How do you feel as a parent about your child playing football?

[Gugny]

5 hours ago, teef said:

i have some staff that have gotten their kids into wrestling, and holy smokes some of those dads seem far too intense.  i've heard stories of guys making their kids run laps, practice after practice, and have mats in their homes for extended practice.  mind you we're talking about 5-6 year olds.  multiple stories of monitoring what these kids eat to keep weight down, etc.  i have no idea what's in it for the dads.  i've never met a grate high school athlete and thought, "wow, that dad is impressive". 

 

When my son played little league baseball, I had the displeasure of being around one of the over the top parents.  This was the first year after tee ball, so I think the kids were in 1st grade.

 

The father ... Anthony.  I grew up with him and his brothers.  He's a couple years older than me.  He has an older son who was a natural in both baseball and football.  He's currently in the Mariners farm system.

 

His youngest son was in my son's grade.  He was a year older than most of his classmates because his father delayed him starting school so he would have a competitive advantage in sports when he got older.  To me ... that is f*cking sickening.

 

This kid was not as athletically gifted as his older brother, and you could tell his father was not pleased.

 

Imagine a father (also the coach) yelling to his son, on the field, "YOU NEED TO GET TO THAT BALL!  YOU'RE NEVER GONNA BE AS GOOD AS YOUR BROTHER!" During a game .. in front of kids and parents.

 

Same season .. same as.shole ... last game of the year.  Mind you ... there were no "records," or "standings."  It's a bunch of first graders, right?  

 

It's my son's turn to bat.  My son ... who through the entire season had yet to get a hit.  In a game that means absolutely nothing.  

 

Anthony goes to his "bullpen," and makes a pitching change, which you NEVER see at this age.  Brings his best pitcher in, who proceeds to blow three fastballs by my son.

 

This is the kind of garbage we have raising future generations.

 

Oh .. and for what it's worth .. Anthony had two brothers and he was, BY FAR, the worst athlete out of all of them.  And I think that's the story with a lot of these as.shole parents.

[Einstein]

7 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

 

If it's an MMA match, choking and every submission is allowed.  I can't read the article because I don't have a subscription.

I'm pretty sure they can't have full contact cage matches.  The state of NY just about 5 or so years ago allowed professional MMA fighting for the first time.

They can have grappling matches or train for it but not a full contact match.

 

In Georgia, as an amateur who hasn't reached the professional level, they wear shin guards and not allowed to punch in the head on the ground.

 

MMA is definitely not my area of expertise so i’d have to defer to you. I know we had martial arts of some sort in high school but I don’t know the rules or what type. It was a big thing between the wrestlers and the fighters and lots of arguments were had over which was the cooler group.

[teef]

6 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

When my son played little league baseball, I had the displeasure of being around one of the over the top parents.  This was the first year after tee ball, so I think the kids were in 1st grade.

 

The father ... Anthony.  I grew up with him and his brothers.  He's a couple years older than me.  He has an older son who was a natural in both baseball and football.  He's currently in the Mariners farm system.

 

His youngest son was in my son's grade.  He was a year older than most of his classmates because his father delayed him starting school so he would have a competitive advantage in sports when he got older.  To me ... that is f*cking sickening.

 

This kid was not as athletically gifted as his older brother, and you could tell his father was not pleased.

 

Imagine a father (also the coach) yelling to his son, on the field, "YOU NEED TO GET TO THAT BALL!  YOU'RE NEVER GONNA BE AS GOOD AS YOUR BROTHER!" During a game .. in front of kids and parents.

 

Same season .. same as.shole ... last game of the year.  Mind you ... there were no "records," or "standings."  It's a bunch of first graders, right?  

 

It's my son's turn to bat.  My son ... who through the entire season had yet to get a hit.  In a game that means absolutely nothing.  

 

Anthony goes to his "bullpen," and makes a pitching change, which you NEVER see at this age.  Brings his best pitcher in, who proceeds to blow three fastballs by my son.

 

This is the kind of garbage we have raising future generations.

