This is even newer (last month) ... Not very encouraging...

https://press.rsna.org/timssnet/media/pressreleases/14_pr_target.cfm?ID=2545

Key points:

• Soccer heading may cause more damage to the brain than previously thought and was linked to worse verbal learning and the potential for delayed effects on brain function.

• Abnormalities were most prominent in the frontal lobe of the brain, an area most susceptible to damage from trauma.

• The findings also suggest that repeated head impacts that don’t result in serious injury may still adversely affect the brain.

Anonymous wrote: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?

Maybe 2017 but newer research showing younger athletes who died young showing various stages of the disease.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaneurology/fullarticle/2808952?resultClick=1

"Results Among the 152 deceased contact sports participants (mean [SD] age, 22.97 [4.31] years; 141 [92.8%] male) included in the study, CTE was diagnosed in 63 (41.4%; median [IQR] age, 26 [24-27] years). Of the 63 brain donors diagnosed with CTE, 60 (95.2%) were diagnosed with mild CTE (stages I or II). Brain donors who had CTE were more likely to be older (mean difference, 3.92 years; 95% CI, 2.74-5.10 years) Of the 63 athletes with CTE, 45 (71.4%) were men who played amateur sports, including American football, ice hockey, soccer, rugby, and wrestling; 1 woman with CTE played collegiate soccer. "

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

It's a US Soccer rule. It would be nice if people were aware of the rule changes before pushing their agenda.

What agenda? No one's trying to cancel soccer. People can sign their kids up for whatever they want.

Soccer is popular because all you need is a ball and a bunch of little kids to kick it around. The older serious players like football and boxing are at risk for CTE.

Yeah, about the time the more dangerous plays start is about the time all the little kids can catch a basketball and start playing basketball. That's how it worked for us. Oh, goalie diving on the ground while third graders kick with cleats. When the ball starts moving faster and they start to learn to body check tackle. Headers. Thinking back to when I was a kid, there was that one game near the end of the season where one kid wearing metal cleats kicked a goalie in the head, I don't think we played the next season.

The fix for this is so easy. Eliminate headers. But they won’t do it. I know for a fact that college coaches want to see defensive players making the big headers, and the strikers heading in off corners. That is where my DD will not go, and yea she gets yelled at for it, and won’t have any of these in her highlight videos. My spouse works on brain injury—and trust me, these repeated concussive impacts are not ok. The sport should ban all headers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

It's a US Soccer rule. It would be nice if people were aware of the rule changes before pushing their agenda.

What agenda? No one's trying to cancel soccer. People can sign their kids up for whatever they want.

Soccer is popular because all you need is a ball and a bunch of little kids to kick it around. The older serious players like football and boxing are at risk for CTE.

A lot of CTE research on NFL Football Players suggests that the longer the players plays the sport, ie well into and well past college at a high level, ie, pro-level, the more likely it is the player will develop CTE and associated issues in Football.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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.

It's a US Soccer rule. It would be nice if people were aware of the rule changes before pushing their agenda.

What agenda? No one's trying to cancel soccer. People can sign their kids up for whatever they want.

Anonymous wrote: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.

It's a US Soccer rule. It would be nice if people were aware of the rule changes before pushing their agenda.

Unfortunately, soccer is not going anywhere anytime in the near future. It is still very popular in the DMV. Just go to any Fairfax county park, and you can see it for yourself. I live in McLean, and the soccer field at Lewinsville or Linway terrace park are packed with soccer players. YMMV.

I definitely discouraged soccer because of the headers. It’s just too much.

No it does not. We quit soccer and this was one of the mitigating factors. Women/girls are particularly susceptible and can have higher incidences of concussions than high school football players.

The problem with soccer is that there is no safety protection, unlike football. Heading the ball is one of the things that can lead to concussions, but there are plenty of plays where contact can occur.

Contrast soccer with basketball. Basketball has a "no displacement rule", eg for a 50/50 ball you cannot displace another player. However, in soccer if it is a 50/50 ball you can plant a shoulder in the other player at full speed.... no pads. Soccer the rules(laws as they call'm) are by "severity" rather than technical rules. Furthermore, in soccer infractions are only delivered when there is some benefit to do so. In football parlance all non-advantageous plays are automatically declined, the ref makes the decision. As a consequence, soccer can ratchet up to very severe plays. All the players know where they can deliver some nasty blows and get away with it. Then there are the ticky tacky diving when there might be an advantage to try to score that one goal, which further muddies the water. Again, compared to basketball, where fouls are called early and often and seldom result in technical. Technical fouls are not part of the game, no one is trying to game and get technical fouls. There are many injuries, but mostly minor ankle sprains and jammed fingers.

Personally, I don't understand why soccer doesn't have a goalie box rule like hand ball goalie on one side of the line offense on the other, why do goalies have to dive on the ground while people are trying to kick the thing. Doesn't sound like very much fun. Why do they get to punch the ball while people try to head it, why do goalies have to jump with their knees to protect themselves from being assaulted from the front. Again no protection...

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: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?

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.

OP here. I didn't read the full research, but the summary did say "approximately 20 concussions," so not all of them were officially diagnosed. It could mean the doctors did an estimation years later when his symptoms first appeared by asking him questions like, "How often did you feel you dizzy after a game or practice?"