A story about Wayne Chrebet
I love football, always have, I like to play, I love to watch. But when I read stories like this I question what I am really cheering for.
And more importantly as a father, I question letting my children play. James wants to play, he's already talking about it. And I know I scoffed when my older brother didn't let my nephew play, that I would let my son's play. But so far it is clear that my children will be smaller than kids their own age. And with the size difference and other issues I worry about their safety. I didn't play football other than pickup touch and flag so I never had to worry about concussions. But the more information that comes out the more I wonder if playing tackle football is something any sane parent would let a little kid do. It's different for my other nephew, he's huge, always has been, played line etc. I was more worried about his opponents than him.
As you know, I'm not a football fan; but then I'm not much of a sports fan
ReplyDeleteperiod. When I was young, my brothers played football, both in high school
and in the empty lot down the street. On one of those old DVDs of the
Rogers family, there is a shot of my father playing in a high school
football game. You will notice that he has very little protective
equipment. Today the amount of protective equipment that players wear is
staggering.
As best I can tell, there is a higher likelihood that a young player will be
injured in some way playing football than he might be playing any other
sport. And the kind of injury sustained is more likely to be a serious one
than in any other sport. That would be my number one reason for not wanting
my grandsons to play football.
I have a few memories of my young sons wanting to play football. First
memory: Dave at the age of about 7. There was some kind of an organized
football group for boys his age, and of course, he wanted to try it. At the
end of the first day, I found him crying in his room afterwards. I was very
concerned because he didn't cry about many things any more. I discovered
that, because of his slim build, he had tried to compensate by wearing 6 or
7 pairs of underpants (briefs), and he was in terrible pain! The tightness
in the legs had cut off his circulation! At some point, he decided that
football was not a good game for him and concentrated on soccer, which was
just beginning to be played. Incidentally, he was built like Alex, so he
never would have had the bulk to be much of a football player anyway. I was
always glad that he didn't want to play football because I was afraid he'd
be injured.
Dan was quite different. He was much bulkier and I guess I thought he would
play football. He never seemed interested enough in any organized sport to
go through a season, though. I think he loved playing with Pete and you and
Dave in the front yard, but he's not a very competitive person in general
and I think that's one reason he never got too interested in organized
sports. On the other hand, he did try playing football one year, either in
the 9th or the 10th grade. He got very turned off from it, though, when the
coach insisted that the team pray before each of their games. It must have
been a Christian prayer because I remember he told me that he thought about
how the Jewish kids on the team felt. He quit playing before the season
ended, and I wasn't sorry.
I don't remember you really ever having much of an opportunity to play
organized football at any time.
Anyway, my next memory involves Alex. When they first moved here, I used to
pick up Alex after soccer practice many times. Now soccer practice wasn't
all that exciting to me, so often I would take a walk around the area till
practice was over. They used to practice at Bonny Park, and often there
would be a young football team practicing on a nearby field. One day I
happened to be passing by when I heard the coach belittling one of his
players because he wasn't able to do as many pushups as the other boys.
These were pretty young kids, now, not even in their teens. I was shocked,
and mentioned it to Dave. He didn't seem surprised; just said, "well,
that's kind of the mentality for football."
So that is my second reason for not wanting your boys to play football. The
coaches and parents of the other boys. The mentality. In football you want
to hurt the other team, to crush them, to physically injure them. Not just
to win, as you do in all sports. I certainly did NOT want my boys to be
around that kind of mentality any more than necessary, and I personally
don't want my grandsons to be encouraged in that direction either. Seems to
me there are enough other sports for them. And as you point out, they will
likely be smaller than many other boys their age. In football they are
likely to be called names because of it. I sure wouldn't want that for my
grandsons.
The above was sent by my Mom, in case you didn't infer that.
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