Apparently playing soccer makes you dumb. Or, to be precise, heading the ball frequently leads to "mild to severe deficits in attention, concentration, and memory." Nevertheless, I think one has to assume that, all things considered, this is still a safer pursuit for your kid than American football.
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The Soccer Brain Injury Nexus
15 Sep 2007 10:52 am
Comments (39)
Well, in soccer it depends what position you play. Encourage your soccer kid to play goalie or defense if you want her/him to stay smart (they don't head the ball as often).
if you look back at soccer footage from several decades ago, the ball was much heavier (i don't know exactly when it changed), and many professionals who were big-time headers ended up with mental problems of various sorts. i thought the new ball was supposed to have taken care of that problem, but i guess not.
That's America's competitive advantage. We're richer than Europe partly because we don't play as much soccer, which improves our educational outcomes.
Football will ruin your knees and back, but it won't cost you as many IQ points.
(Oooh, what will iSteve say?)
Basketball and baseball. For the kids.
Real men don't play soccer.
NYTimes article on concussions incurred playing football. Huge disparity between what gets reported and what is elicited when surveying by symptoms. Using one's head against a ball or another body is really not recommended. Ain't what the head was designed for, and the brain do slosh around in there some. Helmets of any kind, for any sport, will not prevent the brain from slamming up against the inside of the skull.
In High School Football, an Injury No One Sees
http://tinyurl.com/yom8pe
I'm sure MattY would agree that the U.S. should move away from violent sports like football and even baseball and more towards non-violent team sports like sculling and polo. The latter can be safely enjoyed even by younger children by using small horses, so there's no excuse not to enjoy this wonderful sport.
I've always loved soccer, played it since I was 4 yrs old in Indiana. Yeah, it's basketball country, but guess what -- some of us prefer footie. Since I wore glasses, I was always afraid of bashing them and never headed the ball. Guess I can credit my BA for that.
My guess is that it is less about heading the ball than it is about the occasions when a player cant avoid taking a hard shot directly in the face, or when two players go up for the same ball and basically head butt each other. Playing in high school and college I would say it was pretty frequent to see players knocked unconscious or semi-unconscious by these episodes. I once unitentionally knocked out a player about twice my size because I accidentally head-butted the guy rather than the ball.
TLB, those are Hahvahd sports, but they aren't Dalton sports. Dalton students don't really do sports, except to watch the Knicks.
Encourage your soccer kid to play goalie or defense if you want her/him to stay smart (they don't head the ball as often).
I'm sure that a good friend of mine, who's a former professional centre-half and current research chemist, would disagree on so many levels.
if you look back at soccer footage from several decades ago, the ball was much heavier (i don't know exactly when it changed), and many professionals who were big-time headers ended up with mental problems of various sorts.
Ah, yes: the leather 'casey', which, when it got wet, was like heading a bag of cement. That changed with better waterproofing in the 1970s, and with the introduction of synthetic balls soon after. But you're right: there's been litigation on the subject.
I'm sure MattY would agree that the U.S. should move away from violent sports like football and even baseball and more towards non-violent team sports like sculling and polo.
As opposed to Chris Kelly, whose preferred sport in his ideal world would be shooting Mexicans from a safe enough distance to avoid shitting his pants.
All joking aside, perhaps MattY would like to tell us Atlantic's position on revealing the IP addresses of those who engage in libel. Do I need to get a subpoena, or would they be willing to assist me without that?
Yeah, defenders don't head the ball much. Attackers get to head the ball unchallenged. It's a special rule. Muppet.
And even a 15 year career couldn't lower the average footballer's IQ below that of the average NBA basketball player.
Perhaps TLB would like to tell us if he'll proceed with his libel action if Atlantic won't reveal the relevant IP address without a subpoena.
Real men don't play soccer.
I bet most soccer players could kick your sorry ass.
Yeah, defenders don't head the ball much. Attackers get to head the ball unchallenged. It's a special rule.
I was going to say kind of the same thing (though not as rudely and impatiently.) I think defenders and attackers get as many opportunities to get their heads banged around with headers. My recommendation is simply not to head the ball as much. I hardly ever headed the ball and I enjoyed a lengthy career of rec league and amateur soccer with no concussive side effects. That this was because I mostly sucked at heading is for the purposes of this conversation irrelevant, and soccer's unfortunate wearing out of my knee isn't worthy of note either.
