FB: Old Dominion Athletic Conference

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Ralph Turner

Quote from: jknezek on April 07, 2017, 01:38:46 PM
Quote from: tigerFanAlso2 on April 07, 2017, 12:38:49 PM
You are correct. Makes me glad I'm in the 4th quarter of my life cycle. The day is coming when most mothers will not allow a kid to play football and what sad day that will be.

It's not just mothers. I won't let my boys play tackle football until they are 12 or so. If they really want to at that age, I will consider it.

Of course, my daughter is currently 7 and heavily involved in Tae Kwan Do. And my 5 year old boys are in a pre-Tae Kwan Do program. But I watched my daughter place 3rd at a tournament by scoring 4 of 7 points kicking a boy with her well padded foot twice on his well padded head gear. So it's entirely possible that I'm being ridiculously hypocritical. On the other hand, the fact that my daughter is capable of kicking a boy in the head, and punching him when necessary, makes me quite happy for her inevitable future relationships.

The fact that my twin boys are learning some of these same skills does not make me feel quite so happy for their inevitable cohabitation as they grow up.
I am not worried. The code of honor and discipline for Tae Kwan Do would govern their use of force.

jknezek

Quote from: Ralph Turner on April 07, 2017, 02:46:25 PM
Quote from: jknezek on April 07, 2017, 01:38:46 PM
Quote from: tigerFanAlso2 on April 07, 2017, 12:38:49 PM
You are correct. Makes me glad I'm in the 4th quarter of my life cycle. The day is coming when most mothers will not allow a kid to play football and what sad day that will be.

It's not just mothers. I won't let my boys play tackle football until they are 12 or so. If they really want to at that age, I will consider it.

Of course, my daughter is currently 7 and heavily involved in Tae Kwan Do. And my 5 year old boys are in a pre-Tae Kwan Do program. But I watched my daughter place 3rd at a tournament by scoring 4 of 7 points kicking a boy with her well padded foot twice on his well padded head gear. So it's entirely possible that I'm being ridiculously hypocritical. On the other hand, the fact that my daughter is capable of kicking a boy in the head, and punching him when necessary, makes me quite happy for her inevitable future relationships.

The fact that my twin boys are learning some of these same skills does not make me feel quite so happy for their inevitable cohabitation as they grow up.
I am not worried. The code of honor and discipline for Tae Kwan Do would govern their use of force.

That code works better as you get older. Twin 5 year olds don't quite get the concept. Better to have the code of the parents... hit your brother, get a consequence...

tigerFanAlso2

point is you will at least consider allowing your boys to play football, many parents will not. overtime the game will cease to be played and/or will be changed to a point that we will not recognize it as being football.

I did not allow my boys to play tackle football until age 10, from that point it was their decision to participate or not. head injuries are a problem, amount of contact needs to be controlled, proper blocking/tackling techniques need to be taught/mandated, injuries will continue to occur, not just in football but across all sports



jknezek

Quote from: tigerFanAlso2 on April 12, 2017, 08:34:51 AM
point is you will at least consider allowing your boys to play football, many parents will not. overtime the game will cease to be played and/or will be changed to a point that we will not recognize it as being football.

I did not allow my boys to play tackle football until age 10, from that point it was their decision to participate or not. head injuries are a problem, amount of contact needs to be controlled, proper blocking/tackling techniques need to be taught/mandated, injuries will continue to occur, not just in football but across all sports

No doubt. I had 2 serious sports related concussions requiring hospitalization and I never played organized football. My first was about 14 at a soccer camp in Connecticut. I went for a header with another kid and we hit heads so hard we both blacked out. Woke up a few minutes before the ambulance arrived and was taken to the hospital. Didn't play again for 4 weeks. The second was playing rugby in college as a sophomore. Went up to catch a kick and got tackled. On the way down my head slammed into a team mate's knee. Didn't wake up that time until I reached the hospital. Never played rugby again. Was told to sit out the rest of the season and decided there were other things I wanted to do in college by the time the spring practices rolled around.

