Tackle Football
![[Post New]](/jforum/templates/default/images/icon_minipost_new.gif){kind=icon}
Anonymous
|
It is honestly insane how any parent signs a minor up for tackle football knowing the permanent brain damage involved that's pretty much required to advance in the sport. The only people who will continue to sign their kids up for tackle football will be poorer minorities who are treated like fodder for the NFL and are gladiators for white people to enjoy for entertainment while they destroy themselves.
Why do you think the NFL now runs so many commercials with women playing flag football and flag football in general? I bet it is because they can read the writing on the wall and know the version of football we have today is going to go the way of the dodo bird because no one wants to sign their kid up for brain injuries. The future is flag football, and perhaps even a mixed gender league, where it will be all offense based and highlights focusing on making spectacular catches and high speed play. It is already widly popular on YouTube. |
Anonymous
| Get jacked and run fast. |
Anonymous
We live in a very expensive zipcode (not in Texas) and there are a ton of kids in the youth tackle program, most of them white. |
Anonymous
Texas also had measles outbreaks because people down there don't vaccinate, so? I'd expect Texas to be one of the to ditch barbarism like Scrambling the brains of children to play a sport.....I mean they don't even vaccinate them properly. But look at vast areas of other parts of the country where football isn’t a stupid religion. The sport is dying to the point mutiple schools have to band together to even field a team because parents won't sign their kids up anymore to play due to brain injuries. As previously mentioned, schools in this area are already going no cut because so few kids sign up they can barely field a roster. Something like 96% of NFL players brains that were donated to look for CTE were found to be positive. It is insane how any responsible parent would sign their child up for what is essentially dementia pugilistica while their brains are developing from being a small child on up through early adulthood. Flag football is going to overtake the sport. It is inevitable. |
Anonymous
Maybe not a terrible thing. My son plays rugby and I'm terrified of head injuries. He hasn't had one yet. For me, what's important is the attitude towards head injuries—you can get head injuries in any sport (I coached the kids in soccer and have seen more concussions in soccer than in rugby—that's purely anecdotal, of course), but what do the coaches and organizations do. In my son's experience, the coaches are VERY sensitive about head injuries, there are trainers available, etc. Bigger is that the sport of rugby as a whole—which traditionally was a tough man sport where you didn't complain, and where playing through head injuries was a point of pride, has been trying to address the issue. You aren't allowed to launch yourself at someone, you aren't allowed to tackle if you're not on your feet, you're not allowed to check someone—you MUST wrap your arms around them (which makes it more difficult to go head first). You've never been allowed to go at someone's head, but the enforcement (at all levels) is stricter, and they recently changed to require tackles to be below the chest, and most recently announced a change to tackles below the waist. I don't believe the international players are currently enforced at that, but the local youth level is enforcing that. It allows my son to be physical, but I really appreciate the effort to make it safer. I also am impressed with how the sport as a whole has made some large fundamental changes to the literal way the game has played in an effort to reduce head injuries. In the last rugby world cup finals game, New Zealand narrowly lost the game and it basically hinged entirely on calls against them that involved collisions with a South African opponents head. In the first half a Kiwi player's shoulder connected with a SA chin, but it was only a yellow card because when they stopped the game and analyzed the video, they determined the NZ player had attempted to avoid doing so. In the second half, another NZ player's shoulder connected and this time it was a full red, because they said he took mitigating steps... the whole thing was astonishing to an American who grew up watching NFL—the idea they would hold these gigantic men responsible for what appeared to be unintentional contact with an opponents head, or that they would think that a player could do more to ensure their opponent was not hit in the head was crazy to me... and that those calls would essentially determine the outcome of the biggest game in the sport! Does all that worrying about head injuries work? I dunno, but I really have a hard time imagining the NFL or college football deciding to alter what a legal tackle is and do something like require a tackle must involve wrapping up with arms or when a player is knocked on the head they look to