Parents Want Padded Helmets, No Tackling After Deaths

Monday, September 02, 2024

There's a push for more safety measures on the football field after several young players died in the last month. According to NPR, at least seven deaths involving students at or after practices and games were reported in August.

Posted by lamplighter at 11:30 PM | 44 COMMENTS | permalink | Comment on This Entry |

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More from the article...

... One of these was a 13-year-old football player in West Virginia named Cohen Craddock who died after suffering brain trauma while making a tackle during practice at his middle school. On the same day, Caden Tellier, 16, of Alabama, suffered a fatal brain injury after a game.

Cohen's father, Ryan Craddock said his son had brain bleeding and swelling. Now, he wants to see schools attach padded head protectors called Guardian Caps to athletes' helmets, something the National Football League already does.

Ryan Craddock told the Associated Press that he doesn't think we need to do away with football, but more safety measures are needed to protect kids.

"I think that the Guardian cap could have helped in this situation, maybe even prevented, the death of my child," Ryan Craddock said. "If we could learn from the unfortunate incident with my son to help one other kid, it's worth it."

Since 2022 there's been a 50% decrease in concussions among players who have worn the soft-shell head covers in practice, the NFL says. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-02 01:48 PM | Reply

If they weren't dumb as rocks, they'd have their kids participating in a different sport.

#2 | Posted by Angrydad at 2024-09-02 04:10 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

only a compassionate liberal would insult the parents who have recently lost children when they were only getting them into youth sports, A proven way to keep children happy and engaged. But it's the wrong sport, in their mind so they can feel superior to them. Way to be a piece of s**t.

#3 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2024-09-02 05:11 PM | Reply | Funny: 1 | Newsworthy 1

only a compassionate liberal would insult the parents who have recently lost children

Those crisis actors weren't convincing.

#4 | Posted by ClownShack at 2024-09-02 05:21 PM | Reply

#3 | Posted by kwrx25

Who said anything about being "compassionate", you sniveling wimp?

#5 | Posted by Angrydad at 2024-09-02 06:33 PM | Reply

@#4 ... Those crisis actors weren't convincing. ...

Are the dead children as a result of high school football "crisis actors?"

I'm not sure what you are trying to assert here.

#6 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-02 08:16 PM | Reply

" But it's the wrong sport, in their mind so they can feel superior to them."

You're joking, right?

You sound like you'd be willing to risk brain damage to your kid, just to own teh libz.

#7 | Posted by Danforth at 2024-09-02 08:33 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 3

@#4 ... Those crisis actors weren't convincing. ...

Apparently, trying to attribute these horrible deaths of children to "crisis actors" seems to be a thing?

But I will take a different tack.

From #2 ... If they weren't dumb as rocks, they'd have their kids participating in a different sport. ...

OK, I don't necessarily agree with all of that comment's assertions, but I do have to ask...

Why do parents seem to allow, even want, their children to participate in a sport that may do such damage to their children?

#8 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-02 11:50 PM | Reply

LAMP

Because scouts start early looking for promising athletes?

Although middle school is a bit too early, IMO, but high school is just around the corner and scouts with athletic scholarships for college are on the lookout.

And yes, I'm cynical enough to believe that some parents do start early to gear their children up for a scholarship, especially but not always, if they're black and poor.

#9 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-09-03 01:03 AM | Reply

@#9 ...Because scouts start early looking for promising athletes? ...

It's for the money. The kids be damned, imo.

Private equity takes on youth sports
www.axios.com

... Private equity's sporting ambitions aren't limited to the pro ranks, such as its new deal with the NFL. It's also coming for the kids. ...

So, for the wealthy behind private equity, do the casualties on the middle- and high-school fields mean more profit for them?

#10 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-03 01:19 AM | Reply

LAMP

Casualties on the middle and high-school level don't mean more money for anybody.

The theory seems to be that better protective equipment for kids would change all that, which makes more sense than creating brain-damaged cripples.

Frankly, I don't consider football a "sport" any more than I would encourage a child to take up boxing as a career. It's all based on violence.

#11 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-09-03 05:39 AM | Reply

Just do half an hour of research on Google about CTE, Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, and one would surely come to the concluding that high school football is child abuse.

#12 | Posted by Hughmass at 2024-09-03 06:21 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 6

I played high school football - middle linebacker and fullback - and took a knee injury that affected me for the rest of my life. Adrenalin rush? Sure. But worth it, given what we now know about head injuries? Completely nuts. Protective gear exists and should be used. By all. No like? Watch from the sidelines.

#13 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2024-09-03 06:36 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 5

I've been around a lot of youth sports as part of my job for a couple of decades and I can tell you it's pretty heartbreaking to see a kid medivacked off a field. Always... it's been football... and the whole psychology of that particular sport.

I know men who like Doc here played in high school some were severely injured... tendons... broken bones.. and all complain about the remnants of some injury they got decades ago while playing. Some of them even think the injuries "made a man out of them" and joke about how kids today may as well be told to "wear a dress" and how their parents are raising their boys to be poosies.

Seriously... there is a mentality about football that surpasses all the other field sports even the ones like Lacrosse, soccer, and rugby which are more bare-knuckled competitions. The coaches are more aggressive, the parents...

