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Massachusetts Bill Would Ban Tackle Football Until After Seventh Grade

ChicagoB1GRed

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Good summary of the status of youth league football not only in Massachusetts but in general - 5 other states have considered bills like this in response to the traumatic brain injury issue.

"In recent years, tackle football has lost some of its luster among middle and high schoolers, and their parents. In 2017, about 2.4 million athletes from ages 6 to 17 regularly played the sport, down slightly from the year before, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Rugby is gaining popularity because its tackling techniques appear less risky, which increasingly appeals to coaches leery of concussions."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/sports/youth-tackle-football-ban.html
 
Good summary of the status of youth league football not only in Massachusetts but in general - 5 other states have considered bills like this in response to the traumatic brain injury issue.

"In recent years, tackle football has lost some of its luster among middle and high schoolers, and their parents. In 2017, about 2.4 million athletes from ages 6 to 17 regularly played the sport, down slightly from the year before, according to the Sports & Fitness Industry Association. Rugby is gaining popularity because its tackling techniques appear less risky, which increasingly appeals to coaches leery of concussions."

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/01/sports/youth-tackle-football-ban.html
Maryland was one of those states. You have never seen Democrats shut up about something so quickly. PG and Baltimore counties almost rioted at the idea. Those are two of the strongest Democratic counties in the region. Have heard nothing since. Those are two of the counties that push the most kids to D-1 as well.
 
Maryland was one of those states. You have never seen Democrats shut up about something so quickly. PG and Baltimore counties almost rioted at the idea. Those are two of the strongest Democratic counties in the region. Have heard nothing since. Those are two of the counties that push the most kids to D-1 as well.

I'm one of the most conservative moderates you'll ever know and this is sound except in one way, age. Everyone knows seventh grade is not the same age from one state to the next let alone one school. Teams that 'win' the wrong way toe the line and demand such worthless semantics as 'seventh grade'. In some states your seventh grade kid may be 18 years old. Why should eleven year olds be subject to such abuse? It just teaches if you lie or cheat - and win - its a good thing.
 



This is a good idea, IMO. I would want to see studies that determined the best age cutoff to mitigate short and/or long-term risk, if they exist, but is there any legit reason for a 6 year old to be playing tackle football?
 
Everyone knows seventh grade is not the same age from one state to the next let alone one school. In some states your seventh grade kid may be 18 years old.

Really? Is this one of those things where you say the kid "may be 18 years old" in 7th grade but you don't really mean it and everyone will come to your defense as soon as someone calls you out on it?

I think you're fibbing...
 
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If the weight and age is uniform then youth football is very safe. It's when you mix non-uniform maturity, size, and ability players that kids get screwed up.
 



If the weight and age is uniform then youth football is very safe. It's when you mix non-uniform maturity, size, and ability players that kids get screwed up.

That happens in high school as well, big time maturity difference. Why is the government legislating football, but not other things that are dangerous. The man needs to stop and leave it alone.
 
The collisions that happen in youth football are far less severe than those that happen as they get older. Middle school is a GREAT time to teach kids proper tackling technique.

Waiting until 8th or 9th grade means that the kids are bigger, stronger, and faster, which will result in more violent collisions. More violent collisions without being taught proper technique is likely to lead to even higher injury rates.

Why are people so hellbent on finding ways to destroy the greatest team sport ever created?
 



Mixed emotions about this. I think "after 7th grade" is a little extreme but something needs to be done to keep 6, 7, and 8 year olds from bashing their heads together. Yes, kids need to learn proper tackling technique. But how many youth coaches are genuinely concerned about that? Most just want to see their kids win. Of all the former NFL players with CTE, I wonder how much of it was caused because of too many hard hits as a kid before their skull had a chance to harden.
 
Mixed emotions about this. I think "after 7th grade" is a little extreme but something needs to be done to keep 6, 7, and 8 year olds from bashing their heads together. Yes, kids need to learn proper tackling technique. But how many youth coaches are genuinely concerned about that? Most just want to see their kids win. Of all the former NFL players with CTE, I wonder how much of it was caused because of too many hard hits as a kid before their skull had a chance to harden.
There are literally millions of kids that have played tackle football that never made it to college or the NFL that do NOT suffer from CTE.
 

There are literally millions of kids that have played tackle football that never made it to college or the NFL that do NOT suffer from CTE.
Noted. And I'll probably end up with it. Not from playing football, but from all the times I hit my head on the concrete as a kid (and laughed about it). There are 1000 more dangerous things for kids to do than play organized FB.

To counter what I said in my first post... No doubt it's a lot safer for kids to play supervised FB in pads, than to play sandlot ball and bang their unprotected heads together.
 

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