http://www.boston.com/news/local/ma...ld_require_helmets_for_school_soccer_players/ "BOSTON --Soccer players would join the list of athletes required to wear helmets under legislation making its way through the Statehouse. The bill would cover teams from pee wee leagues to college teams. Professional soccer players, like the New England Revolution, would be exempt. No other state appears to have a soccer helmet law. Supporters of the bill say helmets are needed to prevent head injuries from collisions and from heading, a key element of the game where players use they heads to ricochet the soccer ball to another player or at the goal. Backers point to evidence of long term neurological damage among some players as a result of heading -- evidence that has prompted a call by some for a ban on the practice. State Rep. Deborah Blumer, D-Framingham, sponsored the bill on behalf of a constituent, but conceded it likely won't pass. She said lawmakers may instead approve a commission to study sports safety legislation. Critics said the call for helmets is an overreaction." I'm sure the big Full 90 lobby has something to do with this legislation
I've never quite understood why anyone would want to legislate issues that concern one's own health and nothing else.
Oh, there are always crappy arguments to make, like how "health care costs" are affected by soccer-player head injuries. The fact is that we are all in danger when the legislature is in session. Someone famous said that. Except he said it much better. Who was that?
I thought new ball technology refuted this premise? It's not like the old days when soccer balls were made of leather and soaked up water. Heading one of those things was like heading a medicine ball.
I think that we should all celebrate the fact that we can now move on to this important health care issue, now that the obesity epidemic has been controlled.
One of the best threads ever was when the president of that compnay tried to push that junk in the referee forum. Didn't go so well for him.
That was fun. As I recall, his "medical expert" turned out to be some quack from a completely unrelated medical field, like urology.
IIRC, he and his brother initially posed as "concerned" fans but were quickly exposed as to their true motives. All hell broke loose at that point.....and I grabbed a popcorn and a coke and just watched.
All these years heading the ball and I think the only side effect is that I keep coming back and posting in this forum... There must be brain damage.
Next thing you will know is that the will legislate that you have to wear shoulder pads and you can use your hands............. Seriously are we trying to make today's youth a bunch of sissies and momma's boys and girls.
Same hear. I started to play when the ball were leather. Man, those things were loud. You wood head them and they would ring. I remember not being able to remember whole stretches of matches, which don't light when their wet.
This is just another logical step in the progression where kids can't play tag or dodgeball at recess. The degree to which sociologists and the feminist movement are trying to feminize American children is appalling.
This reminds me of a news piece I heard a month ago about an elementary school in Florida that posted signs on the chain link fence surrounding the grass playground that said, "No Running." Gotta be careful about running. One can get all hot and sweaty and mold will grow on you. Gotta love these folks.
i have a brother who is eight years younger than me. when it came time for him to play little league, they wore batting helmets with a full face gaurd, and the city had passed a law requiring anyone under the age of sixteen to wear a helmet while riding just about anything with wheels (skateboard, bike, rollerblades, etc). helmets are cool for certain things..... hell, i got a concussion while wearing a helmet on a skateboard half pipe...... docs said i would've fractured the hell outta my skull if i hadn't be wearing one. that was on a 12 foot tall half pipe though (i wouldn't have been caught dead wearing one while street skating). but sticking all this crap on kids for everyday stuff is stupid.
Has anyone seen the Full 90 infomerical on FSC? It's actually pretty interesting. I have no idea whether this device actually protects you from head injuries, but it might. Meanwhile, my son has gotten two concussions playing soccer -- one at u14 and one at u15. The one at U15 was particularly nasty, but he seems to be fine overall. It was head to head contact going up for a header, in both instances Since then, he has played in much more physical matches, without a problem. My understaning is that today, virtually all concussions occur in head to head contact, or head to ground contact. With today's ball technology, heading the ball causes no problems. Look, some government safety mandates are good. Seat belts. Air bags. This one?? In some instances, people need to use judgment. Dennis Hamlett had to quit soccer because the next concussion would have been very damaging. At least that's what the doctors told him, though from what I see, doctors are pretty much in the dark about how severe each specific concussion really is, and what long term effects really are for, say, the isolated ones, like my kid's. Though clearly, if you get many, and they tend to be bad...well, this is not good.