NYT article on CTE in kids who play football

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

I tell people all the time. If you're in a discussion, and you think you are right, be sure to avoid hyperbole. It makes it too easy to dismiss you.

And FYI: my son's football team was incredibly successful (#1 seed, league champs), practiced 4 days a week (one was film study) and they were no-contact/no hitting from October on.

There was a lot of hitting in August. But once they got their legs back, it was no hitting in practice. To avoid injury.

There are good programs; there are bad programs. Parents need to do the leg work to find the right ones

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

I tell people all the time. If you're in a discussion, and you think you are right, be sure to avoid hyperbole. It makes it too easy to dismiss you.

And FYI: my son's football team was incredibly successful (#1 seed, league champs), practiced 4 days a week (one was film study) and they were no-contact/no hitting from October on.

There was a lot of hitting in August. But once they got their legs back, it was no hitting in practice. To avoid injury.

There are good programs; there are bad programs. Parents need to do the leg work to find the right ones

Sure Tom, whatever helps you sleep at night while knowingly signing up your kids for brain damaging activities.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

I tell people all the time. If you're in a discussion, and you think you are right, be sure to avoid hyperbole. It makes it too easy to dismiss you.

And FYI: my son's football team was incredibly successful (#1 seed, league champs), practiced 4 days a week (one was film study) and they were no-contact/no hitting from October on.

There was a lot of hitting in August. But once they got their legs back, it was no hitting in practice. To avoid injury.

There are good programs; there are bad programs. Parents need to do the leg work to find the right ones

Sure Tom, whatever helps you sleep at night while knowingly signing up your kids for brain damaging activities.

I honestly don't know who Tom is.

But I do wonder what you get out of these posts? Every few months you pop back on here to post something about the dangers of tackle football.

There's never really a valid question or a conversation? Why do you do it? Is that you like the validation from the echo chamber? Or it makes you feel superior to the parents that do allow it?

And don't say "this is a discussion board; its for discussion" bc whenever somebody does try to honestly engage, its met with replies like "at least I dont let my kid's brains turn into mush"

Seriously, what satisfaction do you get from starting these threads?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

I tell people all the time. If you're in a discussion, and you think you are right, be sure to avoid hyperbole. It makes it too easy to dismiss you.

And FYI: my son's football team was incredibly successful (#1 seed, league champs), practiced 4 days a week (one was film study) and they were no-contact/no hitting from October on.

There was a lot of hitting in August. But once they got their legs back, it was no hitting in practice. To avoid injury.

There are good programs; there are bad programs. Parents need to do the leg work to find the right ones

Sure Tom, whatever helps you sleep at night while knowingly signing up your kids for brain damaging activities.

I honestly don't know who Tom is.

But I do wonder what you get out of these posts? Every few months you pop back on here to post something about the dangers of tackle football.

There's never really a valid question or a conversation? Why do you do it? Is that you like the validation from the echo chamber? Or it makes you feel superior to the parents that do allow it?

And don't say "this is a discussion board; its for discussion" bc whenever somebody does try to honestly engage, its met with replies like "at least I dont let my kid's brains turn into mush"

Seriously, what satisfaction do you get from starting these threads?

Except you don't try to seriously engage. Up post you tried to dismiss all CTE studies as biased, using the same kinda language the NFL and football lobby tries to use. You have yet to respond to all of the holes poked in that argument, and then use crappy, hand waivy arguments about tackling properly, limiting the amount of tackles, etc. while ignorning basic physics and the fact that brain jarring hits are an inherent part of the game. Your kids are basically getting punched in the head repeatedly. Let's start there. Can you even admit, using basic physics, that almost every practice drill and play on a game your kids are getting exposed to a similar force as a punch to the head?

You know how many times Muhammad Ali was knocked out in his pro career? Only once. Yet look at how he turned out. You don't need to be repeatedly knocked out cold or have your bell rung on a consistent basis to destroy your brains into mashed potatoes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

I tell people all the time. If you're in a discussion, and you think you are right, be sure to avoid hyperbole. It makes it too easy to dismiss you.

And FYI: my son's football team was incredibly successful (#1 seed, league champs), practiced 4 days a week (one was film study) and they were no-contact/no hitting from October on.

There was a lot of hitting in August. But once they got their legs back, it was no hitting in practice. To avoid injury.

There are good programs; there are bad programs. Parents need to do the leg work to find the right ones

Many families can't move around to "find the right"football programs. The family lives in the neighborhood they can afford/is convenient to work. The kid goes to the high school the neighborhood is zoned for. There is only one program per school.
I know there people who literally do move their entire family to have their kid attend a specific school for their football program because they think their kid will be a star...but most kids just want to play for their school (the school where all their friends and neighbors go) team.

