Prep football season

[dmbrand]

I personally have a tough time with this. Anyone else have a son playing football and worrying about major injuries?

My kid is slight, but fast. Because of this, he is a running back, punt returner, and cornerback(this year's position; last year...a safety). I cringe everytime I see a smash-face play. I don't know if I will make it through this season(He played varsity as a sophomore and is now a junior). I get nauseous driving to the games; but try to put on a brave face! Tell me some good stories!

 

[MILOIOWA]

I personally have a tough time with this. Anyone else have a son playing football and worrying about major injuries?

My kid is slight, but fast. Because of this, he is a running back, punt returner, and cornerback(this year's position; last year...a safety). I cringe everytime I see a smash-face play. I don't know if I will make it through this season(He played varsity as a sophomore and is now a junior). I get nauseous driving to the games; but try to put on a brave face! Tell me some good stories!

There are far more serious injuries on the basketball court than there are on the football field. There is hard evidence out there somewhere to prove that, but I can't remember where LOL! Injuries can happen anywhere. As long as he goes hard every play-many injuries happen when a kid is "taking a play off" or fatigued and not aware of his surroundings.

 

[swift]

There are far more serious injuries on the basketball court than there are on the football field.

I agree!! On my DH's basketball team he had one player snap his achilles tendon and another hurt his ankle real bad from coming down wrong after a lay up.

My youngest is in football he plays offensive tackle. I am less worried about him getting hurt than I was about his older brother while he was in wrestling. That I had a hard time watching. Seen a few dislocated shoulders in that game.

 

[LAX Mom]

I personally have a tough time with this. Anyone else have a son playing football and worrying about major injuries?

I'm going through the exact same thing with my youngest son, Alex. He played varsity last year as a sophomore and will start this year at linebacker and also play some running back. First game is Saturday!

He works so hard all year long and is crazy about football! His two older brothers also played, but they preferred lacrosse. We've been pretty lucky with injuries. My oldest had a bad concussion his senior year. I held my breath until the season was over! Alex has had a couple of concussions, one towards the end of last season.

The biggest scare I've had was in early July. The coach called me around 8:30 AM (practice had been going for only 2 hours) and said the paramedics had been called. Alex started hyperventilating during a water break. His heart was racing and they couldn't get it to come down. They decided he needed to be checked out so I meet them at the children's hospital Emergency Room. After some fluids and a couple of EKG's they sent us home. We had to see his pediatrician before he could practice again. We also took him to a sports medicine specialist for a stress test and evaluation. They think it was probably dehydration that caused the problem.

My 3 boys have played on many teams,... basketball, football, soccer, & lacrosse. I've seen way more injuries in football than everything else combined!

My oldest was on the field as a senior when a boy on the other team was paralyzed. The game film showed it was an accident. He & a teammate went for a fumbled ball and just hit wrong. That was 7 years ago and the young man still isn't walking.

Last May Alex was playing at a 7 on 7 tournament when another boy, 16 years old, collapsed and died on the field. The last I read in the news media, they were not sure what caused the death. Your heart breaks for that family!

Football is a tough sport and scares me like crazy! My boys are very competitive and love sports! The practices, weight-training and focus on teamwork have had a positive effect on their development. It teaches them to set goals, work hard, and work within the structure of a team sport.

We've had many coaches who have been great role models for my sons. In fact it was a lacrosse coach who helped my 2 oldest sons find a college experience where they could play Division 1 lacrosse.

Good luck with your son and the football season! Remind him to drink lots of fluids and get plenty of rest. Here's to an injury-free season!

 

[swift]

There is hard evidence out there somewhere to prove that, but I can't remember where LOL! .

Here are the numbers for Americans sent to the emergency room in 2005
from the top 15 most dangerous sports

Basketball: 512,213
Bicycling: 485,669
Football: 418,260
Soccer: 174,686
Baseball: 155,898
Skateboards: 112,544
Trampolines: 108,029
Softball: 106,884
Swimming/Diving: 82,354
Horseback riding: 73,576
Weightlifting: 65,716
Volleyball: 52,091
Golf: 47,360
Roller skating: 35,003
Wrestling: 33,734

Quote from: http://www.livescience.com/health/060614_sport_injuries.html

 

[MILOIOWA]

Here are the numbers for Americans sent to the emergency room in 2005
from the top 15 most dangerous sports

Basketball: 512,213
Bicycling: 485,669
Football: 418,260
Soccer: 174,686
Baseball: 155,898
Skateboards: 112,544
Trampolines: 108,029
Softball: 106,884
Swimming/Diving: 82,354
Horseback riding: 73,576
Weightlifting: 65,716
Volleyball: 52,091
Golf: 47,360
Roller skating: 35,003
Wrestling: 33,734

Quote from: http://www.livescience.com/health/060614_sport_injuries.html

That works! And if you go by percentage of athletes competing, wrestling would be higher on the list because there are probably less than 25% the number of wrestlers as there are football players in the country.

 

[Big Matt]

Two comments:

1) when ever you look at statistics that have totals you need to be careful. More people play basketball than football. Consider that almost no women play football, but there are millions who play hoops at all ages. I'm sure if you looked at percentages, the numbers would be very different.

2) also most basketball injuries are knee, ankly, finger, arm, elbow, muscle tears, etc. Usually nagging and sometime very serious injuries that require surgery. Football injuries have same plus lots of broken bones, lacerations, and abrasions. Football paralyzes people every year and others get permanent brain injuries from too many or one really bad concussion. Even more kids drop dead in summer practice. It happens every year.

I've played both sports through high school and I played D1 baseball in college. Football is by far more violent than either sport and the point of the game (other than to score points) is to knock the opponent off their feet to move down the field one way or another. That's why you wear protective equipment on your head and to protect other parts of the body that take a pounding.

My ten year old is playing for the first time and I get nervous too.

 

[MILOIOWA]

Two comments:

1) when ever you look at statistics that have totals you need to be careful. More people play basketball than football. Consider that almost no women play football, but there are millions who play hoops at all ages. I'm sure if you looked at percentages, the numbers would be very different.

2) also most basketball injuries are knee, ankly, finger, arm, elbow, muscle tears, etc. Usually nagging and sometime very serious injuries that require surgery. Football injuries have same plus lots of broken bones, lacerations, and abrasions. Football paralyzes people every year and others get permanent brain injuries from too many or one really bad concussion. Even more kids drop dead in summer practice. It happens every year.

I've played both sports through high school and I played D1 baseball in college. Football is by far more violent than either sport and the point of the game (other than to score points) is to knock the opponent off their feet to move down the field one way or another. That's why you wear protective equipment on your head and to protect other parts of the body that take a pounding.

My ten year old is playing for the first time and I get nervous too.

This can debated to no end. Football players have protective gear on, and play on a softer surface in general. Basketball players have no protection and play on a very hard surface. Every doctor/athletic trainer I have ever asked has said that they see more injuries of all types from basketball players than they do football players-even paralysis. I will agree that the latter is more common in football. At any rate, if a kid enjoys playing, just support him/her and make sure they are educated, in shape, and prepared. If we limit kids from doing the things they enjoy, no good can come of it. Besides you can get severly injured walking down a flight of steps-trust me, I've seen it happen. Good luck to all of the tugger kids this year in whatever they participate in!!