see if the tackler could've done more to avoid it. There's been such resistance to the idea of college football teams going tackle-free in practice or players wearing the safety helmets. I don't know if it's an American thing or a uniquely football thing, but it just doesn't seem like a sport that can adapt. So maybe just pivoting to flag is the thing. In terms of rugby, the only time we've dealt with a possible concussion was when my son had his feet cleared out from under him and he fell backwards and hit his head on the natural grass surface which happened to be quite dry after some rain-free weeks. He was evaluated and cleared of having a concussion—it was a bruise on his head, but not a brain injury, and there IS a difference. But that in itself does raise the fact that it's just dangerous having people running around, even if the tackles and contact is carefully designed to minimize the possibility of head injury. And refs don't always make the right call. And there are always kids (usually football players) who launch themselves illegally and it's fine and good if they get tossed from the game for it, but it's your kid who got the concussion. So... I'm not sure how much longer we'll let him play rugby, but I can't see ever letting him play tackle football. Definitely can play flag football. |
Anonymous
Unfortunately, it is obvious you haven't kept up with the science. The problem with collision sports like football, rugby, ice hockey, etc. is the fact that hits that don't cause brain injury are likely by far and away the primary drivers for developing CTE. Every single tackle, block, hit, etc. in those sports jostles the brain. Over time they add up to what's essentially the same disease boxers get - punch drunk/dementia pugilistica, etc. It is a very, very bad mistake to believe that jsut because your child has never had a concussion that they are free from risk of having CTE plaques. They actually have done an autopsy before on a kid who died and only played high school football. He never had a diagnosed concussion in his life, yet they found grade 2 CTE plaques in his brain from what I recall reading a long time ago. Playing football, rugby, ice hockey is like getting jabbed constantly in the head in boxing. Is a boxer going to get knocked out or get a concussion from jabs to the head? No. But they are still at much higher risk for dementia pugilistica due to the simle fact that they're getting repeated blows to the head. Subconcussive forces happen all the time in contact sports. And in many ways it is even worse than boxing, because boxers at least rest for months between fights. Sports practices and games occur for months on end multiple times per week. Kids in those sports are being exposed to whats tantamount to multiple rounds of boxing jabs to the head, with zero rest and recovery for years on end. They are still seeing CTE show up in kids who have never been knocked out or had a concussion. It is lunacy any parent would willingly sign their kid up for brain trauma that could lead to permanent damage even if they never get a concussion. |
Anonymous
| Also, look at Mohammad Ali. He was basically never knocked out cold once in his entire career, yet look at the cumulative effect of taking subconcussive blows to the head had on him and his health. |
Anonymous
It's about speed and weight = momentum. Agility and avoiding getting hit, if they get to regularly handle the ball. |
Anonymous
This is true even for the no-cut teams around here. Everyone may make the team but not everyone plays. We did not want our kid to play but he insisted. We had him play 2 years middle school before so he would know some basics and how to tackle before going into high school where the freshmen team is by year rather than weight. By weight felt safer and better to start then, if you start at all. |
Anonymous
| My son plays freshman football and I absolutely hate it. I know better, but I'm trying to also prioritize his mental health, spending time with friends, off the screens, etc. |
Anonymous
|
My DH has always said that football is the one sport you don't need to play for years in order to be successful. You just need to be a good athlete -"footwork and hands."
A current example is Mo Allie Cox - a local from Alexandria who plays in the NFL with the Indianpolis Colts. He's been with them since 2017. He was a basketball player in high school and college - a standout star at VCU and has some VCU basketball records. After graduating, he signed with the Colts and is a tight end. He had not played organized football since his freshman year in high school and he's now a professional football player. |
Anonymous
So yeah, as long as you're athletic enough to set records as a D1 athlete then you don't really need any experience to be successful at football. |
Anonymous
Boxing is on a whole other level of brain damage. |
Anonymous
Football is the worst |
Anonymous
Aaron Hernandez would say otherwise. He had the brain of like a 70+ year old with advanced dementia, and he was under 30. |