[Anonymous]

It is weird that it’s the easiest team to walk onto at our UMC large public Hs. I wish other sports were as easy to join!
I won’t let my kids play football and I really do worry about brain and joint injuries from the way youth sports are played now. One of mine did get a small concussion in just an exercise class when she tripped and hit her head—it’s been an awful experience and I’m very worried about long term effects.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

I tell people all the time. If you're in a discussion, and you think you are right, be sure to avoid hyperbole. It makes it too easy to dismiss you.

And FYI: my son's football team was incredibly successful (#1 seed, league champs), practiced 4 days a week (one was film study) and they were no-contact/no hitting from October on.

There was a lot of hitting in August. But once they got their legs back, it was no hitting in practice. To avoid injury.

There are good programs; there are bad programs. Parents need to do the leg work to find the right ones

Sure Tom, whatever helps you sleep at night while knowingly signing up your kids for brain damaging activities.

I honestly don't know who Tom is.

But I do wonder what you get out of these posts? Every few months you pop back on here to post something about the dangers of tackle football.

There's never really a valid question or a conversation? Why do you do it? Is that you like the validation from the echo chamber? Or it makes you feel superior to the parents that do allow it?

And don't say "this is a discussion board; its for discussion" bc whenever somebody does try to honestly engage, its met with replies like "at least I dont let my kid's brains turn into mush"

Seriously, what satisfaction do you get from starting these threads?

Except you don't try to seriously engage. Up post you tried to dismiss all CTE studies as biased, using the same kinda language the NFL and football lobby tries to use. You have yet to respond to all of the holes poked in that argument, and then use crappy, hand waivy arguments about tackling properly, limiting the amount of tackles, etc. while ignorning basic physics and the fact that brain jarring hits are an inherent part of the game. Your kids are basically getting punched in the head repeatedly. Let's start there. Can you even admit, using basic physics, that almost every practice drill and play on a game your kids are getting exposed to a similar force as a punch to the head?

You know how many times Muhammad Ali was knocked out in his pro career? Only once. Yet look at how he turned out. You don't need to be repeatedly knocked out cold or have your bell rung on a consistent basis to destroy your brains into mashed potatoes.

But why? People have decided that for their family, the benefits outweigh the risk. Physical, contact sports create a type of strength and resiliency that other sports cannot. I know the risks, but I've chosen to allow it for my son. Everyone that has allowed their child to play football or hockey or soccer or lacross or wrestling is WELL AWARE of the risks. So what are you trying to accomplish with these posts?

And that wasn't me poking holes in the study on CTE. My biggest objection to those studies is that they narrowly focus on football. The more we expand the scope of the studies we find that many other sports have a similar risk profile, most notably girl's soccer.

Also, Ali used a technique called rope-a-dope, where he would allow his opponent to land as many punches as people in order to tire out his opponent. The fact that he was only knocked out one time is irrelevant. He took shots intentionally as a defensive strategy. It's apples to oranges

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Disgusting. Why are there numerous videos celebrating these "big hits" on youtube. This is utterly sick and most of the men standing around look like cretins. Everything about this is gross and children should be protected from this insanity. They aren't pitt bulls in a ring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:[mastodon]

Anonymous wrote:All the CTE studies are seriously biased. They only study the brains of people who have symptoms of CTE. They rarely have a control group.

Do I believe CTE exists? Yes. Do I believe football increases your risk of getting it? Yes. Do I think it’s been blown out of proportion? Definitely.

Except Boston University has already showed that in totality, they were able to make correlations between numbers of years of football played and severity of CTE in brain samples, i.e. a dose response relation appears to exist for cause and effect. You can also compare to the natural history of normal, young brains that medical science knows about. Finding the levels of tau entanglements observed in football players’ brains is not normal, or else it wouldn’t have ever been worthy of note to be repeatedly published in journals like JAMA, etc. There’s also a flip side to your argument - brains studied have been from those with CTE symptoms, that can also mean the levels of CTE n brains of football players are actually being vastly underreported because we don’t get samples from those with no symptoms when they die. No one knows what the long term consequences are though.

Think about it. How many older men do you know who played football in high school and college? I know a lot of them. You probably do too. They all played in a time when they hit over and over again at every practice with really inadequate head protection.

Not sure what your point is here. I know many obese people and smokers who’ve never had heart attacks or lung cancer. Therefore I should conclude then that obesity and smoking don’t contribute to heart attacks and cancer?