Makes me wonder...

Boxing became more deadly when the padding was added to the gloves. For a man to lose the use of his hands boxing is as bad as using the use of his head to the same sport. The risks were more apparent... both had something to lose.

Maybe it's all the armor that is deluding them.

#14 | Posted by RightisTrite at 2024-09-03 09:08 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

-Why do parents seem to allow, even want, their children to participate in a sport that may do such damage to their children?

For the same reasons kids have been suiting up on Friday nights for the past 80 years.

And I know as many soccer players who suffered concussions as I know football players.

But I get that it's a dilemma for parents and kids over this issue and I can appreciate why they choose not to participate in football.

#15 | Posted by eberly at 2024-09-03 09:15 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

"I played high school football"

-Doc

image.invaluable.com

sorry....couldn't resist...

#16 | Posted by eberly at 2024-09-03 09:16 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

Oh... and kids getting hurt playing a game? Kids get hurt playing games... it's what they do... organized or not. If you don't want your kids hurt by something... keep them on the sidelines.

Kids get hurt working on farms...noodling with chemicals in the garage... all sorts of fun things...

Making it to adulthood has never been easy.

I'm surprised I made it.

#17 | Posted by RightisTrite at 2024-09-03 09:22 AM | Reply

I was very supportive of my son to run cross country. His older sister was a pretty successful runner so he had plenty of opportunity to see that up close.

our high school cross country team is more competitive than our football team but my son was always wanting to play football.

According to Angrydad.....I have rocks for brains....but my guess is he thought that already.

#18 | Posted by eberly at 2024-09-03 09:23 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

So research into brain development says 14 is the bare minimum for anything contact. Briefly kids were not allowed to do soccer headers earlier than 14 but they revised that down now ($$$)... So thinking about football - you have to be crazy to let your kid play. Going further - brain development continues to your mid to late 20s and looking at all the evidence of CTE in Football player after Football player who has died young (pro or not) - the sport should be banned. I say this as someone that actually does enjoy football. I no longer do anything to support it and rarely watch because I don't want to be part of the problem. I pretty much quit watching after Dr. Bennet Omalu's research was published and the NFL did everything they could to quash it and him.

#19 | Posted by GalaxiePete at 2024-09-03 10:09 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 2

Actually, Eberly you might be on to something. #16. I played football and rugby. In rugby, I never led with my helmet or face. 2 concussions in football, none in rugby. Wonder what the data for rugby overall is regarding concussions vs football or soccer.
Take away the facemasks and we would see different tackling techniques develop very quickly.

#20 | Posted by mattm at 2024-09-03 10:27 AM | Reply

First, no helmet protects your brain. Helmets protect your skull. That's useful, but a helmet won't make a sport like football safe. Second, it's not just the severe blows to the head that do harm. A normal tackle that everyone simply walks away from still involves a sudden change in direction, forcing the brain against the inside of the skull. That causes sub-clinical damage to the brain that is cumulative. It is also fine-structure damage that doesn't show up on any non-invasive scanning technology. The only way to detect it is through a postmortem dissection. Third, it's not just football; all "helmet sports" cause CTE. Football, boxing, wrestling, lacrosse, hockey, field hockey, and rugby all cause brain damage. Basketball and soccer used to be on the list, as well; the changes that are bemoaned as making the modern forms of those sports "soft" are protecting athletes from brain damage.

#21 | Posted by s1l3ntc0y0t3 at 2024-09-03 11:00 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 6

Parents Want Padded Helmets, No Tackling After Deaths

Grandparents too!

My grandson is a star quarterback for his team and a joy to watch play the game. He makes it look so easy!

But I cringe at every hard tackle knowing exactly what it means.

And I have seen several young players carted from the field.

It's torture every time.

#22 | Posted by donnerboy at 2024-09-03 11:24 AM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

My mother was smart. My brother was built at an early age for a rough and tumble sport. He wanted to play football like his friends. Psst ~ (I knew his main reason was to attract girls).

My mother convinced him that brawn was fleeting but learning and intelligence would serve him better over a lifetime. And she was right. Two years after graduating from university, he married a lovely woman who shared the same interests, and both became professionals in their field.

Fortunately, they also broke the vicious cycle of brawn over brains in their own sons.

Incidentally, one of those young sons had a yen for race car driving ~ until he watched Dale Earnhardt, the best in the business, die in an accident. I think that's when he decided that all the glitz and glamor wasn't what it was cracked up to be.

#23 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-09-03 12:20 PM | Reply

Twin is there anything you enjoy that involves any risk at all? I just love the 'better than' attitude you exude when speaking of anything remotely risky.

Funny enough I did all the brawn over brains(more on that) too. Still went to college, have more than succeeded in my career. You seem to think they are mutually exclusive.

(the more on that)... Football is not just a brawn game, it's highly complex, and those more intelligent generally are those succeeding at it. So again you tip your hand on you better than attitude you seem to have when it comes to physical sports.

