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I played all the way through HS and College, and would definitely allow it. In all of my time playing, the only sport I ever had a concussion in was Baseball (I got ran over playing first base.) Most of the kids at a Non D1 level aren't moving at the speed or with the strength to cause serious damage on a wide enough scale, nor are they playing enough (9-13 game seasons) to really cause that kind of damage. Think of it this way: For how many years have millions of youth gone out for peewee, highschool, and to a lesser extent, college ball? There is always the statistical outlier of the kid who dies or gets paralyzed that makes the news due to a tragic accident, but if there was real damage being done on these levels, we would have known about it by now.
D1 college ball and the NFL are different animals. They are comprised exclusively of the biggest and fastest, those who can do the most damage. They play 16 game seasons, and many play for many seasons. That is a different animal entirely.
With soccer being such a big sport amongst the kids in our town, I was surprised to see some injury statistics relating to the sport. Namely:
"In soccer, concussions make up 2-3% of all injuries. This is the same rate as for American football!"
The link you posted does not state that the rate of concussions is the same in soccer and football, it says the amount of contact is the same, but does not specify which body part.
I already posted this upthread, but according to the AANS the rate of concussions in soccer is half that of football. Besides that though is the significance of sub-concussive hits. Football and boxing are way ahead of other sports in the number of sub-concussive hits a player receives per season. The adolescent football player's brain receives 650 to 1,000 hits PER SEASON. These are hits that do not result in a diagnosed concussion, but do cause damage, the result of which is cumulative.
You can get injured and concussed doing anything as your example and others show, the overall point though is the general risk associated.
The first thing I get concerned about in youth football is people even recognizing that kids have had a concussion. There are no real trainers and medical staffs and coaches are quick to write off non-visible injuries as nothing major. The ubiquitous "you got your bell rung" or "tape it up" is something everyone who has ever played is familiar with.
After that, are the parents going to pull the kid out of something they love or risk or another concussion to let them play? I venture that many, many parents put their kids back in after a concussion. The old logic was that after awhile when symptoms died down, you were fine. Now, it is obvious that it's the repeated hits that cause the damage and one concussion is all it takes to start down the road to major damage.
This. It's all statistics until it happens to someone you know. My nephew's cousin was a HS junior football player. He had a concussion and was supposedly recovered. During his first game back he took a minor hit and never opened his eyes again (Second Impact Syndrome). He was evidently NOT fine and his parents and coaches will forever be haunted by their decision to let him on the field. There was another fatality elsewhere in the state a couple of weeks later. Another nephew of mine plays football and has had several concussions. He is still playing. My son enjoys playing several varsity sports, but no football for us.
I know there are risks with anything we do. No one needs to point this out to me.
I saw the Frontline show last night. It may shown on different nights in different areas, I don't know. It was interesting. Very interestingly, much of what the NFL said, e.g. "So and So also used steroids", etc, has been said on various threads here!
There are also other interesting links below the video.
I watched this tonight, as I am a major fan of Frontline, and it was even more interesting and thought-provoking than I thought it would be. Based on that show, if I had a child, they would not play football.
And I, too, am a causation/correlation harping type..but not willing to risk my kid's brain pointlessly and needlessly. Especially the way the evidence looks o be going.
It is risk without reward. There are other sports you can get involved with that don't incur this sort of damage.
I understand that the risks are many. For my son, though, football is the only sport he can play at a high level. No football, no sports. And he has a legitimate shot at a scholarship. Ironically, he is out this year but will be playing his senior year.
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