The “Friday night lights” have been dimmed over a Michigan high school football field after injuries – including concussions – sidelined several players, four others quit and the coach had to promote a younger and less experienced junior varsity squad to first string. Two-thirds of the Caro High School team, its coaches and the school’s administration voted to suspend the season with three games remaining after last week’s 53-0 thrashing by rival North Branch. Tell Us: •Is it time to end high school football? Comment using Disqus and tell us what you think. “It’s a difficult decision because our players were out there battling hard, but we’re an educational institution, and with our students, safety comes first,” Caro school Superintendent Mike Joslyn told The New York Times. “These kids have long lives ahead of them, and we need to keep the brains in their heads intact.” The Caro Tigers started the 2014 season with 25 players, but the teams ranks were thinned by injuries to the point that head football Coach Todd Topham had to promote eight sophomores to the varsity squad to reach the required 22. Players worried that their younger peers were too vulnerable to injuries, ABC News reports. At least three high school football players have died of injuries received on the gridiron this fall, including a Long Island 16-year-old and a cornerback from Troy, AL, and a Roseville, NC, senior who collapsed during warmups. “These kids have long lives ahead of them, and we need to keep the brains in their heads intact.” – Caro school Superintendent Michael Joslyn The string of deaths isn’t isolated. The Atlantic said in a November 2013 report that seven high school football players had died from on-field collisions. Football is under increased scrutiny because of debilitating brain damage and fatal injuries sustained by players, whether at the youth, high school, college or professional level. At the college level, University of Michigan head football coach Brady Hoke was criticized last month for leaving quarterback Shane Morris in the game after he sustained a hit that left him dazed and wobbly. He remained in the game for the next play, went to the sidelines and then returned to the game. Two other college quarterbacks – Casey Cochran of the University of Connecticut and David Ash of the University of Texas – decided to hang up their pads after sustaining multiple concussions. About 1.1 million boys play high school football, placing them at a higher risk (11.2 percent) for concussions than if they were playing any other prep sport, The Institute of Medicine reports. The concussion rate is also higher for prep football than for college football (6.2 percent), according to the report in The Atlantic. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says sports concussions have reached “epidemic” proportions. In 2011, a bout 122,000 children ages 10-19 were treated for nonfatal head injuries in the nation’s emergency rooms. Most of the boys who were treated received their injuries while playing football, according to a Sports on Earth report. Some of the most damning evidence supporting the argument for an end to tackle football at the high school level came from Purdue University, where researchers found that before they have recognizable signs of a concussion, injured players exhibit brain function changes, according to NPR. The more the player was hit, the more brain function changed, the researchers found after reviewing the results of MRIs. Though brain activity changed, mental performance didn’t. In Michigan, response to early end to the Caro High School football season is mixed. “Half have thanked us for making a courageous decision,” Joslyn told The New York Times. “The other people say you don’t ever quit, that kids are soft these days and need to get out there and battle. I understand all of that, but our kids were out there battling. We made the best decision we could.” The bottom line, he said, is “these kids have futures beyond football.” ____ Patch photo
Posted on: Tue, 21 Oct 2014 14:40:33 +0000
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