OT: US Soccer bans headers for U11 programs
According to the article they will also try to "reduce" headers for 11 to 13 year olds.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:21 PM ^
November 9th, 2015 at 10:57 PM ^
Until I got to about 15 or 16 and the kids around me started to kick a lot harder.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:20 PM ^
Being very involved in the sport at youth level in a way its huge ....in a way it is not.
#1 While it is practiced a decent amount at say U10 it is not that common in games to see headers except at quite high levels of travel. Most kids just don't have the will or skill or coordination that young. You wouldn't normally see it in a game.
#2 this is just a recommendation and the academies are a tiny tiny sliver of even travel soccer. Michigan has I believe 2 clubs with academies. I mean that would affect maybe 0.3% of all kids who play soccer in the U.S.
The regulations will be mandatory for U.S. Soccer youth national teams and academies, including Major League Soccer youth club teams, but the rules will be only recommendations for other soccer associations and development programs that are not under U.S. Soccer control.
The limitation in practices at older ages is probably more of a change but again if its not widely adopted it will affect that same tiny sliver of players.
Will be interesting to see if it gets more widely adopted as I know concussions are super high profile at the youth level in this sport as with all others.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:03 PM ^
The actual jurisdiction may be small, but I would suspect that this could set the standard and many other organizations at that age level will follow suit.
November 10th, 2015 at 8:55 AM ^
Yes that was my last comment. It's either going to be taken at this tiny sliver of the soccer population and be ignored by everyone else or it because a very widely adopted rule. But with the way things work even if its the latter its going to take years to filter thru all the associations as decision making at an efficient pace is not something bureaucracies do well.
But yes it is a huge concern at club level and a lot of that is due to potential litigation. Money drives the world.
November 10th, 2015 at 11:23 AM ^
As you noted, there will eventually be a litigation involving a soccer player where CTE or some other equally debilitating condition shows up and every organization that the plaintiff played for will be named as a defendant. That will take care of headers for many organizations.
November 10th, 2015 at 12:10 AM ^
Agree - unless your child is playing at a very, very high level of soccer at a young age, rarely do you see headers. My daughter plays U13 at a decent level and headers have always been rare in her games. The occassionally header you see is after the ball has bounced - I don't think I've ever see a girl head a ball directly in the air from a corner kick, goalie punt or a ball hit pretty well.
November 10th, 2015 at 8:50 AM ^
Yes most kids are trying to avoid the ball if it is aimed at their head in self defense up to maybe U12-13.
Honestly the biggest hits to the head I see are just random kicks where a player from opposing team blasts the ball and someone is just in direct line of flight due to random chance. Those are 10x the velocity of a typical ball in the air a kid is trying to head.
November 10th, 2015 at 5:26 PM ^
My son plays on a U11 travel team. They are decent...not really competitive with the best U11 teams.
Headers are routine on his team and in the Michigan league he plays in (WSSL - Western Suburban Soccer League). He had his first header for a goal this past spring as a U10. It is not uncommon to see balls headed into the air followed by another header.
I am concerned about the long term effect of headers, especially if he continues to play soccer and continues to progress in the sport. There is a lot of emphasis on playing the ball in the air, especially on set pieces (i.e. direct or indirect kicks and corner kicks). And it only gets more intense as they get older.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:20 PM ^
Save America. Ban soccer.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:59 PM ^
I dont get all the hate for soccer. As someone who loves sports, more sports the better. Learn the game and the rules and you'll never be bored in the summer or spring when football is not in season. Its your choice to be "annoyed" by a sport. So why not learn to love it.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:51 PM ^
My dislike for soccer is from being forced to play it for two years. It's a great sport for women and Europeans. Like Jim says football builds toughness in American males.
November 10th, 2015 at 12:45 AM ^
So that must mean you weren't good at it.
November 10th, 2015 at 1:14 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 6:15 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 6:15 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 6:15 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 6:15 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 8:08 AM ^
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November 10th, 2015 at 10:50 AM ^
That would be expected. Football is a game played at high intensity for short durations of time. Soccer is played at low intensity for long durations of time.
November 10th, 2015 at 8:28 AM ^
You poor poor thing. Grow up.