Also, assuming SLC isn't being snarky, I would note that real men also don't post anonymously, but that's not really on topic.
Since I am European I obviously disagree with anything against football on general principle! But in this case I also have science on my side:
Rutherford et al. (2003) and Zetterberg et al. (2007)
European studies on the effects of soccer may be of limited value in America. Soccer in America is largely a children's sport, outgrown by age 10 or so.
Of course, being a spectator at an American football game is a lot safer than being a spectator at a soccer game.
...and safer than being an American football spectator in the wrong sports bar?
Just waiting for the report that claims that goalkeepers suffer greater hand and arm joint damage than those who spend their lives wrapped up in cotton wool.
Did you read the study Matthew?
Done in 1991 with a small sample of members of the Norwegian national team against 20 patients in the hospital. Suggestive evidence only.
http://ajs.sagepub.com/cgi/reprint/19/1/56?ijkey=f0697382f666fc2149ebbbf1fdf573707d2bf107
Soccer is only safer if you ignore the risk of getting one's ass kicked by the football players.
Re TLB
I don't want to play lawyer here but I don't see where Mr. TLB was libeled, at least on this thread.
Re Xanthippas
Real men also don't ski, don't play tennis and ride on tubular tires.
Re Bill
I bet that most American football players, baseball players and basketball players could kick David Beckhams' sorry ass.
Yeah, baseball players, because a game which is 95% standing around waiting for something to happen is going to make you much tougher than a game of constant activity,
Re William Burns
I think Tiger Woods could whip David Beckhams' sorry ass.
How delightful it must be to live in a world of evidence and argument-free belief.
I don't want to play lawyer here but I don't see where Mr. TLB was libeled, at least on this thread.
I assume that Chris Kelly and TLB must be the same person. Of course, for the statement to be libelous, in the US at least, it would have to be something that many people who were familiar with the person in question might reasonably be expected to think was literally true. So, presumably, TLB is engaging in empty bluster to intimidate anyone from saying negative things about him.
Re William Burns
Retief Goosen and Vijay Singh could also whip David Beckhams' sorry ass.
My observation would be that defenders head the ball more often than strikers and do so much more often when the ball has traveled a long distance, usually when kicked by the opposing keeper.
Josh Gros, a midfielder for DC United, is having a problem with concusion induced by heading the ball.
Having said that I would much rather my kid play soccer than American football, where concussions as well as serious knee and back injuries are far too common.
SLC, I'm willing to bet that Beckham would kick your ass. Without breaking a sweat.
SLC
As long as it's the silly season, I bet Vinnie Jones could whip all of MLB's sorry asses.
At the same time.
And speaking of sports that Real Men play, how about the whipping that the Springboks laid on England?
Starting to look like them vs. the Kiwis for the Cup.
I wonder how much brain damage is done by soccer players developing a taste for head-butting people they don't like (e.g., Zinedine Zidane in 2006)?
"Nevertheless, I think one has to assume that, all things considered, this is still a safer pursuit for your kid than American football."
I wouldn't assume that, with respect to serious injuries. Football certainly produces more minor injuries than soccer: bruises, the occasional cracked, bloody fingernail, etc. Builds character though. It also develops physical courage and gives you a chance to associate with some of the pre-military types (if there are any) in your high school.
I bet Vinnie Jones could whip all of MLB's sorry asses.
At the same time.
I would bet on Patrick Vieira in a sorry-ass-whipping contest against, well, just about anyone.
Re Thlayli
"I would bet on Patrick Vieira in a sorry-ass-whipping contest against, well, just about anyone."
How about Shaquille O'Neal?
A few years ago the Sun newspaper ran an April 1st gag about how FIFA were going to allow players to wear headgear to protect from potential brain damage. They even mocked up pictures of an Adidas Predator style rubber covering to be worn over the forehead, which, they claimed, could increase heading power by 20-30%.
You've hit on it, SLC. To truly be a "real man" one needs to be born a freak of nature, like Shaquille O'Neal. Never mind that he still loafs around his rec room playing Nintendo & eating cheese doodles, when he's not dominating the paint.
Comments closed September 29, 2007.
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Heads in the Sand
Lots of youth leagues forbid heading for this reason.
Posted by Rob | September 15, 2007 11:01 AM