Neither play was a penalty. It's just part of competitive sports sometimes. But, I think other sports are doing a better job combating the problem, especially at the youngest levels, than football. And I think the repetition is a problem with football in general. If even small knocks, over time, are as big a problem as current research indicates, there simply isn't a way to make playing on either side of the line safe. Of course, that also leads me to believe that eventually soccer will need to ban heading the ball, which is going to kill free kicks.

As for allowing my kids to play football, I'd really rather they didn't. I have said for years that I wouldn't allow it. But as they grow and I allow them to do other things, I realize how naive it is to point at football and say that is the one I won't allow. For crying out loud I have a zipline in my back yard! Things just aren't as black and white as my younger self would have liked.

Scots13

I played tackle football from the age of 7 until I was 22. Football concussions=0, Back yard with the cousins and brother=probably 3. Football obviously has a propensity for head injuries, but has jk noted, other sports and activities do too.

I'm a proponent of flag football beginning at an early age. Maybe at even the age of 4 or 5. At that age, it's more or less a glorified game of tag. It's a catalyst for team building skills, communications, and (believe it or not) how to win and lose. All necessary lessons that should start at a young age. It seems some of the kids in school nowadays never learned that final lesson.

I am definitely an opponent of spring practice for youth organizations and high school teams. Work outs--great. Captains leading film study--great. A little pass skelly after school--fine by me. Structured out of season events and specialization are flat out terrible in my opinion. I was watching the local news in Knoxville the other day and some lady was talking about a 8U travel baseball doing a fundraiser for a tournament...AN 8U TRAVEL TEAM???? What happened to city and county rec leagues playing 15 games between a few local teams and moving on to another sporting season?
Where Chilhowee's lofty mountains pierce the southern blue, proudly stands our Alma Mater
NOBLE, GRAND, and TRUE.
TO THE HILL!

jknezek

Quote from: Scots13 on April 12, 2017, 11:25:48 AM
I was watching the local news in Knoxville the other day and some lady was talking about a 8U travel baseball doing a fundraiser for a tournament...AN 8U TRAVEL TEAM???? What happened to city and county rec leagues playing 15 games between a few local teams and moving on to another sporting season?

These days are long gone. Especially in the South. Our local travel soccer club offers 3 options for kids up to 12. Rec soccer for kids who just want to play locally, about 8 games a season, two possible seasons depending on kids interest. No more than 1 practice and 1 game a week, very low key. Town soccer for kids who want to be more serious, up to 3 seasons a year, 2 practices a week, 12 game seasons. You don't have to play every season and you only have to make one practice a week to play in the game. Finally... Travel soccer. Competitive teams with tryouts from ages 7 and up. Three seasons a year, 3 practices a week, 12 to 14 game seasons plus 3-6 weekend tournaments a year. You are expected to play all 3 seasons to stay on the team.

If you are playing Travel that is expected to be your primary sport. Miss a practice for anything other than injury or sickness? You aren't playing the game that week. Decide to skip a season to play another sport? You probably will be bumped down to Town and must try out again to make a new travel team. It's serious, it's expensive. The head coach is paid, U.S. soccer licensed, and cannot be a parent. Parents can assist only.

Frankly I think it is insane. I started playing rec soccer at 6 and moved to travel at 7, but we had 1 practice a week, 2 seasons a year until I was 9 or 10. Then it moved to a much more intense level that peaked with freshman year of h.s. After that, club soccer trailed off a bit, becoming informal in the fall during h.s. season and intense in the spring off season.

I feel bad for these kids forced to choose so soon. My daughter liked the church league soccer she played last year. I liked coaching her. I'd gladly do it again, but I'm not pushing my kids to go crazy into anything. They like Taekwando? That's fine by me. We will fill in with some team sports for all rounding purpose, but it probably will never get higher than rec unless one of them truly falls in love.

On the other hand, my daughter, at 7, is already so far behind the "serious soccer" kids it really doesn't matter. It is doubtful she could catch up in any meaningful way to the travel skill kids. So if it is truly important for your kids to compete at the highest level, you have to whip and drive them early these days. It makes me kind of ill...

Bombers798891

When I wrote a story on the future of football for a magazine I was working for, I interviewed a number of coaches. Of course, concussions were the big topic. And it blew my mind how, when discussing how more people are not having their kids play, every one of them gave me some version of "You know, one of the most common cause of concussion for teenage boys is from car accidents. I don't hear people saying we shouldn't let them get in cars."

