High school football has become a public health crisis. It's time to take action

[WhiskeyGrinder]

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/article/2024/aug/29/high-school-football-deaths-public-health-crisis

Six teenagers have now died while playing school football in less than three weeks. This astonishing rash of football-related school deaths should be understood as nothing less than a public health emergency. It is also a clarion call to question why we are exposing our young people to such a dangerous activity at all, much less in institutions designed to care for and nurture them.

The first four of these recent deaths were due to apparently heat-related causes and the latest two due to head trauma. Five of the athletes were high schoolers, the eldest only 16, and one was a 13-year-old eighth-grade student. The young athletes who died were Ovet Gomez-Regalado, age 15, in Kansas City; Semaj Wilkins, age 14, in Alabama; Jayvion Taylor, age 15, in Virginia; Leslie Noble, age 16, in Maryland; Caden Tellier, age 16, in Alabama; and Cohen Craddock, age 13, in West Virginia.

This is in addition to the death of 18-year-old college freshman Calvin Dickey Jr, who died on 12 July, two days after passing out at a Bucknell University practice from sickle cell-related rhabdomyolysis.

There should be no sugar-coating what has transpired here, nor any claims of coincidence. We already know that football can cause life-altering harm. Between 2018 and 2022, at least 11 amateur or professional football players have died in the US from heat-related causes. We also know that every 2.6 years of participation in tackle football – a sport many American kids are enrolled in as young as five – doubles the chances of contracting the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). We also now know that football players have a 61% greater chance compared to athletes in other organized sports to develop Parkinson’s disease, a risk that is 2.93 times higher for college and professional players.

[lindysalsagal]

1. I've been saying we need to move to flag football for my whole life.

How can a child, even a high school child, choose to remain safe when the entire town is in the seats yelling: "Kill him! Take him down!"

This is organized child abuse and no, very very few of them will ever get that scholarship to college. Or that pro draft. That's the excuse and it doesn't hold up.

If it were a serious sport, you wouldn't have to risk your life to play it. We no longer allow high school boxing for that reason.

Oh- and nix the skimpily clad cheerleaders, too. Let anyone, of any gender or size, cheer for the local team, wearing normal clothes, fg'ss.

[tritsofme]

6. Good lord.

[JCMach1]

2. Conflating a lot of stuff here...

1. The threat of heat is serious and some parts of the country and some coaches haven't been educated properly about heat related health threats .

2. Physicals for sports don't often/always pickup on cardiac issues. Until it's too late. This affects all sports

3. Head and neck injuries are real. Rules have addressed this issue in recent years, but this risk will always be there in a contact sport.

There are inherrent risks in all sports. As a former HS Soccer Coach, I helped hold together compound fractured limbs on the way to the hospital. I also had numerous students with concussion over the years. Never heat stroke despite coaching in Florida as I was always quite careful and followed protocols.

Sorry, but flag 🏈 isn't really football.

And yes, my son plays HS ball.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

4. .

1. The threat of heat is serious and some parts of the country and some coaches haven't been educated properly about heat related health threats .

Which makes it a public health issue.

2. Physicals for sports don't often/always pickup on cardiac issues. Until it's too late. This affects all sports

Sounds like it could be helped with better public health efforts!

3. Head and neck injuries are real. Rules have addressed this issue in recent years, but this risk will always be there in a contact sport.

Sure, there's risk for any sport. Concussion rates are highest in girls soccer. The question is, are parents fully informed of the risk? Are kids, and can they consent to it?

Sorry, but flag 🏈 isn't really football.

No need to apologize; it's a completely different game.

[JCMach1]

10. Ironically one of things possibly was the popularity of Flag Football

Over tackle in this generations parents. Youth coaches and programs in the tackle leagues have made major adjustments to the rules and training over the last decade (when my son came up through youth tackle).

Kids that played flag, then want to transition to tackle in HS often haven't been taught the basics and do things like leading with the helmet.

Throw in a pandemic that disrupted a lot of leagues and you have some injury issues at the HS level.

Please note my son also want to be an Orthopedic.

