Concussions and head injuries are now front-and-center for sports leagues, teams and schools – and they should be. With your mind, you can do anything. People who are paralyzed can and do still function in society because they can use their brains to find a new way to live. But concussions damage the human brain, and for too long we in the sports community not only ignored concussions but we chastised those who couldn't play because they “got their bell rung.” Not anymore. The IHSAA released the final totals from the fall sports season that wrapped up at the state football finals in Indy last weekend. Over 1,200 concussions were reported by athletic trainers at the more than 400 schools in Indiana this fall. As you would expect, 70 percent of those were experienced by kids playing football. Duh, its a game of violent collisions. It's two guys running in opposite directions as fast as they can and running into each other. We get that. What surprised a lot of people is that the next two highest sports on the concussion list were boys soccer and girls soccer. Yep, soccer. That sport that for decades in America has been the butt of jokes from knuckle-dragging football types as being the sport for those not nearly tough enough to play football. I always knew that was wrong, and now I have proof. Soccer is the only sanctioned sport where making contact with the ball of that sport is encouraged. Players head the soccer ball during the course of an 80-minute high school game literally hundreds of times. Think about it, you can't use your hands ... so when the ball comes toward you up high ... yep, you head it. So we know that parents are re-thinking even starting their little boys in pee wee football because of the risk, but is it possible that soccer may follow suit? I hope not. We DO know of some cases of brain damage in college soccer players, and there are even young people who are suffering from things like Parkinson's Disease which has been attributed to repeated heading of a soccer ball. I would point out to you though that those instances are not common at all. I would also offer that if you are a parent of an elementary school-aged child and you are worried about playing sports and suffering concussions, your child has a better chance of falling off playground equipment or in some other way being injured at school than in organized sports. Could it happen? Of course it could. Should parents think twice? You bet. But you should make an educated decision based on facts and not on fear. People who are afraid to fly have a better chance of being in a car accident on the way to the airport than being in a plane crash. Soccer is a great sport. I played it, and I loved it ... and still do. There are proper techniques to heading a soccer ball that greatly reduce the risk of brain injuries and youth leagues should be watching their coaches to make sure they are teaching those techniques. Kids should also not spend hours and hours heading balls kicked from long distances. Lob-tossing balls and practicing the placement of the ball with your head is not what we are talking about. We are talking about corner kicks and goal kicks. It's like everything else ... moderation is important. Let your kids play soccer. Let them love the beautiful game. But learn to do it right, and they should be ok.
