Why do American parents allow their children to play American football when its known that there is a high risk of concussion in American football, even at the high school level?

Background: my kid doesn't play but it's more because he's never shown interest in it than because he's explicitly banned from doing so. I think there's a couple different reasons the outcry isn't greater: 1) The science is still developing. The idea that cumulative concussion damage could create long-term health issues is fairly new (5-10 years) and not necessarily well understood yet. There's no roadmap that says "if you have X concussions you're safe; if you have Y, welcome to early-onset dementia". There's also no clear understanding of how big the kid has to be or how fast he has to be moving for there to be a problem -- that tells us high-school hits are safe, but college or NFL-speed hits are bad. So some parents probably fill in the gaps with "well, that's not going to be my kid". Or, "well, if he plays in high school and then stops, he'll be fine". 2) The percentages on chronic brain trauma are still fairly low (as far as we know). A single concussion may be a fairly high risk; the repeated trauma that causes lifelong injury is less so. This may be a re-statement of the first point, but add up all the high profile incidents of confirmed CTE trauma, and it's maybe a couple dozen at this point... maybe into the 100s or 1000s if you allow some guesstimating. Now compare that to the thousands of kids who played football in high school and college and (for the moment) have no long-term symptoms. Heck, there's even plenty of pros who seem pretty lucid and asymptomatic. The chances of getting a single isolated concussion may be kinda high, but the chances of getting the chronic head-shots that lead to lifelong medical issues seem to be fairly low so far. I'm not 100% comfortable with this position myself -- if you take out the high-profile stuff like dementia and suicides, how many people are there that seem to be OK on the surface, but their brain is rewired in more subtle ways -- maybe more violent or quick-tempered than they used to be or something like that. 3) For some people, it's a lottery ticket that's too much to pass up. Let's be honest; if you're good at football, it's a chance to go to college for free, and at the extreme end, make better money in a few years than you'd make in a lifetime at a 9-5 job. Some people are going to want that even if you tell them there's an X% they could end up with brain damage when they're in their 50s or 60s. 4) OK, let's be honest, bullshit macho posturing is in there too. Part of the allure of the game is the physical conflict between big strong dudes. To people with that mentality, complaining about getting your bell rung is barely a real injury, and the possibility of lingering effects 20 or 30 years later is irrelevant. The problematic thing is, some of those people become coaches or parents.

Via Greg Easterbrook's TMQ article on http://espn.com.... Table 3 of the report shows the direct fatality rate from high school football peaked at 2.6 deaths per 100,000 players in 1969 and declined steadily to 0.13 deaths per 100,000 in 2010. That means a 1968 high school football player was 20 times more likely to die than a 2010 player. (The main reason for declining deaths was that football helmets were improved to eliminate skull fractures.) Later on in his article... These are all rough estimates. Taking them together, a teenager has a one in 1 million chance of dying in an hour behind the wheel, compared to a one in 27 million chance of dying in an hour of football contact. Being in pads on a football field is less deadly than driving to high school for class. Many contemporary parents, especially moms, might say, "I don't want you playing football because it's so dangerous, but it's fine for you to drive to the mall." As regards mortality, this misperceives the risks.Of course, death is only one of many risks in football. Other, more common harm, especially accumulated damage to the brain from concussions, is a greater negative to playing,since sports-caused death is very rare but sports-caused brain harm is not. As somebody who played high school football, here is my take: You cannot stop your child from doing everything that involves some sort of risk (although many parents nowadays see this as good parenting, mainly for selfish reasons). Yes, there is risk involved with football, but there is also a significant reward for many kids and most of the enjoyable things in life involve some form of risk. Good parenting is not prohibiting your kid from playing football. Good parenting is educating your child on the risks of playing football and then allowing them to make a decision. Revolutionary thinking, I know! Allowing people under the age of 18 to make decisions for themselves is almost taboo in the neurotic age of parenting we live in. And at its core this is not because it is bad for kids, but because parents are afraid of looking like a bad parent in front of other parents and are afraid that if something goes wrong they will be to blame if they didn't take every necessary precaution. If Johnny gets a concussion playing football, they may feel guilty for letting him play. If the over-parenting and associated unhappiness and stress lead Johnny to become a depressed, addict then the parents can say "we tried so hard, we gave him everything and were so careful", absolving themselves of any blame or guilt. Not to mention the potential neighborhood embarrassment of having a relaxed parenting style and child who turns out to be "problematic." Then of course it is your fault that your kid is such a fuck up! The supposedly selfless act of parenting has increasingly become subject to more selfish motivations (and adults now wonder why today's youth supposedly are so "self-absorbed"). Lawsuits, globalization, and mass media have all contributed to the horrendous, over-protective parenting (not to mention teaching, dont even get me started on the schools) that we see today. But anyway back to the point about football safety... Good parenting is ensuring that if your child decides that he will be playing football you... a) make sure his coaching staff takes safety precautions seriously b) make sure he knows to use proper technique that is unlikely to lead to injury.  keep your head up is good advice to start with and pretty simple! c) make sure that the league he is in emphasizes player safety d) again, make sure that your child understands the risks. This doesn't mean scare him and show him videos of NFL players getting paralyzed, he won't be getting hit this hard and frankly the odds of severe damage are extremely low at even high-level football and almost zero in youth leagues. 12-year-olds, almost without exception, don't hit hard enough to paralyze each other or crack skulls. Yes, concussions are possible. THat is why if your child experiences one you need to clearly explain the risks associated with football and multiple concussions again. and again. Do not scare your child, be realistic and explain things clearly and simply. If your child suffers a 2nd concussion and shows no signs of reluctance or desire to stop playing then perhaps it is time to step in and say that enough is enough and their behavior is destructive. I think you would find that the vast majority of preteens and teens value their long-term mental lucidity over playing football. 12 year olds may not know everything, but they are perfectly capable of understanding the risk and reward associated with football and making their own decisions.

