US To Ban Heading For Unders 10's

[Bob Sacamano]

The United States Soccer Federation has outlined plans to stop children aged 10 and under heading footballs.

The plans resolve a concussion lawsuit filed against the federation by parents but US Soccer said it had planned to introduce a new safety campaign.

They also intend to limit the amount of heading in practice for children between the ages of 11 and 13.

"Although these are recommendations, they are based on the advice of the US Soccer medical committee," it said.

"Therefore US Soccer strongly urges that they be followed."

The lawsuit filed by young players and their parents in August 2014 accused governing bodies, including Fifa and the California Youth Soccer Association, of acting "carelessly and negligently" and failing to protect young players.

US Soccer said the reforms would also include "modifications to substitution rules in relation to concussions" and would be "requirements for players that are part of US Soccer's youth national teams and the development academy."

It added: "Protecting the health and safety of athletes and preventing injuries is critically important to US Soccer."

There has been previous criticism of football's attitude towards concussions but new rules have been brought in for Premier League matches after Tottenham goalkeeper Hugo Lloris continued playing after he lost consciousness.

Following those measures Dr Michael Grey, a leading neuroscientist from the University of Birmingham, said it was dangerous for children to head a football.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/football/34780549

Helmets next?

[Jimmy Floyd]

All sports are potentially dangerous. Snooker can probably do your back in.

[Lewis]

I wouldn't have thought ten year olds even had the kicking power to clump it hard or high enough for headers to be anything other than accidental or soft.

[Benny]

Having watched a lot of youth football (unfortunately), most ten year olds actively avoid heading the ball anyway.

[QE Harold Flair]

Better stop boxers from punching each other.

[CJay]

I still avoid heading the ball if I can.

[Jeet]

You laugh now, wait in 15 years time when they are all playing tiki-taka soccer on the floor instead of The Fat Sam way.

[Pepe]

I still avoid heading the ball if I can.

Me too. Can't recall how many times I've blamed the lights for blinding me.

[randomlegend]

I never headed the ball in a competitive football match in about 5 years of playing.

[Lewis]

Defensive headers are good fun, since nobody really fancies it and it doesn't matter where it goes, but who wants to fanny around placing one at the other end?

[simon]

Nobody heads the ball under the age of 10 anyway, so it won't make a blind bit of difference.

[Clunge]

I scored one header in my career. I kind of smote it in with my cornea. Burst a blood vessel in doing so and started bleeding out of the corner of my eye.

A career highlight.

[QE Harold Flair]

There's some right fucking flanges in here. Let's hope we never need boots on the ground in our upcoming stuggles against the barbarians at our gates.

[niko_cee]

I'm sure the transition to full size/size 5 balls is made too early in youth football over here. That would probably have an impact on the damage done by heading the ball. Unless you use those weird dimple things which feel like moulded rocks.

[Benny]

Heading the ball is one of those things that seems so much worse than it is, you just need to learn how to meet it with the correct part of your head to avoid any potential pain.

[Spoonsky]

I agree with this decision. It's not like they're heading the ball so much that this will radically change the way the game is played, it will just avoid a few unneeded brain injuries. Yes, risk comes along with sport, but it's not like a seven year old is going to be making an informed choice about whether to play football based on statistics about headers and brain injuries; he'll just play. Anyone who's anywhere near serious about the sport will keep playing beyond the age of ten.

[QE Harold Flair]

It's ridiculous. Wrap them up in cotton wool!

[Pen]

Nobody heads the ball under the age of 10 anyway, so it won't make a blind bit of difference.

Still remember my firs ever goal, which was a header in my first game (I was six at the time). I think this kind of shit is retarded. Play something else if you're worried about your head in kids football.

[Jeet]

Because

[ItalAussie]

I agree with this decision. It's not like they're heading the ball so much that this will radically change the way the game is played, it will just avoid a few unneeded brain injuries. Yes, risk comes along with sport, but it's not like a seven year old is going to be making an informed choice about whether to play football based on statistics about headers and brain injuries; he'll just play. Anyone who's anywhere near serious about the sport will keep playing beyond the age of ten.

