Tackle football gives children a chance to make friends at the age of 5, learn teamwork, perhaps a college attracts scholarship. Increased research suggests that it can also cause injuries that damage the brain.
This leaves families to balance the risk against opportunities.
Many people are coming out. Participation in young tackle football has been decreasing for years. But especially in colored communities, the greed of football remains strong and the balance tips towards the opportunity have been found in a four -month investigation by the Sherly Povich Center for Sports Journalism and The Howycular Center for Investigative Journalism at the University of Maryland.
A nationwide Ipsos poll was commissioned by the centers:
-Black parents are more likely than white parents, from adequate margin, to assume that the youth can lead a college scholarship or NFL career to deal with football. Young parents are much more likely to see the college scholarship and pro cars as a potential advantage of young football.
– About one of the four black parents said that the appropriate age to start playing football for children is 9 years or less. Only 14% of white parents said that children should start at the age of 9 or less.
Terence Bird is the president of Maryland Heat, a youth dealing with a young man who suits black boys mainly as a young man in 5 pads and helmets. He said he knows that injuries are possible in dealing with football and their coaches train children to play as safely as possible. But they believe that opportunities are carried forward from risks.
“I would confidently say that we are changing life,” said Bird.
Over the years medical studies have called NFL players suffering from brain conditions called chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), including dementia, depression, anxiety and aggression.
Last year, Boston University CTE Center released a study stating that children’s developing brains are repeatedly at risk of damage to head and brain that are associated with impulse behavior and cognitive problems.
The study states that children who start playing football at an early age or participate in the game for more than 11 years increase the risk of such loss.
The brain and head of a child may not be a hit to hit the rest of the body, especially from the age of 5 to 8 years, and a child’s weak neck – even an adult’s can, the way an adult, cantu, clinical diagnostics and BU CTE center, and the author of more than 540 scientific articles said.
Not all researchers agree. A recent study of 52 high school athletes found that the effects of the head were not associated with constant cognitive, emotional or behavioral symptoms. Daniel Ransum, Johns Hopkins, a pediatric neurocycologist St. Petersburg, All Children Hospital in Florida, who worked on studies, said that the head trauma contributes to CTE, including other factors – including genetics and drugs – should also be considered.
At the University of Maryland, main football coach Michael Locksley stated that he feels that the data is inconclusive and, “From a medical point of view, the game has been attacked.”
“When you do research, you can find your desired answer,” he said in an interview. However, “This coach and football people are up to us as to how we play it safely.”
The history of locksley with football is complex. In 2017, his son Miko, who started playing tackle football at the age of 7, died in a shoot at the age of 25. His parents donated their brain for the examination at Boston University CTE Center. Doctors found that Meiko Locksley showed signs of CTE.
Some parents are choosing their children to enroll in the league that play flag football, which limits contacts on the field. Others believe that players should not be introduced to deal with football to high school.
But the leagues that deal with the youth are popular in many parts of the country. Vienna (Virginia) Youth, Inc. Football Commissioner Tod Casey said, “We have the biggest enrollment in dealing with football since 2014.”
Fort Washington, MD. In, Stephanie Rogers was watching her son and the companions of her Maryland heat team participated for the last time through plays. He said that the game provides social benefits and opportunities for better education.
“We have private high schools that are trying to bring these children to their doors,” she said.
Hayatsville, Dematha Catholic High School in MD, is one of the private schools that recruit Maryland heat players. Last year, football players of 19 Demath signed with Division I and II College football programs.
Heat coach Bird said, “Now you are changing the education paradigm for young men” by giving experience of players, who can attract scholarships.
Bird said that there is a risk of injuries in all sports. And many children in their league face danger away from the field, “Is it at risk to take a shot in a football game, or whether it is at risk to take, you know, a shot on the streets.”
Mac Stephens, a former NFL player and coach from Ohio’s Cleveland Heights High School, said that if Cleveland Heights did not offer to deal with football before high school, parents would find leagues in other cities to play for their children.
Parents believe that “I have to bring my son on track to receive college scholarship someday,” he said.
Former NFL player Solomon Brannon admitted that inspires the money that is expecting scholarship. But he said that parents would be better than helping their children learn. “You can’t depend on the game,” Branon said, who first played in the Super Bowl. “If you are putting it up in your head, then you are going to succeed, no matter what.”
At the University of Maryland, Michael Locksley said that his wife, Kia, now believes that children should not play football before 14. But he disagrees.
Football, he said, “The nearest game to mimic life. In football, you knock down … and you’ve got up and you have found it to face the next drama. ,
If his grandchildren want to play the game, Locksley said, he will support him.
Torrence Banks and Andrew Chods reported for the Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and Howard Center for Investigative Journalism at the Filip Merryl College of Journalism at Maryland University.