#24 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2024-09-03 01:32 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

#21 | Posted by s1l3ntc0y0t3

I mostly agree but I believe you are wrong on Soccer. Concussions are a fixture in the game in addition to the headers. The rule changes around 2018 haven't done much of anything. On average a minimum of one collision per game results in 2 or more concussion symptoms. More and more evidence it is prevalent in ex-soccer players and if you watch the game I have seen nothing that has changed.

I never heard of it in regard to Basketball.

#25 | Posted by GalaxiePete at 2024-09-03 02:30 PM | Reply

-Funny enough I did all the brawn over brains(more on that) too. Still went to college, have more than succeeded in my career. You seem to think they are mutually exclusive.

And in his example he used his brother, who also proves they aren't mutually exclusive.

LOL

#26 | Posted by eberly at 2024-09-03 02:38 PM | Reply

KWRX

"Twin is there anything you enjoy that involves any risk at all?"

Well, I'm a woman who excelled in a field dominated by men. I'll admit, of course, that being a 10 at the time with a degree in child psychology was a big help. I certainly used it to my advantage, especially the child psychology.

Which is what I'm doing with you right now for asking me such a stupid question.

#27 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-09-03 06:10 PM | Reply | Newsworthy 1

Claiming to be a 10 is something that Trump would do.

#28 | Posted by Tor at 2024-09-03 06:20 PM | Reply

I never ------ a 10, but i once ------ two 5's.

-George Carlin

#29 | Posted by Alexandrite at 2024-09-03 06:27 PM | Reply

TOR

"Claiming to be a 10 is something that Trump would do."

Did Trump come in second in the Miss Nude Florida contest? ~ LOL

If I was like Trump, I'd lie and say I won by the biggest margin the world has ever known.

#30 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-09-03 06:42 PM | Reply

What have I done that you would cause me to think of trump naked? And in a totally unrelated question what year?

#31 | Posted by Tor at 2024-09-03 06:51 PM | Reply

TOR

"What have I done that you would cause me to think of trump naked?"

Mea Culpa. I didn't man to ruin your dinner.

#32 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-09-03 07:16 PM | Reply

All is forgiven if you give me a year so I can judge you for myself. ;)

#33 | Posted by Tor at 2024-09-03 07:25 PM | Reply

I never heard of it in regard to Basketball.

#25 | POSTED BY GALAXIEPETE

I hadn't either..

Among youth sports, basketball is second in terms of concussion rate, accounting for nine percent of all concussions. It ranks behind football but ahead of soccer, hockey and baseball.
bourgase.com

#34 | Posted by oneironaut at 2024-09-03 07:31 PM | Reply

TOR

Granted. I'm voting for Harris. How many brownie points do I get?

#35 | Posted by Twinpac at 2024-09-03 09:38 PM | Reply

#20 | Posted by mattm

I once stayed in the same hotel in Huntington Beach as a rugby team from Wales who were playing in a tournament.

They drank the bar dry of beer and liquor every night (I'm not kidding), went to bed completely wasted at 2 am, then left the hotel at 6 am to play rugby. THAT'S tough for ya! I would've been still holding my head, moaning with a massive hangover at noon.

#36 | Posted by AMERICANUNITY at 2024-09-04 05:51 AM | Reply

#27 if you think that was in any way "handling" me with child psychology... well it speaks to you rating yourself a 10 there. Also it's hysterical you call working in a male dominant field as a risk, when the topic was centered until that point as physical risk. You really are just risk adverse to the point where you think you're better than those that are athletically inclined in a physical sport. Outstanding.

#37 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2024-09-04 09:58 AM | Reply | Funny: 1

They need to remove the pads altogether. Studies show, and rugby data reinforces, that if you remove the pads, the players improve their form and naturally protect themselves. The false sense of security provided by the helmet and pads, causes risk taking.

#38 | Posted by ABH at 2024-09-04 11:40 AM | Reply

#37 | Posted by kwrx25

Yer an idiot...STFU.

#39 | Posted by Angrydad at 2024-09-04 01:33 PM | Reply

"Granted. I'm voting for Harris. How many brownie points do I get?"

#40 | Posted by Tor at 2024-09-04 02:04 PM | Reply

#39 always good to get validation.

#41 | Posted by kwrx25 at 2024-09-04 03:25 PM | Reply | Funny: 1

It seems kinda silly to tackle the kids after their deaths. Would make more sense to tackle the live one with the ball.

#42 | Posted by DarkVader at 2024-09-04 07:46 PM | Reply

@#38 ... They need to remove the pads altogether. Studies show, and rugby data reinforces, that if you remove the pads, the players improve their form and naturally protect themselves. ...

But how many children are killed or permanently damaged before that knowledge is gained?

imo, the root problem is the violence endemic in pro football.

Kids trying to emulate what they see in the pro games.

Will removing the padding deter them from trying to emulate how their pro idols act in the pro games?

I remain to be convinced of that such removal of padding will work to that end.

#43 | Posted by LampLighter at 2024-09-04 07:58 PM | Reply

"if you remove the pads, the players improve their form and naturally protect themselves. ... "

We called that bonecrush football.

I never saw much sense.

#44 | Posted by Danforth at 2024-09-04 08:18 PM | Reply