Is Youth Football Too Dangerous?

February 20, 2023

After what looked like a routine tackle during a game last month, Buffalo Bills defensive back Damar Hamlin suffered cardiac arrest that sent him to the hospital in critical condition. Last September, Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa endured a head injury so severe that he left the football field on a stretcher. These recent incidents have prompted renewed debate about the dangers of playing professional football and intensified calls to prioritize player safety. Discussions about how to better protect players have been particularly loud when it comes to youth football. More than 970,000 high school students play football, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations. That’s in addition to the more than 650,000 kids ages 6 to 12 who also play football in the U.S.

A neuroscientist and the leader of one of the country’s largest youth football organizations face off about whether it’s unsafe for kids to play football.

Imagine you saw a child getting punched in the head by their parent 389 times. Would you try to stop it?

Research by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (C.D.C.) shows youth tackle football players average 389 hits to the head each season. A child’s brain can’t tell if it is being hit by a football helmet or a fist—the effect on their brain tissue is the same. Repeated hits to the head cause traumatic brain injuries called concussions, and, according to the C.D.C., they can also cause the brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (C.T.E.), which is associated with aggressive behavior, depression, and paranoia, and can cause dementia.

It’s not fair to enroll kids in an activity that causes C.T.E. before they can understand and accept the risk. Most sports recognize that children should be protected from unnecessary brain damage and have changed rules to eliminate repetitive head impacts. USA Hockey banned checking until age 13, and U.S. Soccer banned heading before age 11.

It’s not fair to sign kids up for tackle football before they can understand the risks.

The country’s major youth football organizations refuse to acknowledge that tackle football causes C.T.E. and still encourage kids as young as 5 to play. Ironically, football’s governing body suggests children avoid lifting weights until age 13, saying starting earlier “puts too much strain on young muscles, tendons, and growth plates.”

You don’t have to be a neuroscientist like me to know your brain is more valuable—and more vulnerable—than muscles and tendons. That’s why flag football—where children average 12 impacts to the head a year, rather than the 389 they average in tackle—is the only acceptable option.

A parent who punched their child in the head 389 times would go to jail. But it’s legal to sign your child up for tackle football and let other kids hit them in the head. Youth sports are a great way to get exercise and learn valuable life skills, but there is no benefit—and tremendous risk—from getting hit in the head over and over. Let’s stop hitting kids in the head.

—CHRIS NOWINSKI, Ph.D.

Co-founder & CEO, Concussion Legacy Foundation

Football has never been safer than it is today. Over the past 10 years, we’ve learned quite a bit about health and wellness within the sport, and that has spurred immense change, including scientifically guided coach and player education, better equipment, and common sense safety protocols. In Pop Warner, for instance, we have completely rewritten the rule book.

If a team has practice on two consecutive days, game-like physical contact among players is allowed on only one of those days, and that contact is limited to a maximum of 30 minutes. This change has reduced by 75 percent the amount of contact our players experience each day in practice.

In another rule change that was guided by research, we eliminated the three-point stance for our youngest players since linemen using two-point stances have nearly 50 percent fewer head contacts over the course of a season. We’ve banned certain full-speed, head-on tackling and blocking drills, and we require any player with a suspected head injury to receive clearance from a medical professional trained in concussion evaluation and management before returning to play. We also mandate USA Football’s Heads Up coach education on proper tackling and blocking techniques.

We continue to follow the science and change rules to make football safer.

Our medical advisory board—composed of neurosurgeons, pediatricians, concussion specialists, and sports medicine physicians—will continue to guide Pop Warner to follow the science when exploring rule changes that continually improve the safety of the game.

Playing football is a personal decision, and there’s no way to completely safeguard against injury in any physical activity—whether it’s skateboarding, skiing, playing on a jungle gym, or contact sports like football, lacrosse, and hockey. Those who do decide to play will experience a fun sport that emphasizes teamwork, dedication, and perseverance—all skills that come in handy in school, work, and life. We think football is not only safer today but is also a worthwhile pursuit.

—JON BUTLER

Executive Director, Pop Warner Little Scholars