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Crossposted from an FBS board I frequent (composed of former CSTV/CBSSN posters):

In his new book, "Concussions and Our Kids", Neurosurgeon Robert Cantu proposes the following changes to youth sports programs to reduce the risk of head trauma:

No tackle football before age 14.
No body-checking in youth hockey before age 14.
No "heading" in soccer before age 14.
Require chin straps in youth baseball & ban the head-first slide.
Require helmets in field hockey and girls' lacrosse.
Hold sports officials to a higher standard.

Dr. Cantu advises, "If your child is going to play a sport in which brain trauma is inherent with the activity, please start at a later age. Arbitrarily, I say 14 because that's when high school starts, and if you're going to play at the next level, you've got to start somewhere. Ideally, I wouldn't have them start until 18, because it would have them taking less brain trauma over the course of their lives."

Ugh. That's too radical and expensive to implement except for the third and the last one...

bonarae wrote:Crossposted from an FBS board I frequent (composed of former CSTV/CBSSN posters):

No body-checking in youth hockey before age 14.

Ugh. That's too radical and expensive to implement except for the third and the last one...

FWIW, USA Hockey has already moved checking up to Bantam level last year which is 13-14. No checking below that level. The biggest problem is boys grow at such different paces at these ages. My son, who was on the small side last year was about 5'3" 120# and he was skating against boys who were 6' 180#. That puts the bigger kids shoulder even with his head and all of the checking at that age is against the boards. It's scary.

Ban heading in soccer?

Requiring helmets begs the question of appropriate design, which ALSO takes time and money. I don't think anyone in their right mind will want to suggest wearing a football helmet for lacrosse.

The helmet experiment in the pole vault may be a good lesson here. People who didn't understand the physics of the event tried to demand helmets due to the danger of hitting the standards. First, properly trained and supervised kids do NOT hit the standards. Second, the presence of a weighted object (i.e. the helmet) changed the way kids held their heads during flight, thereby changing the way the brain moves around inside the head. There is now the danger of kids breaking their necks due to the extra weight, so many areas are backing WAY off the requirement, which never got all that far in the first place. I've only seen one kid wear one in competition, and it seemed to hold him back.

Other sports? Maybe. But I'm not convinced. For sports like lacrosse and field hockey, EVERY player requires a full field of vision, unlike a football lineman, who really only needs to see right in front of him and perhaps a little more. Once you put a helmet on someone, the next "logical" step is some sort of facemask. For a sport like lacrosse and field hockey, IF you go there, it should be similar to the hockey face shield, not the football crossbars, but most people are only familiar with football. You're going to get a bunch of things added to the rule book, like facemask penalties, which will have to be called to a great degree at low levels of competition, which will break up the action and impede player development.

I don't like this at all. Sorry I wrote a book here, but I think the idea of bringing helmets into every sport is asinine. Next thing you know, Tiger Woods will have to wear a helmet because of the remote possibility that Phil Mickelson's tee shot will knock him out.

I say we issue every child a government-bought-and-paid-for plastic bubble at birth. Through Obamacare.

Time for all sports to be outlawed so we can protect everyone.

grizzaholic wrote:Time for all sports to be outlawed so we can protect everyone.

I like sarcastaball.

Grizalltheway wrote:

grizzaholic wrote:Time for all sports to be outlawed so we can protect everyone.

I like sarcastaball.

This is serious stuff here, not some vulgar TV show. Please stay on topic.

Chinstrap in baseball? What helmet comes off of a batter's head during the pitch?

SuperHornet wrote:Next thing you know, Tiger Woods will have to wear a helmet because of the remote possibility that Phil Mickelson's tee shot will knock him out.

He could just stand next to the flag and feel safe.

89Hen wrote:

SuperHornet wrote:Next thing you know, Tiger Woods will have to wear a helmet because of the remote possibility that Phil Mickelson's tee shot will knock him out.

He could just stand next to the flag and feel safe.

That for a guy (Tiger) who pushed 90% of his tee shots off to the right last weekend?

AZGrizFan wrote:

89Hen wrote: He could just stand next to the flag and feel safe.

That for a guy (Tiger) who pushed 90% of his tee shots off to the right last weekend?

Where did I say Tiger was better? I'm really saddend by your overt racism these days.

89Hen wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:
That for a guy (Tiger) who pushed 90% of his tee shots off to the right last weekend?

Where did I say Tiger was better? I'm really saddend by your overt racism these days.

I am really saddened by your continued use of the race card these days.

AZGrizFan wrote:

89Hen wrote: Where did I say Tiger was better? I'm really saddend by your overt racism these days.

I am really saddened by your continued use of the race card these days.

No card needed. You're wearing a sign around your neck. Sad really.

Grizalltheway wrote:

grizzaholic wrote:Time for all sports to be outlawed so we can protect everyone.

I like sarcastaball.

Sarcastiball? Do smirk your way to victory?

89Hen wrote:

AZGrizFan wrote:
I am really saddened by your continued use of the race card these days.

No card needed. You're wearing a sign around your neck. Sad really.

Ok, Barry.

SuperHornet wrote:You're going to get a bunch of things added to the rule book, like facemask penalties, which will have to be called to a great degree at low levels of competition, which will break up the action and impede player development.

