Bill would limit full-contact football practices:Texas (1 Viewer)

[atceagle]

The NFHS needs to follow the NCAA's lead when it comes to two-a-days. The NCAA doesn't allow two-a-days on consecutive days. This allows players time to rehydrate. Most of the high school kids that are dying during two-a-days are the kids that did not rehydrate between practice, then go back out in a dehydrated state where they have nothing left to sweat out in order to cool their body, thus causing heat stroke. Heat stroke is fatal if full body cold water immersion is not immediately started. Every school is not prepared to handle this situation with cold tubs and weighing of every player before and after every practice, not to mention recognizing the symptoms of heat stroke.

 

[insidejob]

Nobody ever should follow the NCAA's lead. In anything.

 

[atceagle]

Nobody ever should follow the NCAA's lead. In anything.

yeah it was difficult for me to type that.

 

[Eeyore]

It doesn't matter if you like the rule or not. The fact is that cte exists and equipment isn't going to completely eliminate the risk. There are parents who played and love the game but would never allow their children to play. I played and I wish that I hadn't. We hit every practice, two practices per day, in the summer, and three days per week during the season. I had plenty of collisions where my opponent and I would end up face down on the ground with no idea of where we were. It was celebrated by our neanderthal head coach and the other kids but I gradually began to realize that it was happening more frequently. Back then we didn't know about cte. I have a godson who is bigger than most kids 3-4 years older than he is. I treat him like he is my son. His parents and I have been steering him away from football since he was a baby. I'd like to see him with a baseball in his hand. My girlfriend has two daughters. We just signed her youngest up to play soccer (girls soccer has a huge cte risk). I wanted her to play softball instead and we made it known that we don't want her hitting the ball with her head and if we see it we'll pull her out of the league. It isn't worth the risk. There are plenty of other activities that kids can be doing that have a lower risk. If parents stop letting their kids play risky sports college and pro teams will start to struggle finding talent. Something has to be done now or we won't have the game around to enjoy in the future.

 

[BigRaiderFan]

I believe your thinking is a bit flawed. Think about this,,,We know that CTE is caused by repeated blows to the head, not just concussions. So the NFL and the NFLPA realize that it's in everyone's best interest to limit full contact practices to 14 times per season. So why would we not do the same with an adolescent brain that is still growing? Fact is that the brains of adults and kids differ in their physical makeup, leaving the kid's brain more vulnerable to trauma. This is why a mature, adult brain recovers faster from a concussion than a child's brain.

Yeah I know, wussification of America!! But I disagree. This is new science and we still don't know everything. So if we want our kids and their kids to enjoy this game, the old mentality must change in order to save the game.

I will say this about the bill linked by the OP. It seems they are trying to limit full contact practice to 1 day per wk during the season. Most of the 14 schools that we take care of are already doing this(usually Tuesday is full contact), especially as the season progresses and depth becomes and issue. You're basically trying to keep everyone as healthy as possible for Friday night. But there are still some old school coaches that go full gear Monday-Thursday and I would bet plenty exist in Texas.

They definitely need to ban spring football for junior high and high school. Absolutely nothing good comes out of that. Every year, teams lose players in the spring due to injury that keeps them out in the fall. Spring training in Mississippi is usually the last week of April through the middle of May.

My friend, sub concussive blows by themselves are not enough to cause cte. If they are piled on top of a concussion they could but not by themselves. About 75 to 80 percent of people who have played this game have no cognative issues. If these weaker blows were the bigger culprit the numbers would be the other way around and the percentage would be around 85 to 90 percent. It would outnumber the people with alzheimer's and it would incapacitate them by the time they were 30. Although these blows mount up in a larger number, by themselves they are too weak to cause any significant overall damage. IN fact a recent study from the University of Texas showed that the vast majority have none of these issues, even those who had an extesnive concussion history. Not 3 or four, more like 10 or more. However, if they are piled ontop of councussions then their true power is unlocked but by themselves they only leave very little if any damage. I read this in a paper and did my own research.

 

[BigRaiderFan]

It doesn't matter if you like the rule or not. The fact is that cte exists and equipment isn't going to completely eliminate the risk. There are parents who played and love the game but would never allow their children to play. I played and I wish that I hadn't. We hit every practice, two practices per day, in the summer, and three days per week during the season. I had plenty of collisions where my opponent and I would end up face down on the ground with no idea of where we were. It was celebrated by our neanderthal head coach and the other kids but I gradually began to realize that it was happening more frequently. Back then we didn't know about cte. I have a godson who is bigger than most kids 3-4 years older than he is. I treat him like he is my son. His parents and I have been steering him away from football since he was a baby. I'd like to see him with a baseball in his hand. My girlfriend has two daughters. We just signed her youngest up to play soccer (girls soccer has a huge cte risk). I wanted her to play softball instead and we made it known that we don't want her hitting the ball with her head and if we see it we'll pull her out of the league. It isn't worth the risk. There are plenty of other activities that kids can be doing that have a lower risk. If parents stop letting their kids play risky sports college and pro teams will start to struggle finding talent. Something has to be done now or we won't have the game around to enjoy in the future.

You can get multiple head injuries playing any sport. The vast majority (an estimated 75 to 80 percent) od not have these cognitive issues. And studies show that there is a 95 percent chance that the average player will not get these issues and the majority of the minority only have mild issues. Not trying to downplay it, just wanting peole to think rationally and not get people all in a panic and try to ban the game instead of finding better solutions. If I have a son I will allow him to play if he wants (not until middle school though) but I will let him play. I played football from the 8th grade all the way through high school and enjoyed all four years of it. Think with logic not with fear.