gte447f
Ramblin' Wreck
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Wow, I’m surprised to hear so many dismissive attitudes about headers in soccer and possible links to negative effects on brain and cognitive function and health. Everyone seems to be focused on concussions, and I hear things like you are more likely to get a concussion from head to head contact with another player, but I thought it was generally accepted that CTE and possibly other brain injuries can result from repeated subconcussive impacts.
Like, I said, I didn’t grow up playing or watching soccer, so it’s pretty new to me. But, since my son started playing youth soccer and is pretty into it after a few seasons and is now playing on an academy club, I watch a lot of youth soccer and I have become interested in the game at the highest professional and national team levels. Some of you act like headers aren’t that common, but they seem very common to me. I haven’t counted, but there are probably dozens in a typical 90 minute game, and it’s not just forwards and strikers. Midfielders header a lot, and one Washington post article I read (link below) claimed that defenders actually header the ball more than any other position, which I found surprising. Goalkeepers are the only position group that seem to be mostly unaffected.
My son is U11 this season. They played a few games against U12s and were allowed to header the ball in those games. My son, playing midfield and having never headed the ball previously or even practiced it, did so 3 times in that very first game instinctively. The first one looked a little awkward, but the next 2 were good plays.
I’m no expert, but check out this Washington Post article. In my opinion , it paints a pretty bleak, but totally expected picture of the likely negative effects of headers on soccer players. Lots of interesting data points in there. Here is just one: typical g forces from heading a soccer ball in a game situation was measured at between 22g and 30g.
Like, I said, I didn’t grow up playing or watching soccer, so it’s pretty new to me. But, since my son started playing youth soccer and is pretty into it after a few seasons and is now playing on an academy club, I watch a lot of youth soccer and I have become interested in the game at the highest professional and national team levels. Some of you act like headers aren’t that common, but they seem very common to me. I haven’t counted, but there are probably dozens in a typical 90 minute game, and it’s not just forwards and strikers. Midfielders header a lot, and one Washington post article I read (link below) claimed that defenders actually header the ball more than any other position, which I found surprising. Goalkeepers are the only position group that seem to be mostly unaffected.
My son is U11 this season. They played a few games against U12s and were allowed to header the ball in those games. My son, playing midfield and having never headed the ball previously or even practiced it, did so 3 times in that very first game instinctively. The first one looked a little awkward, but the next 2 were good plays.
I’m no expert, but check out this Washington Post article. In my opinion , it paints a pretty bleak, but totally expected picture of the likely negative effects of headers on soccer players. Lots of interesting data points in there. Here is just one: typical g forces from heading a soccer ball in a game situation was measured at between 22g and 30g.
We knew that comment was coming. But, headers in soccer and CTE is relevant to the “changing face of football in America “ though, because one of the reasons kids don’t play football as much anymore is because of the link to CTE. More and more kids are playing soccer instead because parents think football is potentially bad for brain health, but if the same or similar link to CTE exists in soccer, then steering kids toward soccer instead of football for safety reasons might be pointless.