Before OP goes worrying about the kid's high school and college career, let's recall she's 8. She will be heading nothing. The greatest danger to her is a collision with another 55 lb girl.

Just let her play; you can worry about concussions when they actually become a threat. IF she even likes the sport.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You don't ignore the research, you make sure your kid communicates any and all injuries or symptoms. You make sure they are trained to head the ball properly. Hit the ball versus being hit by the ball etc. Teach them to play with respect for the opponent and to protect them as well. You don't encourage reckless play or dirty play. You also accept that sports can cause injuries.

There is no such thing as head the ball properly. Either way, the brain is impacted when the head touches the ball. Do it enough times and you will have concussions and/or CTE. There is no way of avoiding it when you play competitive soccer after 14 years old. I don't think it is fair to ask someone to give up a sport that he/she has a passion for and yet at the same, knowing what we know now, heading the ball is not a good thing in the long run. The kid can not communicate these symptoms. It takes time to develop. Hopefully, it can be identified in five or ten years from now but it can not be identified today until someone die.

I can accept that sports can cause injuries but I don't know about concussions and CTE. That's a tough one to take for anyone. You can say that until it happens to your child. As Mike Tyson once famously said "Everyone has a plan 'til they get punched in the mouth".

Don't have your kid play soccer. Simple solution.

Why can't soccer be played without heading the ball? Why not change the rules (Similar to what they do with the younger ages where heading is not allowed)?

Anonymous wrote:You don't ignore the research, you make sure your kid communicates any and all injuries or symptoms. You make sure they are trained to head the ball properly. Hit the ball versus being hit by the ball etc. Teach them to play with respect for the opponent and to protect them as well. You don't encourage reckless play or dirty play. You also accept that sports can cause injuries.

There is no such thing as head the ball properly. Either way, the brain is impacted when the head touches the ball. Do it enough times and you will have concussions and/or CTE. There is no way of avoiding it when you play competitive soccer after 14 years old. I don't think it is fair to ask someone to give up a sport that he/she has a passion for and yet at the same, knowing what we know now, heading the ball is not a good thing in the long run. The kid can not communicate these symptoms. It takes time to develop. Hopefully, it can be identified in five or ten years from now but it can not be identified today until someone die.

I can accept that sports can cause injuries but I don't know about concussions and CTE. That's a tough one to take for anyone. You can say that until it happens to your child. As Mike Tyson once famously said "Everyone has a plan 'til they get punched in the mouth".

Anonymous wrote:Insist she never head the ball. Ever. Insist this with the coach

Just insist she never play soccer. At a certain age heading is a part of the game.

Insist she never head the ball. Ever. Insist this with the coach

Anonymous wrote:As a parent of a female soccer player how to you ignore the research?

Female high school soccer players have the highest rate of concussions of any sport, even more than football players, according to a study presented at last year's Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). Around 300,000 adolescents suffer concussions, or mild traumatic brain injuries, each year while participating in high school sports, according to the AAOS.

The study authors hypothesize that girls may face a greater risk of concussions and other injuries in soccer due to a lack of protective gear, an emphasis on in-game contact and the practice of “headers”—hitting the ball with your head.

In gender matched sports, girls experienced significantly higher concussion rates than boys.

During the years after TBI law enactment (2010 to 2015), the concussion rate was higher in girls soccer than boys football, and during the 2014-2015 school year, concussions were more common in girls soccer than any other sport.

You don't ignore the research, you make sure your kid communicates any and all injuries or symptoms. You make sure they are trained to head the ball properly. Hit the ball versus being hit by the ball etc. Teach them to play with respect for the opponent and to protect them as well. You don't encourage reckless play or dirty play. You also accept that sports can cause injuries.

As a parent of a female soccer player how to you ignore the research?

Female high school soccer players have the highest rate of concussions of any sport, even more than football players, according to a study presented at last year's Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons (AAOS). Around 300,000 adolescents suffer concussions, or mild traumatic brain injuries, each year while participating in high school sports, according to the AAOS.

The study authors hypothesize that girls may face a greater risk of concussions and other injuries in soccer due to a lack of protective gear, an emphasis on in-game contact and the practice of “headers”—hitting the ball with your head.

In gender matched sports, girls experienced significantly higher concussion rates than boys.

During the years after TBI law enactment (2010 to 2015), the concussion rate was higher in girls soccer than boys football, and during the 2014-2015 school year, concussions were more common in girls soccer than any other sport.

Only under 12 year old that i have heard that tore ACL was done skiing.

And it is the rare 10 year old girl who is willing to head the ball anyway. Kids are wired to avoid getting hit in the face and there is far more ducking and turning away from the ball than there is any real attempt at heading. And this was true pre-ban.

There is also a study released last week done at UVA about this exact issue. the main reasons why it appears girls get more concussions is because of hormones, neck strength and they are reported more.

On the team I coached, we did not allow heading for a number of reasons. !. safety 2, they can't control where the ball goes and neither can 90% of soccer players at any age. It is better to step back, receive the ball and maintain possession.

