13 yr old Dies After Being Tackled During Game

[JBean]

Football is the stupidest sport ever invented. Not only is it incredibly dangerous.. but just ask all the men whose bodies are all messed up and broken down from it, who are only in their 30's and 40's. SAD!!!!!

It's not as dangerous if you know what you are doing. It IS dangerous for people that don't. The kids that don't have the drive or the aptitude should not play. While football is not for everyone, I love it.
I ride my bike and snowboard and probably have more injuries than our whole football team put together. Some things are just worth it.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

Kids can get injured in a million different ways. Its unfortunate that this teenager died, but to condemn an entire sport because of it doesn't make any sense to me. My son has been playing football for a few years now. The only injury he's ever had was a broken pinky finger. He's injured himself much, much more on his skateboard.

 

[CaliKid]

Kids can get injured in a million different ways. Its unfortunate that this teenager died, but to condemn an entire sport because of it doesn't make any sense to me. My son has been playing football for a few years now. The only injury he's ever had was a broken pinky finger. He's injured himself much, much more on his skateboard.

My 11 year old has been playing football for a couple of years. He's had 2 broken arms, both from playing on the monkey bars.

 

[angelmom]

I think pretty much all sports can be dangerous, and it is in the perspective. I've seen my brother get hit in the face with a line drive in a baseball game, the bad knee my husband has from baseball (broke the kneecap playing first base), a kid accidentally get hit with a golf club (walked into the back swing - concussion) and people get hit with golf balls, and swimmers with major repetetive stress injuries.

I had to laugh when a friend came to watch one of my sons' tae kwon do tournaments and said he'd NEVER do that b/c you get kicked too much. This kid plays on a travelling soccer team. :crazy: In tae kwon do, the rules and pads on these kids are very protective and, in fact, the most dangerous thing is holding a board for another person. But you can get hurt.

I admit, football scares me. I hope my kids never find time or interest.

 

[southcitymom]

My Dad is also a believer that every boy should play football at least once. I was athletic in high school and know I would have wanted to play had that been an option. In any event, I agree that you can't condemn an entire sport because of sad instances like this. At least once or twice a year, young cross country runners here in Atlanta drop dead. Pushing the body has risks.

I've got a while before I have to "worry" about any of this though. My boys are 5 and 7 and I'm not a big believer in "organized" sports for kids that age. The oldest one tried karate and soccer when he was 5, but he could have cared less about either sport. I can't really tell if they will be inclined towards athletics at this stage in the game. I was into team athletics from high school on - my husband was into solo athletics from college on. We never watch sports shows on TV or anything like that, so my kids aren't really exposed.

The oldest one, however, is extremely tall and big for his age with no signs of slowing up, so I suspect a coach will try to recruit him as he gets closer to middle school.

 

[Amraann]

Kids can get injured in a million different ways. Its unfortunate that this teenager died, but to condemn an entire sport because of it doesn't make any sense to me. My son has been playing football for a few years now. The only injury he's ever had was a broken pinky finger. He's injured himself much, much more on his skateboard.

I remember you and I talking about this very topic Jeana a little while back.

I really worry about the long term affects of playing... I think your lucky with the coach and team etc..
But in reading everyones post I am getting that those things make the difference and seeing my friends sons constantly injured makes me think that our HS team is not as safety conscious as it should be...
Their oldest has some pretty serious long term problems already and he is by no means a small kid.
At only 16 his knee injury will probably give him problems his entire life.

 

[Jeana (DP)]

I remember you and I talking about this very topic Jeana a little while back.

I really worry about the long term affects of playing... I think your lucky with the coach and team etc..
But in reading everyones post I am getting that those things make the difference and seeing my friends sons constantly injured makes me think that our HS team is not as safety conscious as it should be...
Their oldest has some pretty serious long term problems already and he is by no means a small kid.
At only 16 his knee injury will probably give him problems his entire life.

I'm sorry the kids at your school have had so many injuries. The coach really does play a significant part of keeping the kids as safe as they can possibly be in a high-risk sport.

 

[Peter Hamilton]

I only played football for one year, in 7th grade when I was 13--Today I remember almost nothing from the entire experience--That's how much I enjoyed it lol--I do remember being very cold(Connecticut) and one time I was supposed to tackle this guy--the next thing I knew I was on the ground--My teammates ran up to me and asked me if I was alright--I said why do you ask--They said that I had done a complete flip in the air lol--I never played football again--Baseball was a lot more fun,I used to hit many home runs--In High School,i played Soccer all 4 years and that was a lot more fun than football--I was called "Dynamite" because of my ability to kick the ball in the air for great distances