General Heading banned for U12s

Nanny state.....maybe they should ban tackling to protect their little tootsies?? pffffffffft
 
Evidently after reading it heading the ball will not be banned in matches?????? ......f*****g mental.....all this bollox coming from a Jock University.....what do the Jocks know about football??? ;)
 
Evidently after reading it heading the ball will not be banned in matches?????? ......f*****g mental.....all this bollox coming from a Jock University.....what do the Jocks know about football??? ;)

The NFL on concussion also used to say it was all B*****s as well until they got taken to court. Dementia etc in footballers is higher than the population average iirc from reading of articles on the research. I believe the authors of the research acknowledge that more research is needed though again iirc.
 
allowed to header in matches just not in training.... how are you going to train kids to head the ball "properly" if you cant teach them - madness.....
 
allowed to header in matches just not in training.... how are you going to train kids to head the ball "properly" if you cant teach them - madness.....
Exactly what I was wondering, surely training is the time to teach them how to do it properly. Not read the article, is it all heading? Or can you throw up a ball to teach technique?
 
Exactly what I was wondering, surely training is the time to teach them how to do it properly. Not read the article, is it all heading? Or can you throw up a ball to teach technique?
maybe ask Sykes about that? ;)
 
Any heading is bad for a developing brain. I'm also not so sure that "heading it properly" is any better for you than "heading it badly" - the brain accelerates against the skull causing local trauma either way. I guess they figure that you can't exactly ban it in matches without some bonkers refereeing outcomes, but you can ban coaches from teaching it. How many times will a 10 year old head the ball in a match? maybe a couple of times. How many in training if they were practising? Maybe 10? That's 5 times less damage by banning it.
 
Any heading is bad for a developing brain. I'm also not so sure that "heading it properly" is any better for you than "heading it badly" - the brain accelerates against the skull causing local trauma either way. I guess they figure that you can't exactly ban it in matches without some bonkers refereeing outcomes, but you can ban coaches from teaching it. How many times will a 10 year old head the ball in a match? maybe a couple of times. How many in training if they were practising? Maybe 10? That's 5 times less damage by banning it.
There is a difference, surely, between standing 5 yards away and throwing up a ball to practice technique against a kid heading a skied goalkick in a game?

Going to below head height rules for games, is that the future for, say, primary school football? Not that it would be a bad thing as it would emphasise passing.

As I mentioned earlier in the thread, I've not read up on this, so appreciating the replies on here.
 
There are a number of points to consider here.

Firstly, while the increase in the risk of developing dementia looks very large (about 365%), the actual risk is pretty low to begin with (about 0.65% if I recall correctly). So, there is no need for any kind of panicked reaction.

More importantly, the study shows that footballers actually have an increased life expectancy over the general population, so overall, being a footballer is a huge benefit.

The study is also, of course, looking at players who played in the '60s and '70s mainly, so you have to take into account the change in tactics then to now. The ball spends much less time in the air.

As for banning it in training for u12s, that seems pretty sensible to me. My lad, who is 12, plays at a high level (Championship team academy), and they have never had more than a couple of training sessions on heading anyway. The actual number of times they head the ball during games is already pretty small. Basically, they do it when they need to. They attempt at all times to play on the deck and training is predominantly about ball skills, so not allowing them to head balls in training isn’t likely to have that much of an impact.

Overall, I think it’s a good idea to protect the developing brain from too much unnecessary trauma, but no one should panic about this issue.
 
As for banning it in training for u12s, that seems pretty sensible to me. My lad, who is 12, plays at a high level (Championship team academy), and they have never had more than a couple of training sessions on heading anyway.

When did they promote us into the Championship? ;):)
 
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