs who didn’t play any organized sports.

 

[Bir48die]

parents who are aware of CTE and encouraged a son to play football might have trouble forgiving themselves if he developed irreversible neurological problems

You can’t take away all the risk in life. Can’t take away a bicycle because they might crash. Can’t stop them from walking across the street by themselves. I understand the risks for goodness sakes. I also know the desire for a young man to play a team sport that will build many memories. You can’t deny wanting to be with buddies in the huddle and locker room. Yes I got my bell rung many times. Maybe I was lucky. I also got hurt a few times. I survived.

 

[ivinsfan]

You can’t take away all the risk in life. Can’t take away a bicycle because they might crash. Can’t stop them from walking across the street by themselves. I understand the risks for goodness sakes. I also know the desire for a young man to play a team sport that will build many memories. You can’t deny wanting to be with buddies in the huddle and locker room. Yes I got my bell rung many times. Maybe I was lucky. I also got hurt a few times. I survived.

OK...lucky until now who knows if that will last for the rest of your life. Your argument that you did it years ago holds about as much water as saying, car seats for kids, never had one myself, who need a stinking car seat...

 

[Bir48die]

What were we saying?