As for the ACL it happens but also there is a reason why more women tend to tear their ACL and it has to do with hip and knee alignment. there are plenty of exercises and drills to do to prevent the injury or to keep the chances down.

If you are going to limit your kids sports by injuries I would not want to be your kid. More kids on my kids RMSC swim team have received more concussions than her club soccer team. Kids getting kicked in the head, falling on the deck or in the showers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:my wife would like enroll our 8 years old daughter into competitive soccer. I've been researching into girls soccer particularly with concussions and ACL injury and it seems like girl soccer suffers concussions and ACL at a higher rate than other sports. As a dad, that really worries me. As she gets older soccer, she will be heading the ball and numerous studies have shown that it will increase the risk of concussions. Multiple concussions are linked to CTE. I also found this study https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170314081533.htm

I would like her to participate in "safer" sports like swimming so that the risk of concussion is none.

What should I do?

You're wise to look ahead and think about these issues. As others have said, there seem to be very few ACL and concussion injuries in girls' soccer until players experience their adolescent growth spurts, and national soccer rules prevent heading in games and at practice until around that time. For these reasons, it would be fairly low-risk for your DD to play soccer through U11. After that, there are more concussions from clashes of heads as players jump to head the ball (not from the contact of the head with the ball necessarily, except under unusual circumstances, such as when a player ineptly heads an overinflated ball that a goalie has punted to midfield). Also, CTE damage is associated with dozens and dozens of sub-concussive impacts, and that's what some players go through when heading the ball at practice, even under controlled conditions, for coaches who put heading at the center of their advanced goal-scoring and possession strategies. For these reasons, the risk of concussion is much higher for U12 or U13 and older female soccer players, so maybe you would have DD quit the sport prior to the teenage years. All of this kind of misses the point, though, which is that swimming is an individual sport and soccer is a team sport. Some kids really, really aren't suited to one or the other. Perhaps use that distinction when looking to DD's sports future.

Everything you said is fine except for the bolded part. Evan at DA and ECNL, heading is not done dozens and dozens of times per practice. This is an extreme exaggeration. 95% of soccer is played on the ground and there are not even dozens of heading opportunities per game much less a practice.

Anonymous wrote:my wife would like enroll our 8 years old daughter into competitive soccer. I've been researching into girls soccer particularly with concussions and ACL injury and it seems like girl soccer suffers concussions and ACL at a higher rate than other sports. As a dad, that really worries me. As she gets older soccer, she will be heading the ball and numerous studies have shown that it will increase the risk of concussions. Multiple concussions are linked to CTE. I also found this study https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2017/03/170314081533.htm

I would like her to participate in "safer" sports like swimming so that the risk of concussion is none.

What should I do?

You're wise to look ahead and think about these issues. As others have said, there seem to be very few ACL and concussion injuries in girls' soccer until players experience their adolescent growth spurts, and national soccer rules prevent heading in games and at practice until around that time. For these reasons, it would be fairly low-risk for your DD to play soccer through U11. After that, there are more concussions from clashes of heads as players jump to head the ball (not from the contact of the head with the ball necessarily, except under unusual circumstances, such as when a player ineptly heads an overinflated ball that a goalie has punted to midfield). Also, CTE damage is associated with dozens and dozens of sub-concussive impacts, and that's what some players go through when heading the ball at practice, even under controlled conditions, for coaches who put heading at the center of their advanced goal-scoring and possession strategies. For these reasons, the risk of concussion is much higher for U12 or U13 and older female soccer players, so maybe you would have DD quit the sport prior to the teenage years. All of this kind of misses the point, though, which is that swimming is an individual sport and soccer is a team sport. Some kids really, really aren't suited to one or the other. Perhaps use that distinction when looking to DD's sports future.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Soccer is not American football. False equivalency.

it is well known that heading the ball linked to concussions symptoms: https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/health/soccer-headers-concussion-study/index.html

Again, it is one thing to get concussions by slipping or falling. Thats' just life and something that will happen. it is another thing to head the soccer knowingly cause damage to your brain. That is avoidable. I mean these symptoms don't show up right away but much later in life. Why would anyone want to take that risk?

Which is why there is no heading allowed before U12. The question was about Soccer, not football.

There are risks in life and in sports. Banning heading at younger ages in Soccer significantly reduces some of those risks.

Don’t play soccer then. Nobody cares what you or your kid choose to do. The question was asked, people answered and you have some facts. Try being a grown up and make up your own mind.

Anonymous wrote:Soccer is not American football. False equivalency.

it is well known that heading the ball linked to concussions symptoms: https://www.cnn.com/2017/02/01/health/soccer-headers-concussion-study/index.html

Again, it is one thing to get concussions by slipping or falling. Thats' just life and something that will happen. it is another thing to head the soccer knowingly cause damage to your brain. That is avoidable. I mean these symptoms don't show up right away but much later in life. Why would anyone want to take that risk?