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Ban Heading (here we go again)

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    #31
    Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
    http://www.webmd.com/brain/news/2014...g-soccer-study

    One of many articles. We can't eliminate head traumas in youth sports but finding ways to reduce the number of them that occur makes sense. They are doing a great job of this in other sports. Soccer is better about recognizing the concussions after they occur but not seeing a lot of steps at prevention around here. Lot of information out there you can search for on your own.
    The study noted here (http://www.washingtonpost.com/sports...815_story.html) includes date from the HS RIO concussion reporting database (since 2008) which has girls soccer 3rd among sports for concussions at 13.41 per 10,000 competition events (1 player playing 1 game). Applied to the study reported in WebMD of 351 players over 4 years which found 59 concussions, to be inline with that figure, means those 11 to 14 year olds played about 31 games per year (playing 20 games per year at 13.41 concussions per game would take 6+ years). The study of 351 players and 59 concussions amounts to a statistical outlier.

    The WaPo article is worth reading. Relevant excerpts:

    "But according to Comstock and Crutchfield, it’s not head-to-ball contact that poses the greatest concussion danger for younger players, but rather player-to-player or player-to-ground contact that can result from a heading attempt."

    “Though when you talk about just kids who are younger and playing, they have poor technique. Then the head hitting the ball is a problem.”

    “The teaching of the skill, it keeps getting passed along, passed along, passed along and they get to high level high school and high level club, they haven’t really practiced it,” Hakopian said. “So they start doing it, they start doing it incorrectly.”

    1. Don't ban heading in practice. Focus on developing a sound, age appropriate curriculum for heading (technical and tactical - how to head the ball AND when to and when not to as a means to emphasize developing other technical skills and tactical choices that essentially changes the style of play).

    2. Ban heading in games for younger players. (I think outright U12 and younger is sound, allowing for players to transition, mostly at their own pace as is the case presently, before competitive HS play. I think a complete ban prior to HS and no ban in HS is a tenuous strategy at best).

    Others might be heavily in favor of more innovation and research around headgear and other strategies. I don't think there's a silver bullet (ban heading) on concussion prevention, never mind being free from adverse impacts (whether to the game itself or the frequency of concussions), but I'm inclined to believe a combination of ideas might help. I think the most important focus is, and rightfully has been, to properly identify concussions and prevent return to play prematurely and avoid risk of repeated concussions as much as possible.

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      #32
      Originally posted by Unregistered View Post
      Do you believe the changes they have made in the NFL and in youth football programs is "terribly misguided" to attempt to reduce the number of exposures to these same types of risks?
      No I don't. Any other straw men you'd like to build while you're in the mood?

      I don't think that's an unreasonable conclusion as it applies to the ban practice/not ban games as explained in the prior post using the observations of Comstock and Crutchfield.

      Turn about being fair play I guess, do you think before high school it's a better approach to ban practice/not ban games rather than ban games/not ban practice? If so, I'm curious as to why and if not, what term would you use to describe the ban/practice/not ban games approach, if not terribly misguided?

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