More Evidence Heading in Soccer is Dangerous
According to researchers from New York’s Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, heading a soccer ball on a regular basis — even just a few times a day — can lead to brain damage. See FoxNews.com. Soccer players who headed the ball on a frequent basis showed similar brain injuries to patients with concussions.
“Heading a soccer ball is not an impact of magnitude that will lacerate nerve fibers in the brain,” says lead author Michael Lipton. “But repetitive heading may set off a cascade of responses that can lead to degeneration of brain cells.”
There is increasing evidence that repetitive sub-concussive hits (e.g., heading in soccer, linemen banging heads on nearly every play in football, etc.) can have negative ramifications for brain health. It’s not just multiple concussions that can lead to brain injuries, as was once believed. These new findings are troubling for sports like soccer, in which regular sub-concussive hits to the head are part of the game.
A growing mound of studies on heading in soccer has resulted in some troubling conclusions, including a study of Italian soccer players that suggests soccer players are six times more likely to develop motor neuronal disease (MND) than the general population. sbbb
Some youth soccer associations have begun looking more seriously at head gear designed to lessen the trauma from heading, collisions and falls. The sense of urgency in this regard needs to be intensified.
— Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans
Sports Forum Podcast
Episode #28 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: A Chat With Mano Watsa, a Leading Basketball and Life Educator – Watsa is President of PGC Basketball, the largest education basketball camp in the world, with over 150 camps in 30+ U.S. states and Canada. We discuss problems in youth sports today, including single sport specialization, the growing gap between the “haves” and “have-nots,” the high drop-out rate in competitive sports, and the growing mental health challenges young athletes are dealing with today.
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Episode #26 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: How Can We Fix Youth Sports? – John O’Sullivan is Founder and CEO of Changing the Game Project and author of “Changing the Game: The Parents Guide to Raising Happy, High Performing Athletes and Giving Youth Sports Back to Our Kids.”
Episode #25 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Physical Education Should Be a Critical Component of K-12 School Design – Michael Horn is co-founder of the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation.
Episode #24 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Mental Health and Athletes: Ending the Stigma – Nathan Braaten and Taylor Ricci are the founders of Dam Worth It, a non-profit created to end the stigma around mental health at colleges and universities through sport, storytelling, and community creation.
Episode #23 – League of Fans’ Sports Forum podcast: Olympian Benita Fitzgerald Mosley Talks Title IX, Youth Sports and the Olympics.
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"How We Can Save Sports" author Ken Reed appears on Fox & Friends to explain how there's "too much adult in youth sports."
Ken Reed appears on Mornings with Gail from KFKA Radio in Colorado to discuss bad parenting in youth athletics.
“Should College Athletes Be Paid?” Ken Reed on The Morning Show from Wisconsin Public Radio
Ken Reed appears on KGNU Community Radio in Colorado (at 02:30) to discuss equality in sports and Title IX.
Ken Reed appears on the Ralph Nader Radio Hour (at 38:35) to discuss his book The Sports Reformers: Working to Make the World of Sports a Better Place, and to talk about some current sports issues.
- League of Fans Sports Policy Director Ken Reed quoted in Washington Post column titled "What happened to P.E.? It’s losing ground in our push for academic improvement," by Jay Mathews
League of Fans is a sports reform project founded by Ralph Nader to fight for the higher principles of justice, fair play, equal opportunity and civil rights in sports; and to encourage safety and civic responsibility in sports industry and culture.
Vanderbilt Sport & Society - On The Ball with Andrew Maraniss with guest Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director for League of Fans and author of How We Can Save Sports: A Game Plan
Sports & Torts – Ken Reed, Sports Policy Director, League of Fans – at the American Museum of Tort Law
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