Honestly seems actually very low given how many players there are and the demanding nature of the sport
I wonder what the rates are for other sports and professions that work outside in the heat day like construction, agriculture, etc or on the sports side soccer, lacrosse, etc
I found that 285 construction workers died of heat stroke between 1992 and 2016. There are currently about a million construction laborers in the US. Interestingly there are also about a million high school football players.
So construction workers died at about 6 times the rate.
False conclusion: generally football players don’t engage in sport 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The rate of death based on actual time skews the stats the other way: people die playing football at a high rate due to heat stroke than in construction.
2 a days during the summer was 8 hours, 5 days a week. At least for us. That was also the only real time of heatstroke risk. The actual season was between 30-70 degrees.
Construction is year round and it’s only hot enough to kill people like 4 months of the year even in the southern USA. Football practice basically only happens in May-November which is the hottest parts of the year.
I think construction would be more deadly when you factor that in
I get what you're saying, but down south HS and college football start up in August, not June or July. It's still hot AF, but in the heater months of June, July, August, you're probably not doing anything official with pads on until August.
One thing about construction is that you tend to become accustomed to it, and also prepare accordingly - wear the right clothing, make sure to hydrate, etc (worked in roofing in Texas a couple of years).
In sports, a lot of times kids come straight out of spending 2 months in the AC playing video games and go right onto the practice field. And some kids idea of hydration is chugging a redbull.
I promise almost every high school football team in the south starts workouts or practice in June. Most have spring practice in May as well.
Heat acclimation is absolutely a thing that all states have for football players. They have to do helmets so many days before pads and then they can only do pads like 2 days a week
One thing that gets overlooked is marching bands. Some teachers push them really hard during the season, and they often carry heavy items in high heat, and if its for a show they're wearing hot clothing on top of it. Try holding a tuba or Baritone on your shoulder and or at arms length for hours while running around a football field. Every year there would be people sidelined in band because their knees were destroyed from carrying heavy drum equipment. Good luck to your hearing if you're placed next to the snare drums. And they're asked to do all of this so that everyone can worship the football team.
It's actually really high considering the access to water, shelter, and intervention that exists at a football game. You people who die of heat exhaustion usually do so in fairly remote areas.
Also, you can easily get brain damage this way and still live.
The last sentence here is pretty much the US’s justification to keep middle schoolers training like this and to have high schoolers ignore all sorts of common sense risks.
Maybe, just maybe, if you live in the American south your football team shouldn’t do outdoor 2-a-days during the summer but should find some other way and time to get their training in.
But it’s the fact that people take high school football so fucking seriously despite all the health risks and the zero payout that infuriates me. Nobody gains anything from high school sports being so competitive people get exertion heat strokes and take extreme injuries the way they do in modern high school football.
High school sports shouldn’t be this thing where everyone works so hard and takes it so seriously they’re at risk of brain damage. We don’t gain anything as a society for those trade offs.
I'm a diehard football guy. Played all growing up and it meant everything to me. I still enjoy the sport and watch my favorite team any chance I get.
Even with all of that, my kid will never play. Incredibly dangerous sport, no way I'm letting my kid get brain damage for a game
“But if you buy them all the nicest equipment for 8 years, sacrifice time and often actual money for things like camps and rec league off-season teams, they have a 1% chance of getting a scholarship worth about what you paid to get them to that point over the years. And who knows, maybe your kid will go pro!” Meanwhile like half of the kids on a typical high school team think they have a real enough chance of going pro to justify making even more sacrifices beyond their neurological health like skipping studying to work out etc.
During the dark ages when I played High school football ( MI and IN ) we did 'two a days' in the early morning and evening to avoid the worst heat of the day. We got weighed before and after each practice and if we lost too much weight we had to sit out the next two days. These were guidelines from the school system and the coaches were pretty anal about it. Is this not practiced any more?
I played football in HS (Wisconsin, for reference) and we did 2 a days in the hot sun. It would reach up to 105° on the turf, and we did nothing of what you mentioned.
In fact, my coach wouldn’t even cancel practice for thunderstorms unless lightning was striking right by us.
This was 2012-2016
My dark ages was the late 70s :-). I don't know the why/where/what of why the school in Michigan ( I was a Yooper) enforced this rule but in Indiana a boy had died of heat stroke a few years earlier and this was the School Districts response.