Facemasking is a penalty if football because players are allowed to grab onto opposing players as part of the game (tackling). I'm not an expert on field hockey or lacrosse, but isn't it already illegal to grab onto opposing players? Thus there wouldn't be a need for a seperate facemasking rule.

One mans opinion. Granted, he's an expert, but that doesn't make him infallable. I'd like to hear the opinion of other neurosurgeons.

I'd also like to read further study regarding youth football and concussions. Kids may not hit hard enough to cause harm.

As for soccer, I am unaware of soccer players having problems later in life because of heading the ball when they were young. Maybe they do and I don't know, but it seems to be a much bigger problem with NFL players.

I'm guessing that the act of heading the ball itself isn't what they're worried about. But the risk of two people's heads colliding when both are going up for the ball.

JayJ79 wrote:I'm guessing that the act of heading the ball itself isn't what they're worried about. But the risk of two people's heads colliding when both are going up for the ball.

It's both. Former Men's National Team player Taylor Twellman has said he'll donate his brain to science when he passes so they can look at the effects of "heading" the ball. He had to retire early due to head trauma

BlueHen86 wrote:One mans opinion. Granted, he's an expert, but that doesn't make him infallable. I'd like to hear the opinion of other neurosurgeons.

I'd also like to read further study regarding youth football and concussions. Kids may not hit hard enough to cause harm.

As for soccer, I am unaware of soccer players having problems later in life because of heading the ball when they were young. Maybe they do and I don't know, but it seems to be a much bigger problem with NFL players.

We have been there with my oldest boy, he was having severe headaches, did a CT scan, found a golf ball size cyst in his brain, met with a neurosurgeon in Iowa city.Short story, He said flat out no contact soprts. Football, soccer, and hockey. In these sports it is not just the concussion, but the twisting of the brain inside the skull that is the problem. For my son it would mean death if he has this type of hit, maybe not in youth ball, but high school probably. Now the topic is one experts opnion, I am an expert on my children and I use what I know to make decisions. My youngest with start contact football next fall, and I can't wait to watch him knock some heads. As parents we know our kids passions, know the risks and make decisions.

BlueHen86 wrote:One mans opinion. Granted, he's an expert, but that doesn't make him infallable. I'd like to hear the opinion of other neurosurgeons.

I'd also like to read further study regarding youth football and concussions. Kids may not hit hard enough to cause harm.

As for soccer, I am unaware of soccer players having problems later in life because of heading the ball when they were young. Maybe they do and I don't know, but it seems to be a much bigger problem with NFL players.

Here's a link to a story about the player from Penn, who was going to be captain of the football team, who committed suicide before his senior year - the parents had an autopsy done and it showed massive evidence of brain trauma. This was a kid who had never had a concussion, or at least a diagnosed concussion. There's the potential for the concussions to go undiagnosed as well as the potential for subconcussive hits while the brain is still forming in a young person. This kid had no symptoms or past history at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/sport ... d=all&_r=0

GannonFan wrote:

BlueHen86 wrote:One mans opinion. Granted, he's an expert, but that doesn't make him infallable. I'd like to hear the opinion of other neurosurgeons.

I'd also like to read further study regarding youth football and concussions. Kids may not hit hard enough to cause harm.

As for soccer, I am unaware of soccer players having problems later in life because of heading the ball when they were young. Maybe they do and I don't know, but it seems to be a much bigger problem with NFL players.

Here's a link to a story about the player from Penn, who was going to be captain of the football team, who committed suicide before his senior year - the parents had an autopsy done and it showed massive evidence of brain trauma. This was a kid who had never had a concussion, or at least a diagnosed concussion. There's the potential for the concussions to go undiagnosed as well as the potential for subconcussive hits while the brain is still forming in a young person. This kid had no symptoms or past history at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/sport ... d=all&_r=0

I remember this story, very sad. I must point out that the neurosurgeon is talking about youth sports, the Penn player was in college.

BlueHen86 wrote:

GannonFan wrote:
Here's a link to a story about the player from Penn, who was going to be captain of the football team, who committed suicide before his senior year - the parents had an autopsy done and it showed massive evidence of brain trauma. This was a kid who had never had a concussion, or at least a diagnosed concussion. There's the potential for the concussions to go undiagnosed as well as the potential for subconcussive hits while the brain is still forming in a young person. This kid had no symptoms or past history at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/sport ... d=all&_r=0

I remember this story, very sad. I must point out that the neurosurgeon is talking about youth sports, the Penn player was in college.

But the Penn player had played youth sports for as long as someone could play them before getting to college. There was no implication that the damage to the guy's brain only happened once he played college football - quite the opposite, actually, the implication from the article was that it was a lifetime accumulation of trauma to his brain that led to his death.

GannonFan wrote:

BlueHen86 wrote:
I remember this story, very sad. I must point out that the neurosurgeon is talking about youth sports, the Penn player was in college.

But the Penn player had played youth sports for as long as someone could play them before getting to college. There was no implication that the damage to the guy's brain only happened once he played college football - quite the opposite, actually, the implication from the article was that it was a lifetime accumulation of trauma to his brain that led to his death.

Implications aren't facts. The neurologist was talking about youth sports, you respond with an article about a college player. Apples and oranges.

I am not aware of a higher suicide rate among Pop Warner players.