 

Oh .. and for what it's worth .. Anthony had two brothers and he was, BY FAR, the worst athlete out of all of them.  And I think that's the story with a lot of these as.shole parents.

the keeping kids back thing for sports reasons has become huge around here.  i hear it regularly, and i'm in agreement....i would never do that.  if my kids were a bit behind socially or academically, sure.  for sports...come on.    these early stages for sports should really about team/character building, learning the sport, and fun.  

[gjv001]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

 

I would say linemen have the least chance of a debilitating injury.

As long as the three point stance is used ,linemen have a greater propensity for concussions than other positions.

I would not encourage my children to play football. However, if they wanted to play football, I wouldn’t prohibit them from playing.

[Royale with Cheese]

21 minutes ago, Einstein said:

 

MMA is definitely not my area of expertise so i’d have to defer to you. I know we had martial arts of some sort in high school but I don’t know the rules or what type. It was a big thing between the wrestlers and the fighters and lots of arguments were had over which was the cooler group.

 

I'm interested in how this training was handled.  You don't just "MMA" train.  You work each discipline and then combine them to develop your technique.

Wrestling is great but you're just wrestling.  MMA, you combine boxing, wrestling, BJJ, judo and muay thai. 

I wonder how long these classes are. 

[BRH]

5 hours ago, Einstein said:

 

They are grooming them to become olympians or paid athletes.

 

Thats what Tua’s dad did, from what i’ve heard.

 

That's also what Todd Marinovich's dad did.  And many others.  We've all seen them.

[Captain Caveman]

I've got 2 sons, aged 7 and 10.  They just started hockey this year.

I'd be open to football with a good coach, but I don't think I'd win that (or let's say I'd probably choose another) battle.  With that said, this particular type of Cardiac Event seems to be much more common / likely in sports like baseball / lacrosse / hockey with a small hard ball or puck traveling at a high velocity.

[Einstein]

7 minutes ago, Royale with Cheese said:

 

I'm interested in how this training was handled.  You don't just "MMA" train.  You work each discipline and then combine them to develop your technique.

Wrestling is great but you're just wrestling.  MMA, you combine boxing, wrestling, BJJ, judo and muay thai. 

I wonder how long these classes are. 

 

I just texted a buddy who was on that team. It was called “capowera”.

[Royale with Cheese]

1 minute ago, Einstein said:

 

I just texted a buddy who was on that team. It was called “capowera”.

 

I think you mean capoeira.

 

This is one martial art that slaves created to disguise it as a dance because it was illegal for slaves to train in fighting.

[DCofNC]

My kids won’t be playing, they will never be elite and therefore, it’s not at all worth the risk.  I don’t take Hamlin’s situation as the reason for this, it’s just simply not worth the long term risk to your physical and mental well being.  If you have a star athlete, who might have a shot at playing professionally AND has a passion for the game, I would let it happen.  That’s not the case here and therefore, we’ll stick to sports with a lower likelihood of tearing your body apart.

[That's No Moon]

1 hour ago, DrDawkinstein said:

 

Linemen are the ones most subjected to CTE from all those banging/blocking drills. Lineman constantly run the risk of getting their ankles and knees rolled up in piles. The only positions more apt to injury than Lineman are LBs.

Let me clarify. When I say he swims, he's good at it.  Playing line is going to screw up his ankles, knees, hands, hips, back and shoulders in a way that will screw up his swimming. Not to mention that they will have him lifting in ways that will be counterproductive to his other sport.  Cross training and playing multiple sports is a good thing but Football is a no. Heck, if he wants get really good at shot in HS it's going to be an issue because those guys aren't shaped like swimmers either.  They look like fire hydrants.  The CTE stuff is the cherry on that no sundae.

 

He's just starting track this year as a 7th grader. I've taught him some throwing and his brother has worked with him a little and he's strong as hell. He's going to be good at it and because he's strong I know he's going to hear from the football coach on the first day.  If the team were better and they had more big kids I'd be more comfortable, but they don't.  The team is always physically small and outmatched.  Be the only big guy on a small line and see how many cut blocks you attract.  It's just not worth it for a team that loses by 35 points a game.  They went through 4 quarterbacks this year. 4.