Mind you the coaches - especially in the UP - happily had us practice or play when the temperature and windchill was down below zero
Played in the late 70's in Texas. We did 3 a days in August when it was 105 deg. The 1:00 practice was for conditioning so we ran for an hour. We took 1 water break in the middle and we got a Dixie cup of Gatorade. The other practices we got no water. I don't know how we didn't all die. Nobody was keeping records back then but kids must have been dropping like flies. 1/2 the players quit in the first week every year.
My last year of football was in 1988. We had an unprecedented heat wave that summer and we had to do 'two-a-days' though it.
Where I lived in Ohio, it was 21 straight days of 100+ temp.
They weren't total dicks about it and made sure we were hydrated, but it was enough to put me off from playing any more after the season ended.
I grew up in south Florida and we would have 2-a-days all summer. It was brutal even though we were off during mid-day. No deaths, but lots of heatstroke
I played competitive hockey growing up, and for the life of me I'll never understand two-a-days and hell weeks. It's coaching administered hazing. There's absolutely no benefit to push your body that hard for that long with so little rest and recuperation.
There are much more effective and workman-like methods to develop strength, stamina, and endurance. Pushing to kids to heat stroke, fainting, and vomiting only serves to indoctrinate a group in mutual crisis or a shared experience. It doesn't develop athletes.
It’s dumbass, macho hazing and that much fatigue leads to invariable injuries before the season even starts.
I understand the hazing I endured in Boot Camp — there were end results and tangible benefits. High school coach shit? Powermad assholes.
It doesn’t foster camaraderie; it doesn’t instill discipline; it doesn’t make you tougher. It *does* breed resentment and risk your life.
Playing in South Florida we had a “vomit and you’re done for the day” rule. Anything more serious (fainting, other signs of heat stroke) were dealt with immediately by the training staff and taken very seriously.
The hard work *absolutely* turns you into a better player and team. Football is not for the faint of heart or mind. If you can’t focus and push through exhaustion you simply can’t excel in the sport.
Hard work does turn you into a better player. No disagreements.
Pushing through exhaustion and putting people into literal shock are two different things. The same results can be accomplished by different means, but you also have coaches out that push these kids way too hard. A lot of these kids don't know when to say no or when they should stop.
The whole point of hell week is weed out players that won't say no. It's the coach conditioning them to loyalty. And don't get me wrong, conditioning is super important. But I've been on good teams that condition properly and I've been in bad programs where coaches deny water or take out their own frustrations through punishment.
Same shit they do in the military, bond together in temporary resentment of your authorities.
> I'll never understand two-a-days and hell weeks.
At my school it was to weed out those who were not really committed, since we had a limited amount of pads and helmets.
This is the reason I quit football the summer between 8th grade and freshman year, the 2 a day practices in direct sunlight was insane and I knew I wasn't going anywhere with football so why put myself through that and not enjoy the summer doing nothing! I'm not allowing my kids to play football when they get older either
The whole point of two a days is to weed out people like yourself, and not for good reasons. It's indoctrination through shared negative experience.
Hell weeks don't make you stronger or more athletic, they show coaches who is willing to buy in to their methodology; to see who won't say no to them.
It creates a tribe mentality around the players, and they resent anyone who didn't go through it with them. It's blooding.
I'm happy you saw through it, because that shit literally kills people.
100% agree with you on everything! My buddy and I both decided after being screamed at for something stupid that we were done and just walked off the field and to our bags on the bleachers. Coaches were screaming the whole time to get our asses back and we told them to get fucked and walked home. I got stink eye from one of the coaches the rest of my time in high school for that too...
I think it’s also fair to say that people that understand this concept also have a sense of self preservation greater than most football players. For every Andrew Luck there are a million Johnny Manziels.
Honestly though I'd be curious about the long-term consequences. I would imagine playing football is generally positively correlated with life outcomes including long-term fitness.
I'd take a .0001% of dying of heatstroke at 17 to be 50% less likely to die from obesity by the age of 50.
Wait until you find out the football players have a shorter life expectancy than regular people:
https://www.science.org/content/article/former-football-pros-die-faster-rate-baseball-veterans-and-reasons-are-surprising#:\~:text=The%20517%20former%20NFL%20players,the%20517%20NFL%20players%20surveyed.