I can't tell you how disheartening that was to hear (and not just because of the logical flaws comparing the riding in a car to playing football). I came away with the belief that a whole lot of coaches still don't get why the concussion issue is as big a deal as it is.

Scots13

It is a big deal, yet I am not convinced shielding kids until they are in middle/high school is the only solution to the rise of concussions in youth athletes. The big thing that I saw while I was coaching was the extreme skills gap between a 16 year old that has played since he was 7 to a 16 year old novice. The skill I'm referring to is being able to protect yourself. Granted, protecting yourself isn't a sure fire way to escape head injury free, but it goes a long way. You wouldn't expect a 6'1 215 lb 17 year old to pick up a bat for the first time and hit a home run would you? No, it takes time in the batting cage to build the skill of hitting a baseball. Likewise, you wouldn't expect a 16 year old to hop into a car and drive like a reasonably competent adult until they had some practice time behind the wheel, i.e. learner's permit/driver's ed. In my opinion, the same goes for tackling/getting tackled.

Of course I'm not saying parents are wrong for not allowing their children to participate in football over the concern. It's a case-by-case family decision. As in my earlier post, give flag football a chance at a younger age. If I ever have sons, I'll probably have them play 2-3 seasons of flag football before they strap on the pads.
Where Chilhowee's lofty mountains pierce the southern blue, proudly stands our Alma Mater
NOBLE, GRAND, and TRUE.
TO THE HILL!

jknezek

There is something to what you are saying, but again, it's not the single big hit that is going to kill football, though that is the "showy" problem. It is the research coming out on cumulative small hits. If that research bears out, you simply can't justify putting a kid in pads at 10 or even 11/12 years old because every hit, whether it is simply crashing into the opposite lineman or just bouncing off the ground in a tackle, is a problem later in life. For some it'll be a big problem, for others it might not be noticeable. But that research is terrifying. If every one of those contacts does a small bit of damage there just is no defense against starting that young.

On the flip side, if every kid plays flag until 11 or 12, some kind of minimal contact from 12 to 14 where they learn to tackle, and then starting at 14 through college they play our commonly known version, then there isn't a problem with some kids starting early and some starting late. But USA Football is the one that is going to have to mandate it, just like U.S. Soccer mandating no heading until after 10.

HSCTiger fan

Hampden Sydney College
ODAC Champions 77, 82, 83, 87, 07, 09, 11, 13, 14
NCAA Playoffs - 77, 07, 09, 10, 11, 13, 14
The "Game" 60 wins and counting...
11/18/2018 Wally referred to me as Chief and admitted "I don't know about that!"

Bombers798891

Quote from: jknezek on April 13, 2017, 05:44:35 PM
There is something to what you are saying, but again, it's not the single big hit that is going to kill football, though that is the "showy" problem. It is the research coming out on cumulative small hits.

Yup. What is it, the "repeated sub-concussive hits"?

hasanova

#20471
http://www.guilfordquakers.com/sports/fball/2016-17/releases/20170418r9k41p#

Future Quakers 16-20 in Guilford class of 2021.  With no D3 programs in SC, I'm starting to see more recruits from that state coming to Guilford.  With I-85 and I-77 corridors, about 3 to 3.5 hour drives to Greensboro.

tigerFanAlso2

Thanks for sharing. Have not heard much about HSC's recruiting class. Will share if/when I hear something.

HSCTiger fan

Quote from: tigerFanAlso2 on April 24, 2017, 03:29:43 PM
Thanks for sharing. Have not heard much about HSC's recruiting class. Will share if/when I hear something.

HSC has had an amazing recruiting class!  Several highly regarded offensive linemen, 2 W&L transfers, and 2 CNU transfers included in what maybe the best class HSC has had in years.
Hampden Sydney College
ODAC Champions 77, 82, 83, 87, 07, 09, 11, 13, 14
NCAA Playoffs - 77, 07, 09, 10, 11, 13, 14
The "Game" 60 wins and counting...
11/18/2018 Wally referred to me as Chief and admitted "I don't know about that!"

tigerFanAlso2

timing could not have been better. hsc has not had a good recruiting class since 2011 and that was along time ago.