[DCofNC]

51 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

When my son played little league baseball, I had the displeasure of being around one of the over the top parents.  This was the first year after tee ball, so I think the kids were in 1st grade.

 

The father ... Anthony.  I grew up with him and his brothers.  He's a couple years older than me.  He has an older son who was a natural in both baseball and football.  He's currently in the Mariners farm system.

 

His youngest son was in my son's grade.  He was a year older than most of his classmates because his father delayed him starting school so he would have a competitive advantage in sports when he got older.  To me ... that is f*cking sickening.

 

This kid was not as athletically gifted as his older brother, and you could tell his father was not pleased.

 

Imagine a father (also the coach) yelling to his son, on the field, "YOU NEED TO GET TO THAT BALL!  YOU'RE NEVER GONNA BE AS GOOD AS YOUR BROTHER!" During a game .. in front of kids and parents.

 

Same season .. same as.shole ... last game of the year.  Mind you ... there were no "records," or "standings."  It's a bunch of first graders, right?  

 

It's my son's turn to bat.  My son ... who through the entire season had yet to get a hit.  In a game that means absolutely nothing.  

 

Anthony goes to his "bullpen," and makes a pitching change, which you NEVER see at this age.  Brings his best pitcher in, who proceeds to blow three fastballs by my son.

 

This is the kind of garbage we have raising future generations.

 

Oh .. and for what it's worth .. Anthony had two brothers and he was, BY FAR, the worst athlete out of all of them.  And I think that's the story with a lot of these as.shole parents.

All too many parents living vicariously through their kids.  My brother is one who can’t help himself, he was a nobody athlete and wants his kids to be stars, they don’t have elite traits in any stretch and he can’t get over it.   I don’t get it.  
 

I want my kids to play sports for the experience and if they happen to shape a passion for it, awesome, I’ll help you be the best you can be.  That said, I know the gene pool they are working with and unless there is a major divergence, you aren’t going to have the gifts it takes to be a big time athlete.  So I don’t have my boy playing travel sports etc, because he’s not that interested and frankly he’s not good enough.  I could force him to train for hours a day so he could have a shot at being a mediocre college player, or I can let him be a kid.  I chose the latter, there’s plenty of time to hate your life as an adult.   My daughter is too young to know, but her early traits give her a better shot to at least be pretty good at whatever she chooses, guess we’ll see where it goes.  I still won’t make take away her childhood to have her get a “scholarship” to play a game.

[Dr.Mantis_Toboggan]

1 hour ago, Einstein said:

 

I love when people try to get all sarcastic when they’re wrong.

 

Yes, there is a push to get MMA in high schools right now and it’s been in some schools since the mid 2000’s. https://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/sports/othersports/18mma.html

 

 

Because every single one of those sports has CTE and concussions. I was using the actual data. 

 

Concussions account for 23% of injuries in boys hockey. It accounts for 17% in lacrosse and football. And it accounts for 15% in girls soccer.

 

You mention the “sheer amount of blows” but the data doesn’t show the drastic increase in concussions from those blows at the youth level. 

 

Heck, cycling had more head injuries in 2018 than football. 

 

 

Not trying to get into a pissing contest here, MMA especially for youths, especially in schools, is far more of a niche sport where as the overwhelming majority of high schools in America field a football team.  

 

As others have mentioned, lineman are taking blows to the head every play.  I’m not here to do research projects, the information is out there if you want to read it, plenty of neurologists have said it’s about receiving repeated blows to the head. It’s not about having a concussion or two throughout your life, it’s the repeated hits to the head, I.e. Lineman crashing into each other every single snap.

Don’t get me wrong, concussions are definitely not good, but it doesn’t mean your doomed to a fate of CTE, however getting your head hit how many practices and games for how many years? It’s the cumulative damage.  It may seem like it’s “just” 4 years if somebody only plays highschool ball, but that’s still 4 whole years, again when the brain is still developing, of taking regular abuse to an area of the body ill equipped to handle it. Double that if you play college, with an uptick in intensity and physicality.  
 

I just think, and it will take some time, but eventually you’ll have to be 18 to play tackle football due to the long term risks to brain health that are involved.   