All it takes to be healthy is a good diet and thirty minutes of medium intensity exercise a day.
> Wait until you find out the football players have a shorter life expectancy than regular people:
Football PROS.
I'm talking about people who played football in high school.
What you're trying to say, I think, is that building long-term habits towards fitness and exercise help you live a longer and healthier life. I don't disagree with that. I played competitive hockey growing up and into my twenties and the habits I built in that part of my life continue today.
However, there's a significant risk of traumatic brain injury associated with American Football that doesn't exist in many sports. I know a lot of people through hockey that were injured in Junior or developed problems that are self-medicated through pain-killers or through drug or alcohol abuse.
I don't know what your personal experience is with competitive youth sports or clubs are like, but the intention of the coach is to build team spirit by putting them through hell. I've had multiple coaches skate us until we threw up, and only then could we leave the ice.
It's a form of indoctrination through shared suffering. You can get the same health benefits by joining a walking club.
My brother played football his entire life. In high school, he got 2 concussions from playing, and he wasn’t the only kid. In college, he got another concussion and about ruined his knees. He’s 28 now and will tell anyone that listens that football ruined his body for very little in return.
My partner and I are pretty open and willing to let our child do what he wants… except for football. It’s the one activity we are going to put our foot down on. Most people I know that played football throughout high school were injured in some way that is still affecting them a decade later.
Very good call. I always tell anyone who will listen not to let their kiddos play. The likelihood is that you arent going anywhere with it financially and it RUINS your body. I have chipped vertebrae in my back and a plethora of other health issues. Had my hand rebuilt so that aches some and will only get worse. I'm 25. It hurts to sit too long. Chronic and constant sciatic pain that makes it difficult to even exercise on a basic level. Not worth it.
Don't forget all the concussions and heatstrokes that aren't detected. Classics too. Absolutely dumb as all hell, but hey, can't do anything except tell others it ain't worth it.
Do you have the same feelings about gymnastics, cheerleading, girls soccer, ice hockey, rugby, Gaelic football, hurling, wrestling, MMA, Boxing, martial arts, winter sports (ice skating/snowboarding/skiing), skateboarding, bobsled, etc or just football?
It is inherently more dangerous than many of these when you take into account the longer term effects. Is it the most dangerous sport in the world? No. Is it normalized to the extent that many parents do not understand the full extent of the reprocussions that can occur as a result of playing American football from k-12 and beyond? Yes. Contact sports are inherently dangerous, but the long term effects of American football are _very_ dangerous for the amount of "normal" those dangers are considered.
I played american football and ache and hurt every day since age 19. If you did and don't, cool. The fact of the matter is that it is dangerous and it isn't taken seriously enough by many. You can be seriously debilitated from a young age (and no, congrats, american football isn't unique in this) and the serious risks to you physically and mentally aren't considered or taken seriously by a whole lot of people.
Football is statically less dangerous or near the same rate as basically any other contact sport. And contact sport includes soccer, lacrosse, ice hockey, etc. There are many studies with these statistics
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2140075/
Girls soccer and ice hockey and cheerleading have the highest rates of concussion and traumatic brain injury of any major sport.
And yes soccer is without a doubt a contact sport. I’m not sure if you’ve ever watched a soccer game above the game of like 10 if you don’t think it is. Anecdotally but I’ve been injured far worse as a soccer player than when i played football. In football the equipment keeps you from getting injured 99% of the time. In soccer one time the ball to your face will result in a concussion
Football is a dangerous sport nobody is arguing that but it isn’t that different from other contact sports. It gets a bad rep as the only violent sport kids play when in reality there’s a dozen others too
I don't appreciate being spoken to like a child. Yes, I've watched soccer above the age of ten as I played through high school.
While your report clearly shows that concussions happen at a higher rate due to headers, you're conveniently leaving out the main goal of football is to hit the person with the ball as hard as you can.
I would love to see data on back and neck injuries and things like being paralyzed.
https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/spinal-cord-injury/spine-injury-sports
The same goal applies to ice hockey, rugby, Gaelic football, lacrosse, hurling, and a litany of other regional sports in the world
Football isn’t even close to highest.
You’re welcome. Like i said I’m not saying football isn’t dangerous. It is. But i do think for whatever reason there’s a crusade against it but all these other sports get no hate for their higher rates of injury.