SOME OF US ARE WORKING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE: Since the beginnings of the game, we have seen much progress, change and even innovation in all areas with the exception of form tackling. Each position player has a certain set of mechanical skill drills and techniques used to effectively execute his position, but tackling has not been addressed in this fashion. There is a national conversation beginning on what can be done to make the game safer. Solutions like reducing the length of practice and extensive risk assessment/management after a concussion has occurred. These still don't get to the heart of the issue. What is the heart of the issue? Changing the culture around tackling, the most physical aspect of the game. "Lay a hat on him..." "Get some paint on your helmet!..." These and many other words of 'encouragement' along with a fundamental misunderstanding of the mechanics the body must execute for an effective and SAFE take-down has been pervasive for decades. The answer lies in a uniformed system of INSTRUCTION that all coaches must adhere to. YOU MUST TAKE THE HEAD OUT OF THE GAME Would you let your son or daughter continue to drive if they got into an accident 85% of the time they got behind the wheel? I'm assuming you would not. 85% of all concussions happen in practice. The majority of these are helmet-to-helmet and the main cause of much of the concern. Remove the helmet (ie. the player contact drills) from the practice and you remove 85% of the potentiality for the occurrence of a concussion, neck or spinal injury. SET A NEW PARADIGM "Play like you practice" You're only as good as what you know how to physically execute on the field and if you don't understand enough about the physics of your own body and how to align it at any moment to deliver a blow while keeping the head clear, it's only a matter of time before the ball player get hurt. At Train 'Em Up Academy, we have developed a 12-step tackle progression system that let's players execute every single mechanism of tackling. Using sleds, dummies and other equipment you can: 1. Train at game level intensity 2. Understand the body mechanics that puts the head in harm's way and how to remove it completely from the tackle 3. Train the correct muscle group to maintain the correct body position to protect the head, neck and spine. 4. Develop muscle memory and the "feel" of correct form so you can execute it everytime. We've been teaching this technique for 15 years and have worked with thousands of kids to keep them safe. In 2011, we received a grant for a research study of our technique versus conventional tackling. The results were: 1. A reduction of force to the head & neck by as much as 43%. 2. 100% removal of CROWN-STRIKE (helmet-to-helmet) impact. TO SAVE OUR KIDS...WE MUST CHANGE THE GAME. I understand the frustration and fear parents have about letting their kids play. It's up to us a coaches to find and provide new solutions that keep our kids safe as possible http://www.trainemupacademy.org saved at Just now (clear)

Define "high risk of concussion" please. Is it higher than the risk of concussion when just walking around?  Sure it is. Is it so high that it is guaranteed that playing football equals a concussion?  Nope, not at all. I coach at the high school level. Last year, we had zero concussions on our team.  The previous season, we had one. As coaches, we are taught how to identify a concussion and we have trainers present at practice and games to check the kids out. If we do identify a concussion that player is excluded from practice and games until medically cleared by his physician. We minimize contact at practices, especially once the season starts, removing live tackling from drills and scrimmages as much as we can. We teach safe "heads up" tackling to try and keep the helmet out of the game. There is, without question, risk of injury--including concussions--in tackle football. There is a risk in baseball or soccer or basketball, too. Different risks, perhaps, but still risks. I allowed my son to play football. I would be fine with my grandsons--should I have them--to play football as long as I saw the coaches were teaching safety and paying attention to their team.

The head injury research is having an impact on newcomers to the sport. Our local youth football clubs are fielding a lot of questions about this and enrollment even before high school (they start wearing pads at age 8) is down. You'll start to see the effects in about 8-10 years when the current generation of youngsters will be less likely to enroll in high school football. We opted to take our son out of football before the pads came on. The head injury concerns played a large part in the decision. He has lots of athletic opportunities. The risks with other injuries just do not come close to lifelong effects of catastrophic brain injuries.

They shouldn't.  But they do because they get caught up in the successes they see at an early age.  The kid plays a game of touch football or flag football, and he makes some plays that seem superhuman.  A one handed catch is followed by a sprint to the end zone, pulling away from everyone.  He's 8 years old, and it's a town if 13,000.  It's hard not to see this special talent, even though it's rather meaningless.  Plus, there is the character issue.  He's willing to do anything for the team, throwing himself in front of a truck it seems.  We delude ourselves.  Great athletes are famous.  Who doesn't want that?  What is ignored is the shorter life span compared to other athletes.