Yep. You're not losing anything by ensuring that early neurological development proceeds safely.

Nobody is suggesting banning headers at higher levels of the sport. But at the point where your brain is still developing, it makes sense to avoid smacking it around. It's the same reason that you just straight-up don't let small children take up boxing.

You can do a lot of damage to a brain while it's developing. This is just common sense really.

[QE Harold Flair]

Better not let kids out to play, then. Milo was bang on about all this - anything and everything masculine and boystrous is being removed so we have to live in a feminist world where we're held up to feminine standards.

[Pen]

When will it be mens turn to have a turn in the sun

[Toby]

Ah yes, that embodiment of masculinity, hitting things with your head.

[QE Harold Flair]

Yes, that's correct. Kids playing rough and tumble isn't really allowed any more, either. Just go and have a look at how many young boys in America are being drugged up. It's disgusting.

[ItalAussie]

Better not let kids out to play, then. Milo was bang on about all this - anything and everything masculine and boystrous is being removed so we have to live in a feminist world where we're held up to feminine standards.

Or possibly we don't want to damage their brains in the developmental stage before they've even had a chance to use them. Do you head the ball much, Harry?

[QE Harold Flair]

When will it be mens turn to have a turn in the sun

Oh we've had it. It's gone now, though. Everyhing points that way in the under 30's.

[QE Harold Flair]

Or possibly we don't want to damage their brains in the developmental stage before they've even had a chance to use them. Do you head the ball much, Harry?

Danger is a part of life. Most people will accept the miniscule danger in these circumstances, I'm sure.

[Spoonsky]

Word of the day: boystrous.

[ItalAussie]

Danger is a part of life. Most people will accept the miniscule danger in these circumstances, I'm sure.

Yeah, because 10-year olds understand neurological development.

EDIT: I'm not going to get drawn into this anymore. We both think the other is making stupid points, and now we're just repeating ourselves.

[QE Harold Flair]

It's not up to them, it should be up to the parents.

[Pen]

Whilst I probably don't think about this as strongly as Harold, I do feel that this is overdoing safety stuff for kids. I'd like to see some kind of stats about kids under 10 suffering any kind of damage from heading the ball.

[Lewis]

Harold going through the 'Milo' back catalogue is going to ruin that for me.

[Foe]

Scored a header against hibs.

Is the ref going to patrol the pitch with a pistol to enforce the rule?

[John]

'Boystrous' is great.

[phonics]

Only goal of my career was a header for Milford Puma's. It was going in anyway and I barely brushed it but you fucking know I claimed it and celebrated like Tardelli on more coke than Maradona in 94.

[ItalAussie]

I was a cast-iron central defender, who got a nosebleed if I went further forward than the halfway line.

Scored off a corner once, in a ridiculous-nil win. That's the start and end of my goal-scoring exploits.

[Spoonsky]

Whilst I probably don't think about this as strongly as Harold, I do feel that this is overdoing safety stuff for kids. I'd like to see some kind of stats about kids under 10 suffering any kind of damage from heading the ball.

Not stats exactly but still revealing. http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...-brain-damage/

[Lewis]

I was a cast-iron central defender, who got a nosebleed if I went further forward than the halfway line.

Scored off a corner once, in a ridiculous-nil win. That's the start and end of my goal-scoring exploits.

I used to like goal-hanging when I was younger and playing with friends, but when I started playing with people a lot better than me I found a lot more enjoyment in defending. Back off, back off, back... Drop the shoulder into their chest, take possession, launch it out of play trying to be Ronald Koeman.

[CJay]

Me too. Can't recall how many times I've blamed the lights for blinding me.