The people I know who have symptoms of CTE have never played football. If CTE was as prevalent as the media makes it out to be, we’d all know so many people with CTE. Again, I think it’s real and that the people in the news really have it, I just think it’s overblown.

And the people you know with CTE symptoms are probably old. No surprise there. Tauopathies occur as people age too, that why people think we get things like Alzheimer’s and dementia. The point is that they’re finding entanglements in the brains of kids that are at levels they see in the brains of 40 and 50 year olds. Kids are literally injuring their brains like boxers who get repeatedly punched n the head to the point of becoming punch drunk.

But it’s not just this population that lets their kids play. I know several wealthy, educated families here in DMV that let their boys play HS football. I also know one family were the father, a surgeon, coaches his kid’s football team. The kids played MS and HS football (I don’t know about younger).

I know doctors that smoke, do all sorts of drugs, and drink gallons of whiskey. Being an MD doesn’t make a person immune to poor health choices and decisions.

and some of the symptoms like rage are explained as part of the person's personality and never attributed to cte. I know kids in their 20s now who had lots of head trauma, concussions and they have anger problems. One of them fell off academically quickly. Parents who ignore this are foolish.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It is weird that it’s the easiest team to walk onto at our UMC large public Hs. I wish other sports were as easy to join!
I won’t let my kids play football and I really do worry about brain and joint injuries from the way youth sports are played now. One of mine did get a small concussion in just an exercise class when she tripped and hit her head—it’s been an awful experience and I’m very worried about long term effects.

It's probably the biggest team (highest number of players) too, right? The track/field team might also have a lot of athletes, but I bet it's easy to walk on for track too? At least, that's how it is at my kid's school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

I tell people all the time. If you're in a discussion, and you think you are right, be sure to avoid hyperbole. It makes it too easy to dismiss you.

And FYI: my son's football team was incredibly successful (#1 seed, league champs), practiced 4 days a week (one was film study) and they were no-contact/no hitting from October on.

There was a lot of hitting in August. But once they got their legs back, it was no hitting in practice. To avoid injury.

There are good programs; there are bad programs. Parents need to do the leg work to find the right ones

Sure Tom, whatever helps you sleep at night while knowingly signing up your kids for brain damaging activities.

This. I can't stand the way these dads rationalize this.

The parents in the film who said they wouldn't change a thing are selfish pricks. They love football for themselves and the adulation it gave them being the parents of these players. The parents chose the sport for their kid. They are lying if they say otherwise. I've seen it dozens of times.

Their kid's words were very clear about the pain and horror their lives had become. They were terrified enough to kill themselves but yet their parents would still have them playing? Talk about ignoring everything the kids were trying to tell their parents in their letters and videos. How dare they dishonor and ignore what their children were trying to tell them. These lousy parents loved football more than their kids. The hell that their children's lives became meant absolutely sh*t to them. I hate the dad who proudly proclaimed his grandsons are in contact football too. Atkins said he let his kids choose. We know that's a joke. The parents set the kids on the path. What young kid should be responsible for making the decision about whether they want to risk cte?

Don't argue back about being part of the "nanny state".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel terrible for low income/minority boys whose families don’t have the know how to dissuade them from playing football (I’m a minority and know that my parents would have let my brothers play). People should stop watching football on TV out attending games, it’s the least we can do for those boys.

Ooof. I think you're heart is in the right place but:

"Low-income people are too stupid to know the dangers of football" is a REALLY bad look.

Who else is playing football

Plenty of middle class, upper middle class, and high income people have kids in football. Have you ever checked out the price of all the training camps/programs, private coaching, etc?
Even "Coach Prime" knows some of his players need to come from good families.
https://247sports.com/college/texas-tech/board/102951/Contents/coach-prime-says-he-looks-for-qbs-oline-with-mother-and-father-204858101/

There are very few black students in my kid's high school. We have a primarily asian/white population. The football team is majority black. It is easy to get on the football team. They beg students to play.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:All the CTE studies are seriously biased. They only study the brains of people who have symptoms of CTE. They rarely have a control group.

Do I believe CTE exists? Yes. Do I believe football increases your risk of getting it? Yes. Do I think it’s been blown out of proportion? Definitely.

Think about it. How many older men do you know who played football in high school and college? I know a lot of them. You probably do too. They all played in a time when they hit over and over again at every practice with really inadequate head protection.

The people I know who have symptoms of CTE have never played football. If CTE was as prevalent as the media makes it out to be, we’d all know so many people with CTE. Again, I think it’s real and that the people in the news really have it, I just think it’s overblown.