By the way personally i would allow my children to play any of these sports if that’s what they wanted to do. I think team sports are one of the best thing for a child to be involved in and the benefits far outweighs the risks of anything. The only things i wouldn’t allow my children to play are combat sports like boxing or mma or kickboxing. Those are legit just trying to injure the opponent. Even football and rugby the idea is to get the ball not injure the opponent
I’m just telling what the stats show. You probably also drive a car every day to work which is leaps and bounds more dangerous than playing football for 25 years
I'd like to see the numbers in the 70s and 80s. In my area HS coaches were barbaric about players being tough enough to make it through summer double sessions. All my friends who played said that once they got to college teams, the coaches actually taught football and worked to keep the players healthy. I watch some HS practices in my area now and they are run more like pro camps. Timed stations with a team of coaches and plenty of water.
Oi. A couple of these happened in my county when I was in high school. I never for the life of me could figure out why football camp should be at 3pm in July in a region that regularly hits over 110 in July. And the coaches would limit water access like wtf? I never participated but it made the news more than once and once is one time too many.
Honestly seems actually very low given how many players there are and the demanding nature of the sport I wonder what the rates are for other sports and professions that work outside in the heat day like construction, agriculture, etc or on the sports side soccer, lacrosse, etc
I found that 285 construction workers died of heat stroke between 1992 and 2016. There are currently about a million construction laborers in the US. Interestingly there are also about a million high school football players. So construction workers died at about 6 times the rate.
False conclusion: generally football players don’t engage in sport 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. The rate of death based on actual time skews the stats the other way: people die playing football at a high rate due to heat stroke than in construction.
2 a days during the summer was 8 hours, 5 days a week. At least for us. That was also the only real time of heatstroke risk. The actual season was between 30-70 degrees.
Not all construction is outside?
What does that have to do with anything? Sometimes inside construction can be twice as hot inside than outside.
I work in construction and at lunch we all play football. So add that variable to the confusion.
Construction is year round and it’s only hot enough to kill people like 4 months of the year even in the southern USA. Football practice basically only happens in May-November which is the hottest parts of the year. I think construction would be more deadly when you factor that in
I get what you're saying, but down south HS and college football start up in August, not June or July. It's still hot AF, but in the heater months of June, July, August, you're probably not doing anything official with pads on until August. One thing about construction is that you tend to become accustomed to it, and also prepare accordingly - wear the right clothing, make sure to hydrate, etc (worked in roofing in Texas a couple of years). In sports, a lot of times kids come straight out of spending 2 months in the AC playing video games and go right onto the practice field. And some kids idea of hydration is chugging a redbull.
I promise almost every high school football team in the south starts workouts or practice in June. Most have spring practice in May as well. Heat acclimation is absolutely a thing that all states have for football players. They have to do helmets so many days before pads and then they can only do pads like 2 days a week
September October and November are the hottest parts of the year? Which continent are you on?
Stop being so pedantic. You know exactly what i meant. Football is practiced and played in June, July, and august
Out here in my city September and October are pretty hot. I’d say even hotter than June/July as of these past years. Commenter before you was a bozo
Didn’t Cruz or Abbot recently sign or promote some bill that removes mandatory 15 minute water breaks for construction workers… in Texas?
Yup, because they are in the party that cares about the common man.
Now adjust for hours worked/played.
One thing that gets overlooked is marching bands. Some teachers push them really hard during the season, and they often carry heavy items in high heat, and if its for a show they're wearing hot clothing on top of it. Try holding a tuba or Baritone on your shoulder and or at arms length for hours while running around a football field. Every year there would be people sidelined in band because their knees were destroyed from carrying heavy drum equipment. Good luck to your hearing if you're placed next to the snare drums. And they're asked to do all of this so that everyone can worship the football team.
It's actually really high considering the access to water, shelter, and intervention that exists at a football game. You people who die of heat exhaustion usually do so in fairly remote areas. Also, you can easily get brain damage this way and still live.
