In Alison Pearce Stevens’ “Soccer: Watch Out for Collisions” article out of Student Science is proving that head balls might not be the main cause of brain injuries in the game. In soccer, there is one major rule: no using arms or hands. As the ball floats through the air, the only other way to make contact with it and change its direction is to use his or her head. People have come to believe these head balls are the main cause of most concussions in soccer. Several sports organizations have banned headers in games played by anyone younger than the high school level, trying to reduce the progressing trend of concussions in the game. The University of Colorado has proven this to be wrong, finding that headers are not the main problem in the
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But collisions between two players accounted for on average, 60% of concussions. The researchers also looked at just those concussions due to heading, or attempting to head the ball. Among boys, 30.6 percent of the concussions occurred this way, and among girls, 25.3 percent did. With that being said, only a small percentage of injuries occurred from the ball actually contacting the head. More than half of concussions during headers resulted when two players collided, not from the ball-to-head contact. Alison Pearce Stevens wrote this article to prove that head balls are not what has been causing the upcoming trend of concussions in the sport. Most concussions happen during games, according to Epidemiologist Dawn Comstock who led the study at the University of Colorado. This is happening because when two players are going for the same ball aggressively, accidents are bound to happen. These findings are tremendous, according to Epidemiologist Andrew Lincoln who was not involved in the study. Soccer officials need to improve the safety of the players. Lincoln also believes that efficient changes can be made to improve safety without making any big changes to the …show more content…
I have been a soccer player for fifteen years now and reading this really opened my eyes. I was furious with the new rules being made. Head balls are a part of the game, a huge part in fact, and taking that aspect of the game away from the younger ages will just cause more incidents to come about when they get into the “right” age range to do head balls. From the start, you learn how to head the ball correctly; if that cannot be taught at the younger ages, than more injuries are bound to happen. In the fifteen years that I have played, I have never once witnessed an injury coming from heading the ball; however I have witnessed multiple injuries from aggressive play. It makes sense really, and I think that more rules need to be put into the referee part of the game, not the skills. Aggression is a natural part of almost any sports game, to some extent. Officials need to be more aware and enforce the rules of the game in order to get the growing number of concussions in soccer to
But collisions between two players accounted for on average, 60% of concussions. The researchers also looked at just those concussions due to heading, or attempting to head the ball. Among boys, 30.6 percent of the concussions occurred this way, and among girls, 25.3 percent did. With that being said, only a small percentage of injuries occurred from the ball actually contacting the head. More than half of concussions during headers resulted when two players collided, not from the ball-to-head contact. Alison Pearce Stevens wrote this article to prove that head balls are not what has been causing the upcoming trend of concussions in the sport. Most concussions happen during games, according to Epidemiologist Dawn Comstock who led the study at the University of Colorado. This is happening because when two players are going for the same ball aggressively, accidents are bound to happen. These findings are tremendous, according to Epidemiologist Andrew Lincoln who was not involved in the study. Soccer officials need to improve the safety of the players. Lincoln also believes that efficient changes can be made to improve safety without making any big changes to the …show more content…
I have been a soccer player for fifteen years now and reading this really opened my eyes. I was furious with the new rules being made. Head balls are a part of the game, a huge part in fact, and taking that aspect of the game away from the younger ages will just cause more incidents to come about when they get into the “right” age range to do head balls. From the start, you learn how to head the ball correctly; if that cannot be taught at the younger ages, than more injuries are bound to happen. In the fifteen years that I have played, I have never once witnessed an injury coming from heading the ball; however I have witnessed multiple injuries from aggressive play. It makes sense really, and I think that more rules need to be put into the referee part of the game, not the skills. Aggression is a natural part of almost any sports game, to some extent. Officials need to be more aware and enforce the rules of the game in order to get the growing number of concussions in soccer to