[Solly Mack]

3. A childhood friend died from heat-related causes while at football practice. Stevie was 16.

The high school didn't care. Nothing changed.

This was in the 70's. MLK, Sr. officiated at the funeral.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

5. Oh my god, I am so sorry. That's devastating.

[Solly Mack]

13. I'd known him since I was in diapers. Strange feeling when someone in your group dies when you're young.

Sadly, he wasn't the first or the last.

Nothing seems to have changed much in all that time though. Kids still dying because some adult either didn't know or didn't care about the dangers of heat related injuries.

Too much "real men" do's and don'ts in sports (and not just sports). As if putting "real" in front of the word man somehow changes the limits of the human body.

[multigraincracker]

7. I'm for banning all athletic competition

from public schools. I always played sports all three seasons in school and it did not do anything productive for me.
Especially football. 90% of football coaches are bullies.
Take it out of the schools. Make them club sports with nothing to do with schools. Only causing hate for the other schools is one thing we should not support it.
My brother disagrees with me was a Big 10 football player and claims it gets poorer kids into college. I say use academics to get them into colleges on scholarship. A large percentage of those on athletic scholarships never finish school.
That’s just me, but should be considered.

[DemocratInPa]

9. This is insane..

[BannonsLiver]

11. DU has a pretty strong anti youth sports undercurrent

This is just more of that. What those who are of that belief fail to realize is that the overwhelming majority of Dems outside our little bubble here enjoy sports. But because it’s outside that scope, or someone wasn’t very good at sports in high school even though they played 3 and really really really wanted to be good, everything is terrible.

“I never got anything out of it so it’s impossible anyone else would either.”

[multigraincracker]

12. Europe does it the right way.

They have sports available to everyone, just not in schools. They use the Club sport model. Seems to work great for them.
Keep gym class in schools to learn basics and rules, just do away with inter school competition.
I’m not not against competing sports, just against school sponsored competition. Nothing wrong with sports, other than tied to schools.
Like I said, that’s just me and nothing wrong with bringing it up for debate.

[BannonsLiver]

15. That's commonplace here as well

There is absolutely no shortage of non school affiliated sports opportunities for American youth. I’m in a sunbelt state ant my city has 3 youth hockey leagues that are not affiliated with schools. I couldn’t even begin to estimate the amount of club soccer teams and leagues.

The problem with what you’re proposing is that unlike the high school sports those opportunities cost a lot of money because they aren’t subsidized by a school system. Equipment, uniforms etc. are all 100 percent out of pocket. That means lower income kids probably wouldn’t be able to participate at current levels. I don’t see a lot of accounting for that in the posts opposing high school sports I frequently see here.

[multigraincracker]

16. They can have bake sales.

Poor kids can get scholarships for non school teams. Or, let the voters think it important enough to add a property tax to support it.
I turned down scholarships to division one schools. No problem.
I, later participated in amateur boxing and loved it. Had to pay my own way. Others had sponsors to help them. Local barbershops would kick in.
Not at all against sports, just making it public school dependent.

[multigraincracker]

18. Sell tickets to the games. That might cover it.

Schools claim that competitive sports pay for themselves. Tax payers pay for sports thru property taxes. Let them vote on a sports tax for club sports. How does Europe pay for it?

[Torchlight]

20. This is ironic..

[jimfields33]

21. Deep.

[WhiskeyGrinder]

14. .

Take it out of the schools. Make them club sports with nothing to do with schools.

The issue with that is then only kids who have access to the clubs can participate. It doesn't address the harm that football does, which is what this article is about.

My brother disagrees with me was a Big 10 football player and claims it gets poorer kids into college.

It does get poorer kids into college, where their labor is used to generate revenues they never see. Not only is it a health issue, it's a labor exploitation issue.

[Trenzalore]

19. Well that is silly

Kids get a ton from athletic competition.

The football coaches at my highschool in the 90s were some of the most loved teachers in the school.

[BannonsLiver]

8. lol

On brand

[LexVegas]

17. Ban all sports that involve physical contact or being outside. nt

[jimfields33]

22. Kids already are out of shape, overweight and

have too high diabetes rates and you want to end the only exercise they get. Wow!