November 10th, 2015 at 8:46 AM ^
I think you are sort of trolling on purpose but if "toughness" is the only factor we should be banning most sports for guys and bring in rugby only (and I guess hockey). Basketball would be for the "weak", baseball, soccer, track, among many others
In terms of athletics talking to coaches in other sports they love soccer players at the HS level because they convert so well to sports like...you know...football.
Would you ban swimming for men too? And basketball? Some of the best athletes in the wovld but they don't hit each.
If I would ban anything it would be baseball :) The ave kid stands around for half the game and has to move maybe 10 minutes in the field in 2 hrs and then when hitting has to move maybe 10 minutes a game. That's a lot of inactivity. Harbaugh wouldn't approve!! (Exceptions being pitchers and catchers)
November 10th, 2015 at 9:45 AM ^
I like this comment because it gets dumber as it goes along.
November 10th, 2015 at 12:02 PM ^
So hate your parents not the game.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:53 PM ^
Just don't worry about it man. Ignorance gonna ignorant.
November 10th, 2015 at 7:56 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 10:54 AM ^
My biggest criticism of soccer is that it bans the use of hands. Opposable thumbs is what sets us apart from the beasts. Why would you want to prevent the use of our evolutionary advantage?
That being said I love the continous game flow and that is why I prefer Rugby over Soccer.
November 10th, 2015 at 10:38 AM ^
November 9th, 2015 at 10:36 PM ^
November 9th, 2015 at 10:41 PM ^
15 years ago my mom used to pay my little sister $1 for every header she avoided. Sister's team nickname was "Brutus" so she had to balance competitive fervor and dollar, dollar bills.
I agree, it isn't a big part of the game with young players so why not take it out for kids learning teamwork and getting exercise.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:50 PM ^
Good. There was always that one idiot who overinflated their ball to give it a petrified feel. Plus, kids shouldn't be booting the ball up and down the field; learning to pass on the ground will be more productive long-term.
November 9th, 2015 at 10:56 PM ^
And they expect the US to compete on an international level?
November 9th, 2015 at 11:45 PM ^
We could go Brazil-style and make the kiddos play barefoot in dirt, or Ghana-style and play in pebble fields.
November 10th, 2015 at 2:01 AM ^
Sounds good to me. How about both?
November 10th, 2015 at 9:24 AM ^
Lmao, good times. We also played with crushed up cans in school because no one had a ball.
November 10th, 2015 at 1:33 AM ^
To be fair... any US player with 1/100 the talent of say Messi or Ronaldo would/should be shipped off to a European academy if he or she really wants to become a star soccer player.
US soccer academies/systems are garbage and won't compete until our academies rival those of Bayern/Dortmund/Barca/Arsenal/Juventus/Porto etc.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:07 PM ^
Hockey has done well at this sort of thing; they have, I believe, eliminated checking at younger ages and modified the rules as kids develop. I'm not as knowledgeable on the details as someone like JGB, but the changes they've made have been sweeping and visible. And, I believe, productive.
Soccer people appear to believe that it's better that they get on top of this now, before it becomes some sort of social cause. Soccer is very popular but does not have the cultural base in this country that football does; if families grow to think it is unsafe it could seriously erode in favor of some "less dangerous" sport.
And, let's face it, hitting a hard-kicked ball with the head can hurt.
November 10th, 2015 at 12:55 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 1:18 AM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 8:56 AM ^
I have two sons that play hockey. It was probably 3 or 4 years ago that they made changes to the checking rules, starting it at Bantam (13 and 14) versus Pee Wee (11 and 12). While I'm sure concussions played a role in the decision it was done primarily to allow two more years of hockey that is focused on skating, passing, and other fundamentals. This of course didn't sit well with some of the hockey crowd.
November 10th, 2015 at 10:58 AM ^
Don Cherry probably has a few choice words on that decision.
November 9th, 2015 at 11:21 PM ^
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November 9th, 2015 at 11:34 PM ^
November 10th, 2015 at 10:39 AM ^
Which looks incredibly fun to play
November 10th, 2015 at 10:56 AM ^
My acls quiver in fear.
November 10th, 2015 at 8:51 AM ^
...because repeated, subconcussive impacts have also been shown to have long term impacts on memory and cognition. And helmets don't do much to prevent the rapid acceleration/deceleration of the brain in the skull that seems to be responsible.