[Royale with Cheese]

2 minutes ago, Dr.Mantis_Toboggan said:

Not trying to get into a pissing contest here, MMA especially for youths, especially in schools, is far more of a niche sport where as the overwhelming majority of high schools in America field a football team.  

 

As others have mentioned, lineman are taking blows to the head every play.  I’m not here to do research projects, the information is out there if you want to read it, plenty of neurologists have said it’s about receiving repeated blows to the head. It’s not about having a concussion or two throughout your life, it’s the repeated hits to the head, I.e. Lineman crashing into each other every single snap.

Don’t get me wrong, concussions are definitely not good, but it doesn’t mean your doomed to a fate of CTE, however getting your head hit how many practices and games for how many years? It’s the cumulative damage.  It may seem like it’s “just” 4 years if somebody only plays highschool ball, but that’s still 4 whole years, again when the brain is still developing, of taking regular abuse to an area of the body ill equipped to handle it. Double that if you play college, with an uptick in intensity and physicality.  
 

I just think, and it will take some time, but eventually you’ll have to be 18 to play tackle football due to the long term risks to brain health that are involved.   

 

I read a study like 15 years ago where they actually had devices on the lineman's pads to measure the intensity of each hit.

This wasn't even the NFL, like D3 football school or something and the results were that these OL were getting into equivalent of 35-40 car crashes at 30 mph.

[Einstein]

10 minutes ago, Dr.Mantis_Toboggan said:

Not trying to get into a pissing contest here, MMA especially for youths, especially in schools, is far more of a niche sport where as the overwhelming majority of high schools in America field a football team.  

 

As others have mentioned, lineman are taking blows to the head every play.  I’m not here to do research projects, the information is out there if you want to read it, plenty of neurologists have said it’s about receiving repeated blows to the head. It’s not about having a concussion or two throughout your life, it’s the repeated hits to the head, I.e. Lineman crashing into each other every single snap.

Don’t get me wrong, concussions are definitely not good, but it doesn’t mean your doomed to a fate of CTE, however getting your head hit how many practices and games for how many years? It’s the cumulative damage.  It may seem like it’s “just” 4 years if somebody only plays highschool ball, but that’s still 4 whole years, again when the brain is still developing, of taking regular abuse to an area of the body ill equipped to handle it.

 

The research is out there if you ever want to dig into it. Football is definitely not without risk, but neither is any other sport, and some sports show higher rates of head injuries than football (or close to it).

 

I too don’t want to get into a pissing match. Have a good day (genuinely, not sarcastically).

[The Frankish Reich]

12 minutes ago, DCofNC said:

I still won’t make take away her childhood to have her get a “scholarship” to play a game.

Watching my kids and their friends from K-12, I’m astounded by how single-minded some parents can be. One family had 2 girls, both really, really good basketball players through middle school, and then starters and very good players in high school, but not all-state or anything. The dad moved them from school to school looking for the best (basketball) “fit.” And travel teams/summer basketball camps, adding up I’m sure to well over 100K. 
And they did get scholarships. To D2 colleges I had never heard of (and I thought I’d heard of most everything). Not like top academic colleges like Colgate or something. Neither is a star player at that level. Just ordinary small college athletes at out of the way minor schools of no particular distinction. In what way was this worth it? It is for the dad I guess, who still fills HIS social media with posts about their college teams. 

[BRH]

33 minutes ago, Gugny said:

 

When my son played little league baseball, I had the displeasure of being around one of the over the top parents.  This was the first year after tee ball, so I think the kids were in 1st grade.

 

The father ... Anthony.  I grew up with him and his brothers.  He's a couple years older than me.  He has an older son who was a natural in both baseball and football.  He's currently in the Mariners farm system.

 

His youngest son was in my son's grade.  He was a year older than most of his classmates because his father delayed him starting school so he would have a competitive advantage in sports when he got older.  To me ... that is f*cking sickening.

 

This kid was not as athletically gifted as his older brother, and you could tell his father was not pleased.

