Will Smith's Concusion - What Impact will it have on Football?

[HilltopperNole]

I think you will see a decline in the long term effects of kids playing youth and high school football. One problem from years past is that you have play station All-Americans coaching 6-10 years old who have very little knowledge of the game other than what they see on CBS. When kids that young keep hitting constantly in practice that is what causes mashed potato brains later in life. Football is more about brute force and the fundamentals are a major focus now.

Now the focus is on limiting contact, taking precautions against hard hits, and most importantly proper tackling technique. It is not all about "hit them in the mouth" so much anymore. Are there still coaches out there that keep the old ways alive? Sure just watch Friday Night Tykes.

I think the real brain problems come in when you have guys with long NFL careers. 20 years of knocking heads isn't good for anybody. The helmet technology can't keep up with how much bigger and faster these guys are.

Participation is down but I think it has to do with more options being available, more sports and more student activities. I do not think youth football or high school football is going anywhere, certainly not the NFL.

 

[HilltopperNole]

Probably not all that unusual, sadly.
Most parents can tell when something is off and their kids are injured. Good coaches know it too, and put the kids first. They also know that most times an injured player isn't really helping the team. Meathead coaches and parents do what you described above.

No, no it is not

 

[Formerly Rockymtnole]

I'll be interested to see Wes Welker's condition in 20 years. Dude's had a ton of concussions.

 

[cfbfan23]

Had an interesting conversation with nephew last night about how his HS coaches handle what appear to be concussions. Quite frightening what he had to say...paraphrasing his stories below...


He's got a teammate who says he's suffered at least 5 concussions - they've (the kids) repeatedly told him to quit the team but he says his father played, his grandfather played, uncle played, etc.... .

Is this your nephew's buddy?

 

[ReliableOstrich]

Is this your nephew's buddy?

I actually thought of Billy Bob when he was talking about this.

 

[GwinnettNole]

Mike Webster is a guy that played for 17 years, 245 games at the highest level and they showed video of him ramming with his head over and over. While that interests me and wonder what they will do about it... It's a different bag than youth football and I hate to say it but it's quite simply not shocking.

The closest they got to youth football was the one kid that died after having 4 concussions. So they have a very direct link painted between concussions and CTE.
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Ok so you are talking about CTE at the youth level? Yeah I don't think there is a link there yet. But if a youth players keeps playing for years and years I would seriously get concerned. Would your kid (or whoever you are talking about) be willing to stop playing becausse of a risk?