“He’s been on board ever since,” Smith said. There’s nothing her son and his middle school classmates like about lacrosse, soccer, baseball, and basketball. It’s great to support the , but they don’t want to play,” she said.
Over the past decade, the number of high school boys playing games has declined. Nationwide, 973,792 boys played high school soccer during his 2021-22 school year. That’s more than double his 436,465 on the football team. But ten years ago he had 1,095,993 boys playing football. He attributed this decline to two factors. Parents fear their children will suffer brain injuries, and schools are concerned about liability for those injuries. High school football rosters are dwindling, but the Friday night lights still shine brightly in Georgia, with yearly attendance steady at about 32,000 players, according to National High School Association data. .
Football has come under fire from studies linking the sport with traumatic brain injuries that can have lasting and devastating effects. In 2021, he will have four high school deaths, including three of his deaths during games and one during practice from a traumatic brain injury, according to the annual Football Injury Study study. The study documented 13 other footballer deaths in his year that year related to conditioning and running, 11 of which were in high school. These deaths were primarily due to sudden cardiac arrest and heat stroke.
One of the greatest concerns is chronic traumatic encephalopathy. It is a degenerative brain disease associated with repeated blows to the head that can only be seen after death. CTE has been found in the brains of more than 315 former NFL players. of Boston University Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center. CTE is also associated with other high-contact sports such as boxing, soccer, and hockey.
“My husband is 39 years old, incredibly talented, and played hockey at a very competitive level from the ages of 13 to 19. He was also diagnosed with early-onset Parkinson’s disease. and the underlying cause is likely due to repeated concussions and brain trauma,” said Georgia parent Ashley. I have agreed to Ashley’s request not to use her last name as she is concerned.)
His last injury, and last playing time, was in 2011. It happened when someone cross-checked the base of his skull during men’s league play. “His tremors and adjustment problems started shortly after that. He may also have some degree of CTE, but we won’t know that until he’s definitely passed. We have 2 I have two young children, but due to these concerns, I am not allowing them to play contact sports.It is not worth it at all,” she said.
Renee Lucas Haugen, a former Fayette County teacher and track coach who now lives in California, says all sports involve risk. “I once seriously injured my head in the pole vault. I saw a 16-year-old boy’s femur break in half while running a two-mile race in track and field. Everything has risks, Some athletes in all sports have hidden sensitivities,” she said.
Although heartbreaking, Hamlin’s devastating injuries are rare, Haugen said. , I don’t think it should be cancelled.If it wasn’t for football, would he have been playing rugby, basketball, baseball, soccer, running track?”