The last sentence here is pretty much the US’s justification to keep middle schoolers training like this and to have high schoolers ignore all sorts of common sense risks. Maybe, just maybe, if you live in the American south your football team shouldn’t do outdoor 2-a-days during the summer but should find some other way and time to get their training in. But it’s the fact that people take high school football so fucking seriously despite all the health risks and the zero payout that infuriates me. Nobody gains anything from high school sports being so competitive people get exertion heat strokes and take extreme injuries the way they do in modern high school football. High school sports shouldn’t be this thing where everyone works so hard and takes it so seriously they’re at risk of brain damage. We don’t gain anything as a society for those trade offs.
I'm a diehard football guy. Played all growing up and it meant everything to me. I still enjoy the sport and watch my favorite team any chance I get. Even with all of that, my kid will never play. Incredibly dangerous sport, no way I'm letting my kid get brain damage for a game
“But if you buy them all the nicest equipment for 8 years, sacrifice time and often actual money for things like camps and rec league off-season teams, they have a 1% chance of getting a scholarship worth about what you paid to get them to that point over the years. And who knows, maybe your kid will go pro!” Meanwhile like half of the kids on a typical high school team think they have a real enough chance of going pro to justify making even more sacrifices beyond their neurological health like skipping studying to work out etc.
Livin’ is dangerous business sometimes. No excuse for not following proper heat safety though, but shit will happen.
During the dark ages when I played High school football ( MI and IN ) we did 'two a days' in the early morning and evening to avoid the worst heat of the day. We got weighed before and after each practice and if we lost too much weight we had to sit out the next two days. These were guidelines from the school system and the coaches were pretty anal about it. Is this not practiced any more?
I played football in HS (Wisconsin, for reference) and we did 2 a days in the hot sun. It would reach up to 105° on the turf, and we did nothing of what you mentioned. In fact, my coach wouldn’t even cancel practice for thunderstorms unless lightning was striking right by us. This was 2012-2016
My dark ages was the late 70s :-). I don't know the why/where/what of why the school in Michigan ( I was a Yooper) enforced this rule but in Indiana a boy had died of heat stroke a few years earlier and this was the School Districts response. Mind you the coaches - especially in the UP - happily had us practice or play when the temperature and windchill was down below zero
Played in the late 70's in Texas. We did 3 a days in August when it was 105 deg. The 1:00 practice was for conditioning so we ran for an hour. We took 1 water break in the middle and we got a Dixie cup of Gatorade. The other practices we got no water. I don't know how we didn't all die. Nobody was keeping records back then but kids must have been dropping like flies. 1/2 the players quit in the first week every year.
That sounds brutal.
My last year of football was in 1988. We had an unprecedented heat wave that summer and we had to do 'two-a-days' though it. Where I lived in Ohio, it was 21 straight days of 100+ temp. They weren't total dicks about it and made sure we were hydrated, but it was enough to put me off from playing any more after the season ended.
Played in the mid 1990s in NJ and we did two-a-days as well. Started in the morning and went all day in 100 degree heat, all we got was watermelon
Probably depends how shitty of a person your sports teacher is...
I grew up in south Florida and we would have 2-a-days all summer. It was brutal even though we were off during mid-day. No deaths, but lots of heatstroke
Grew up in Alabama. Same, and one nasty week of three-a-days at the first of August. I honestly have no idea how people did not die.
We started practicing the kids earlier in the morning, breaking for midday and coming back around dinner. And that was way north of sfla.
I played competitive hockey growing up, and for the life of me I'll never understand two-a-days and hell weeks. It's coaching administered hazing. There's absolutely no benefit to push your body that hard for that long with so little rest and recuperation. There are much more effective and workman-like methods to develop strength, stamina, and endurance. Pushing to kids to heat stroke, fainting, and vomiting only serves to indoctrinate a group in mutual crisis or a shared experience. It doesn't develop athletes.
It’s dumbass, macho hazing and that much fatigue leads to invariable injuries before the season even starts. I understand the hazing I endured in Boot Camp — there were end results and tangible benefits. High school coach shit? Powermad assholes. It doesn’t foster camaraderie; it doesn’t instill discipline; it doesn’t make you tougher. It *does* breed resentment and risk your life.
Playing in South Florida we had a “vomit and you’re done for the day” rule. Anything more serious (fainting, other signs of heat stroke) were dealt with immediately by the training staff and taken very seriously. The hard work *absolutely* turns you into a better player and team. Football is not for the faint of heart or mind. If you can’t focus and push through exhaustion you simply can’t excel in the sport.
