I wouldn’t go as far as banning all youth football. I’d say anything before high school would be a good idea. Then scrap things like full contract practices, hitting drills, etc.
I don’t have the study but I remember reading hitting in practice caused the most long term damage. It’s not the big hits but the constant little hits that build up year after year after year
I broadly agree, but I wanted to point out the domino effect. Kids get good by playing up through the younger leagues. If they only play pickup games before High School–and I’d argue it should be even later than that–they won’t have the same level of skills for organized play going in. The quality of the talent pool will drop for college, and then the professional leagues. There is no catching up.
The quality of play will drop. Records will remain untouched. We might see bullshit like the wrong ball trick done in college or even the NFL, because players haven’t been trained to watch for it. People will become uninterested and look for other sports to watch.
I am fine with this outcome.
I think we’re already seeing it with the new players coming in. CTE issues started getting highlighted about a decade ago, and many parents decided their kids ought to play somewhere else. Those kids are now old enough to be looking at playing in college or even the NFL.
I wouldn’t go as far as banning all youth football. I’d say anything before high school would be a good idea. Then scrap things like full contract practices, hitting drills, etc.
I don’t have the study but I remember reading hitting in practice caused the most long term damage. It’s not the big hits but the constant little hits that build up year after year after year
I broadly agree, but I wanted to point out the domino effect. Kids get good by playing up through the younger leagues. If they only play pickup games before High School–and I’d argue it should be even later than that–they won’t have the same level of skills for organized play going in. The quality of the talent pool will drop for college, and then the professional leagues. There is no catching up.
The quality of play will drop. Records will remain untouched. We might see bullshit like the wrong ball trick done in college or even the NFL, because players haven’t been trained to watch for it. People will become uninterested and look for other sports to watch.
I am fine with this outcome.
I think we’re already seeing it with the new players coming in. CTE issues started getting highlighted about a decade ago, and many parents decided their kids ought to play somewhere else. Those kids are now old enough to be looking at playing in college or even the NFL.