Yeah, that's a good one. Nothing infuriates your teammates more than standing watching the opposing defender get a free header. I often pretend I've lost my footing and so fail to make the jump. To be fair, it's only those big long kick outs from goalies that I'll not bother with.

[elth]

I always take it on the chest and turn anyway unless it's a chance to score. Headers are for people who don't want to use their brain later.

Seriously though, protecting small children from brain damage is, well, a no-brainer. Nobody should have their brain irreversibly damaged because their parents are too moronic to understand the risks of neurological damage for pre-teens.

[ItalAussie]

Not stats exactly but still revealing. http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...-brain-damage/

It's a good article. Not sensationalist nor doom-threatening, but sensible with respect to where the science is at.

[ItalAussie]

I used to like goal-hanging when I was younger and playing with friends, but when I started playing with people a lot better than me I found a lot more enjoyment in defending. Back off, back off, back... Drop the shoulder into their chest, take possession, launch it out of play trying to be Ronald Koeman.

Defending was fantastic. And it's full of minor victories, rather than playing up forward, which generally involves sporadic major victories. Also you get to hoof it, and nobody can pretend there's no satisfaction to be attained there.

[Lewis]

I read somebody (I can't seem to find it) predicting a while back that American football would die out because parents would increasingly refuse to let their kids play it due to the brain injury risks. I'm sure that is a bit dramatic, but you do wonder what you can do to improve the safety of a sport that seems to literally depend on throwing yourself into people.

[ItalAussie]

American Football seems largely unfixable. You'd have to rework the entire mechanics of the sport, where "leading with the head" is basically the standard accepted method of tackling. I mean, the NFL took actual steps to cover up studies on CTE, and almost every player has some degree of brain injury when they retire (96% of tested retired players show evidence of concussive brain disease). About 15 high school students die each year from injuries sustained while playing football.

But when they ask pros and college players, the players largely say that they know it'll knock a decade or two off their life, and that's the price they have to pay. I don't even know what to think about it, really. I mean, it's good that they're making an informed decision, but it says a lot about us that we're happy to derive entertainment from what could non-hyperbolically be described as bloodsport.

[ItalAussie]

On sport as an economic and social force, it's important to ensure that children whose bodies and brains are developing (as per the above article) are able to play without fear of permanent damage. It's reasonable to say that some kids (or their parents on their behalf, which is somewhat worrisome) are willing to take that risk. But the thing about sport as a vehicle for social benefit is that the real purpose is to ensure a healthy, productive populace down the track - certainly higher participation in sport alleviates costly health and productivity problems later in life, for net economic benefit.

If you've got a system in place where your options for sporting participation is to put yourself at risk for more significant health issues, or to not participate at all, then you're breaking down the very part of the social fabric which sporting participation occupies. Sporting participation at its most base level is a public health initiative, rather than a competitive one, and this is the most sensible framework in which to discuss it as it relates to public and individual benefits.

[QE Harold Flair]

Bloodsport without blood. I'd say that's pretty hyperbolic.

You see, some of us see bravery and that sort of thing as laudible, too. Again, it's just your feminist world view which sees all masculine activities as beneath you.

[Spoonsky]

American football is an odd one. You'd think it should be fucked, yet it's ingrained in the culture over here like no other sport and I don't really see that changing.

[Pen]

Not stats exactly but still revealing. http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...-brain-damage/

Thanks. Was an interesting read, but I have to say that banning headers from u-14 does seem excessive to me. I wouldn't have even thought that heading a ball in a kids game would've made any difference to anything.

[Toby]

Bloodsport without blood. I'd say that's pretty hyperbolic.

You see, some of us see bravery and that sort of thing as laudible, too. Again, it's just your feminist world view which sees all masculine activities as beneath you.

The example Ital gave almost seems more like masochism than bravery. You're rather in to that too though.

[Kikó]

I think it's sensible. I think football at that age should be about football on the ground and heading should play no part in it.

I've scored about 4 goals with my head from around 60 goals. It's a rare joy.