 

Imagine a father (also the coach) yelling to his son, on the field, "YOU NEED TO GET TO THAT BALL!  YOU'RE NEVER GONNA BE AS GOOD AS YOUR BROTHER!" During a game .. in front of kids and parents.

 

Same season .. same as.shole ... last game of the year.  Mind you ... there were no "records," or "standings."  It's a bunch of first graders, right?  

 

It's my son's turn to bat.  My son ... who through the entire season had yet to get a hit.  In a game that means absolutely nothing.  

 

Anthony goes to his "bullpen," and makes a pitching change, which you NEVER see at this age.  Brings his best pitcher in, who proceeds to blow three fastballs by my son.

 

This is the kind of garbage we have raising future generations.

 

Oh .. and for what it's worth .. Anthony had two brothers and he was, BY FAR, the worst athlete out of all of them.  And I think that's the story with a lot of these as.shole parents.

 

We all have those stories.  I raised a son who played 12 years of travel baseball but also played Little League until he aged out.  Because that's what HE wanted to do.  I saw tons of those over-the-top dads, from t-ball through high school.  And tons of burnout.

[BRH]

57 minutes ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Watching my kids and their friends from K-12, I’m astounded by how single-minded some parents can be. One family had 2 girls, both really, really good basketball players through middle school, and then starters and very good players in high school, but not all-state or anything. The dad moved them from school to school looking for the best (basketball) “fit.” And travel teams/summer basketball camps, adding up I’m sure to well over 100K. 
And they did get scholarships. To D2 colleges I had never heard of (and I thought I’d heard of most everything). Not like top academic colleges like Colgate or something. Neither is a star player at that level. Just ordinary small college athletes at out of the way minor schools of no particular distinction. In what way was this worth it? It is for the dad I guess, who still fills HIS social media with posts about their college teams. 

 

I never understood that, the school-hopping.  It continues for some kids in college as well, when they get to their first school and find out they're not going to start right away they drop out and transfer somewhere else.  I know one kid who's on his fourth college -- D3 to juco to D2 to D3 -- and still has three years of baseball eligibility left.  During high school he played one summer with my son -- after hopping around from travel team to travel team growing up.  Then they played together on the same college summer team last year... for two weeks, before the kid quit THAT team because he was unhappy with his playing time, which I'm sure went over well with the coach who recommended him.  Dad was a piece of work and the apple unfortunately didn't fall far from the tree.

[DCofNC]

3 hours ago, The Frankish Reich said:

Watching my kids and their friends from K-12, I’m astounded by how single-minded some parents can be. One family had 2 girls, both really, really good basketball players through middle school, and then starters and very good players in high school, but not all-state or anything. The dad moved them from school to school looking for the best (basketball) “fit.” And travel teams/summer basketball camps, adding up I’m sure to well over 100K. 
And they did get scholarships. To D2 colleges I had never heard of (and I thought I’d heard of most everything). Not like top academic colleges like Colgate or something. Neither is a star player at that level. Just ordinary small college athletes at out of the way minor schools of no particular distinction. In what way was this worth it? It is for the dad I guess, who still fills HIS social media with posts about their college teams. 

Remember, there were people here that thought the Bills had a “stacked” WR room before the season, if that delusion can play out in fans, imagine how delusional a parent  could get.  There’s always somebody that’s “screwing” their kid, etc. They just need the right opportunity.  Fact is, most aren’t special at all, but try to get the parents to see that.

[The Frankish Reich]

Just now, DCofNC said:

Remember, there were people here that thought the Bills had a “stacked” WR room before the season, if that delusion can play out in fans, imagine how delusional a parent  could get.  There’s always somebody that’s “screwing” their kid, etc. They just need the right opportunity.  Fact is, most aren’t special at all, but try to get the parents to see that.

The thing with my daughter's friend and her sister (with the basketball obsessed dad I talked about): I got the feeling that the girls really weren't obsessed themselves with basketball. The demands of basketball camps/travel teams, etc. kind of caused them to fall out of a really tight-knit group of friends who stayed together for 13 years of school, K-12. They missed out on a lot, and I'm not sure they're all that thrilled with what they gained from the experience.