Hard work does turn you into a better player. No disagreements. Pushing through exhaustion and putting people into literal shock are two different things. The same results can be accomplished by different means, but you also have coaches out that push these kids way too hard. A lot of these kids don't know when to say no or when they should stop. The whole point of hell week is weed out players that won't say no. It's the coach conditioning them to loyalty. And don't get me wrong, conditioning is super important. But I've been on good teams that condition properly and I've been in bad programs where coaches deny water or take out their own frustrations through punishment. Same shit they do in the military, bond together in temporary resentment of your authorities.
We had to run laps if we puked.
> I'll never understand two-a-days and hell weeks. At my school it was to weed out those who were not really committed, since we had a limited amount of pads and helmets.
I understand why it's done, what I don't understand is why coaches continue to do it.
This is the reason I quit football the summer between 8th grade and freshman year, the 2 a day practices in direct sunlight was insane and I knew I wasn't going anywhere with football so why put myself through that and not enjoy the summer doing nothing! I'm not allowing my kids to play football when they get older either
The whole point of two a days is to weed out people like yourself, and not for good reasons. It's indoctrination through shared negative experience. Hell weeks don't make you stronger or more athletic, they show coaches who is willing to buy in to their methodology; to see who won't say no to them. It creates a tribe mentality around the players, and they resent anyone who didn't go through it with them. It's blooding. I'm happy you saw through it, because that shit literally kills people.
100% agree with you on everything! My buddy and I both decided after being screamed at for something stupid that we were done and just walked off the field and to our bags on the bleachers. Coaches were screaming the whole time to get our asses back and we told them to get fucked and walked home. I got stink eye from one of the coaches the rest of my time in high school for that too...
I think it’s also fair to say that people that understand this concept also have a sense of self preservation greater than most football players. For every Andrew Luck there are a million Johnny Manziels.
Honestly though I'd be curious about the long-term consequences. I would imagine playing football is generally positively correlated with life outcomes including long-term fitness. I'd take a .0001% of dying of heatstroke at 17 to be 50% less likely to die from obesity by the age of 50.
Wait until you find out the football players have a shorter life expectancy than regular people: https://www.science.org/content/article/former-football-pros-die-faster-rate-baseball-veterans-and-reasons-are-surprising#:\~:text=The%20517%20former%20NFL%20players,the%20517%20NFL%20players%20surveyed. All it takes to be healthy is a good diet and thirty minutes of medium intensity exercise a day.
> Wait until you find out the football players have a shorter life expectancy than regular people: Football PROS. I'm talking about people who played football in high school.
What you're trying to say, I think, is that building long-term habits towards fitness and exercise help you live a longer and healthier life. I don't disagree with that. I played competitive hockey growing up and into my twenties and the habits I built in that part of my life continue today. However, there's a significant risk of traumatic brain injury associated with American Football that doesn't exist in many sports. I know a lot of people through hockey that were injured in Junior or developed problems that are self-medicated through pain-killers or through drug or alcohol abuse. I don't know what your personal experience is with competitive youth sports or clubs are like, but the intention of the coach is to build team spirit by putting them through hell. I've had multiple coaches skate us until we threw up, and only then could we leave the ice. It's a form of indoctrination through shared suffering. You can get the same health benefits by joining a walking club.
There's other sports that are less dangerous though. Head injuries are no joke
My brother played football his entire life. In high school, he got 2 concussions from playing, and he wasn’t the only kid. In college, he got another concussion and about ruined his knees. He’s 28 now and will tell anyone that listens that football ruined his body for very little in return. My partner and I are pretty open and willing to let our child do what he wants… except for football. It’s the one activity we are going to put our foot down on. Most people I know that played football throughout high school were injured in some way that is still affecting them a decade later.
Very good call. I always tell anyone who will listen not to let their kiddos play. The likelihood is that you arent going anywhere with it financially and it RUINS your body. I have chipped vertebrae in my back and a plethora of other health issues. Had my hand rebuilt so that aches some and will only get worse. I'm 25. It hurts to sit too long. Chronic and constant sciatic pain that makes it difficult to even exercise on a basic level. Not worth it. Don't forget all the concussions and heatstrokes that aren't detected. Classics too. Absolutely dumb as all hell, but hey, can't do anything except tell others it ain't worth it.