I think the benefits of letting your high schooler play football outweigh the risks of CTE given the current real information that we have. I reserve the right to change my mind if they ever do a decent study with new information. I also think that flag football is better prior to high school.

The bolded is ridiculous and you know it. You have no idea if they've had brain impairment issues but just seem fine to you. What a horrible attempt to justify such poor decisions.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Tell me on what sane planet a sport like this is good for kids:

You can argue about team sport involvement and physical activity all you want, but the above is what you don’t see that occurs constantly during practices all the time even to this day. The clip at 1:15 n the video is horrifying.

Plenty of other sports like swimming, track, golf, baseball, basketball, tennis, etc. exist.

Those are horrible.

But I've been involved in 3 youth football programs, and attended literally thousands of practices in the area. I've never seen that done at a local practice.

I have seen one coach dismissed for teaching bad form. He was told his kid could stay but he could not. Unsurprisingly, he did not let his kid continue.

Oh plesse, they have repeated collisions at almost every practice. Drills like these are very common:

Every single one of those collisions is like taking a jab punch or worse to the head. Over the course of playing multiple seasons kids will be exposed to hundreds and thousands of those kinds of hits that rattle the brain every time. There is no amount of 'proper form' that can protect against it, because even using proper form and the most advanced paddding/helmets possible still rattles the brain. It's basic physics. Then only way to remove the risk is to get rid of tackling and hit blocking altogether. But then you don't have football except for flag.

High school kids are getting Mohammed Ali brains by the time they graduate.

I tell people all the time. If you're in a discussion, and you think you are right, be sure to avoid hyperbole. It makes it too easy to dismiss you.

And FYI: my son's football team was incredibly successful (#1 seed, league champs), practiced 4 days a week (one was film study) and they were no-contact/no hitting from October on.

There was a lot of hitting in August. But once they got their legs back, it was no hitting in practice. To avoid injury.

There are good programs; there are bad programs. Parents need to do the leg work to find the right ones

Sure Tom, whatever helps you sleep at night while knowingly signing up your kids for brain damaging activities.

I honestly don't know who Tom is.

But I do wonder what you get out of these posts? Every few months you pop back on here to post something about the dangers of tackle football.

There's never really a valid question or a conversation? Why do you do it? Is that you like the validation from the echo chamber? Or it makes you feel superior to the parents that do allow it?

And don't say "this is a discussion board; its for discussion" bc whenever somebody does try to honestly engage, its met with replies like "at least I dont let my kid's brains turn into mush"

Seriously, what satisfaction do you get from starting these threads?

Except you don't try to seriously engage. Up post you tried to dismiss all CTE studies as biased, using the same kinda language the NFL and football lobby tries to use. You have yet to respond to all of the holes poked in that argument, and then use crappy, hand waivy arguments about tackling properly, limiting the amount of tackles, etc. while ignorning basic physics and the fact that brain jarring hits are an inherent part of the game. Your kids are basically getting punched in the head repeatedly. Let's start there. Can you even admit, using basic physics, that almost every practice drill and play on a game your kids are getting exposed to a similar force as a punch to the head?

You know how many times Muhammad Ali was knocked out in his pro career? Only once. Yet look at how he turned out. You don't need to be repeatedly knocked out cold or have your bell rung on a consistent basis to destroy your brains into mashed potatoes.

But why? People have decided that for their family, the benefits outweigh the risk. Physical, contact sports create a type of strength and resiliency that other sports cannot. I know the risks, but I've chosen to allow it for my son. Everyone that has allowed their child to play football or hockey or soccer or lacross or wrestling is WELL AWARE of the risks. So what are you trying to accomplish with these posts?

And that wasn't me poking holes in the study on CTE. My biggest objection to those studies is that they narrowly focus on football. The more we expand the scope of the studies we find that many other sports have a similar risk profile, most notably girl's soccer.

Also, Ali used a technique called rope-a-dope, where he would allow his opponent to land as many punches as people in order to tire out his opponent. The fact that he was only knocked out one time is irrelevant. He took shots intentionally as a defensive strategy. It's apples to oranges

I am not the poster you have been sparring with but you are kind of full of it. You are manipulative like a bad politician or someone paid to represent the game. What is this strength and resiliency that only comes from contact sports? There is some magic strength that people attain by hurling themselves at another human body and only a human body? Does this same magic strength happen if girls hurl their bodies at other girls? You know this is utter bull shite.

You are full of it that parents understand cte. A lot of the parents I know don't have a clue. Then let's look at you being disingenuous about your criticisms of the studies done. They are clear. You are wormy. Why are you deflecting by trying to introduce girl's soccer?