CTE diagnosed in former high school soccer player
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Anonymous
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A boy played soccer from age 4 until his senior year of high school. He later got diagnosed with CTE when he passed away from an accidental overdose at age 24.
Does this change how you view soccer as an activity for your kids? Source: https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.88.16_supplement.P6.165 |
Anonymous
| yes |
Anonymous
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Not allowed to head before U12 (maybe U13) now, at least in MD. I never let my DD head the ball after that and she never did in a game. Some in practice I’m sure. As a middie, much better to control the ball than randomly head it so where.
Headers should only be allowed to score a goal or save a goal (if at all). The real problem is that you can’t be great at headers without practicing enough to get CTE (potentially). As to concussions, why would any parent let their kid keep playing after so many concussions? 20 is crazy! Always worry about defenders getting hit in the face and no one thinks it’s a concussion. |
Anonymous
| My DD doesn’t head because of the concussion risk. Yes it impacts her college recruitment chances. She doesn’t care. |
Anonymous
| I'v forbidden my daughter from doing headers. |
Anonymous
| Similar, our son does not do headers. It limits how far he can go and he is fine with that. |
Anonymous
| My son is a senior and was never comfortable doing headers and it was one of the the reasons several colleges passed on him. |
Anonymous
| No, the drugs could have damaged his brain as well. |
Anonymous
OP here. While true, drugs don't produce the tau deposits in the brain that are the hallmark of CTE. For those who don't let their kids even practice headers, are coaches okay with that? |
Anonymous
First - this is all still really new science- so you really don’t know. Second - kids are doing all sorts of stuff at practice unless their parents are sitting there watching all the time. Lots of kids will say - of course I don’t practice headers mom. |
Anonymous
Tbh, this probably limited DD’s success, but coaches should not have an issue with something health-related like this. I need to live with myself as a parent when more bad data/studies comes out on the relationship between heading and CTE. Wasn’t my DD, but I saw one Coach share a picture on Instagram of a player missing a header making fun of them. Like public shaming for avoiding potential concussion! |
Anonymous
Third - what’s wrong with you? |
Anonymous
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Does it change my thoughts on soccer player and my kids? No. Son is college freshman and daughter is HS soph. Son is played throughout HS and just pickup now. Daughter is playing ECNL now.
About CTE. I believe that we are just scratching the surface in the research and understanding to how this impacts athletes throughout their lives - far from understanding why some are impacted by it and others are not. Many footballers (both American and Soccer) and other sports have not been impacted and live long and productive post-playing career lives. Tragic situations with Mike Webster, Junior Seau, Chris Henry in football, Bob Probert, Derek Boogaard in hockey, and many others too. Very concerned that the article references 20 concussions - where those all confirmed or suspected? That's awful either way. Also, today, CTE can be confirmed only after death as well which is tough. I am correct, article was originally published in 2017 as well? |
Anonymous
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20 concussions between the ages of 4-18? Of the 19 soccer ones it would be nice to know how many were confirmed, how many were from headers vs collisions, etc.
And also at what point were parents or coaches going to say this is beyond dangerous to continue? |
Anonymous
Yeah, 20 concussions is an abnormally high amount and not from heading a soccer ball. There is more detail/nuance to this that just isn't provided. |