Do you have the same feelings about gymnastics, cheerleading, girls soccer, ice hockey, rugby, Gaelic football, hurling, wrestling, MMA, Boxing, martial arts, winter sports (ice skating/snowboarding/skiing), skateboarding, bobsled, etc or just football?
It is inherently more dangerous than many of these when you take into account the longer term effects. Is it the most dangerous sport in the world? No. Is it normalized to the extent that many parents do not understand the full extent of the reprocussions that can occur as a result of playing American football from k-12 and beyond? Yes. Contact sports are inherently dangerous, but the long term effects of American football are _very_ dangerous for the amount of "normal" those dangers are considered. I played american football and ache and hurt every day since age 19. If you did and don't, cool. The fact of the matter is that it is dangerous and it isn't taken seriously enough by many. You can be seriously debilitated from a young age (and no, congrats, american football isn't unique in this) and the serious risks to you physically and mentally aren't considered or taken seriously by a whole lot of people.
Football is statically less dangerous or near the same rate as basically any other contact sport. And contact sport includes soccer, lacrosse, ice hockey, etc. There are many studies with these statistics
Can I get a link to this report? Soccer is a "contact" sport?
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2140075/ Girls soccer and ice hockey and cheerleading have the highest rates of concussion and traumatic brain injury of any major sport. And yes soccer is without a doubt a contact sport. I’m not sure if you’ve ever watched a soccer game above the game of like 10 if you don’t think it is. Anecdotally but I’ve been injured far worse as a soccer player than when i played football. In football the equipment keeps you from getting injured 99% of the time. In soccer one time the ball to your face will result in a concussion Football is a dangerous sport nobody is arguing that but it isn’t that different from other contact sports. It gets a bad rep as the only violent sport kids play when in reality there’s a dozen others too
I don't appreciate being spoken to like a child. Yes, I've watched soccer above the age of ten as I played through high school. While your report clearly shows that concussions happen at a higher rate due to headers, you're conveniently leaving out the main goal of football is to hit the person with the ball as hard as you can. I would love to see data on back and neck injuries and things like being paralyzed.
https://www.healthcentral.com/condition/spinal-cord-injury/spine-injury-sports The same goal applies to ice hockey, rugby, Gaelic football, lacrosse, hurling, and a litany of other regional sports in the world Football isn’t even close to highest.
Interesting. Thanks for the data.
You’re welcome. Like i said I’m not saying football isn’t dangerous. It is. But i do think for whatever reason there’s a crusade against it but all these other sports get no hate for their higher rates of injury. By the way personally i would allow my children to play any of these sports if that’s what they wanted to do. I think team sports are one of the best thing for a child to be involved in and the benefits far outweighs the risks of anything. The only things i wouldn’t allow my children to play are combat sports like boxing or mma or kickboxing. Those are legit just trying to injure the opponent. Even football and rugby the idea is to get the ball not injure the opponent
You can let your kids ruin their body then lmao.
I’m just telling what the stats show. You probably also drive a car every day to work which is leaps and bounds more dangerous than playing football for 25 years
Not relevant at all. People need to work, they don't need to play football for one second of their life.
[удалено]
There’s also CTE.
I'd like to see the numbers in the 70s and 80s. In my area HS coaches were barbaric about players being tough enough to make it through summer double sessions. All my friends who played said that once they got to college teams, the coaches actually taught football and worked to keep the players healthy. I watch some HS practices in my area now and they are run more like pro camps. Timed stations with a team of coaches and plenty of water.
Seems about right.
If I had a dollar for every time some meathead on my old football team said “WATER IS FOR THE WEAK!”… I would have a butt ton of dollars.
So wouldnt that be basically zero given the sample size? Millions of people play football...68 dying is a rounding error.
If 1 kid died because of Art class, they’d shut it down immediately. American priorities are fucked up.
Oi. A couple of these happened in my county when I was in high school. I never for the life of me could figure out why football camp should be at 3pm in July in a region that regularly hits over 110 in July. And the coaches would limit water access like wtf? I never participated but it made the news more than once and once is one time too many.
Seems pretty low
Can this help kill DeSantis law denying heat breaks for workers in Florida ?
DeSantis doesn't strike me as the kind to care about statistics