As a soccer coach, I have long wondered how many headed soccer balls are too many at all levels. If we believe that small movement of the brain repeatedly over time has the potential for damage, well I don’t know how else to describe heading a soccer ball. I ask my players to use other body parts to control the ball, but it isn’t always possible under the current circumstances. I was doing a high level coaching certificate and one of the drills was a heading game. After I got home my wife asked me if I had been drinking because My speech and demeanour was as if I was drunk. I hadn’t had anything but water. Pretty scary. People think that I’m crazy when I say that I’d like heading removed from all levels of the game.
Rugby registrations are down in the uk, and I can only imagine that all contact sports will have to acknowledge and deal with brain injuries at some point.
Maybe if we call them brain injuries instead of head injuries it makes it sound more realistic.
Like many, I used to love a physical hockey game especially with fighting, but now with understanding the damage that is being done, I look forward to head shots leaving the game.
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