Sports parenting: Pop Warner taking measures to limit concussions

Is it appropriate for kids under the age of 14 to play tackle football? No, say 78 percent of American adults, according to a recent poll by UMass Lowell. And many of those poll respondents don’t think that Pop Warner, the largest youth football organization in the country with some 225,000 players, has done enough to address “new evidence about concussions and brain injuries.”

But from what I can see, Pop Warner has taken a lot of steps to keep kids safe from head and other injuries, and parents shouldn't be too quick to dismiss tackle football as an option. Under the right conditions, youth football can be a great experience for kids.

Doctors are indeed seeing more head injuries among kids playing sports than they did five years ago or 10 years ago, according to Dr. Peter Kriz, the chief of primary care sports medicine at University Orthopedics, but that's "simply because there is better awareness and recognition of concussion signs and symptoms, thanks to the educational efforts of many professionals ranging from school nurses to athletic trainers to coaches to primary care physicians."

Thanks to the attention paid to head injuries in recent years, several youth, high school and collegiate sports organizations, including Pop Warner, have implemented training, rule changes and practice restrictions in an attempt to limit head injuries. Kriz says they should be "commended for their collective efforts," but he believes more needs to be done in youth sports in general. (See online Q&A with Dr. Kriz for a complete list.)

Jon Butler, executive director of Pop Warner Little Scholars headquartered in Langhorne, Pa., says Pop Warner football is "relatively safe in comparison with other organized youth sports. You can't say anything is 100 percent safe because nothing in life is."

"The important thing is, we've got to keep kids active and moving," Butler says. "Kids want to play football. ... That's great. We've made great strides in safety and will continue making rule changes as science points out that it makes sense."

Here's some of the changes Pop Warner has made. In 2010, it created a medical advisory committee that focuses on prevention and treatment of concussion and other health issues. Pop Warner players suspected of suffering a concussion can't return to the field without clearance from a licensed medical professional.

In 2012, Butler said, Pop Warner "became the first football organization at any level to limit the amount and type of contact allowed at practice." This year, the organization is eliminating kickoffs for its three youngest divisions, on the premise that kickoffs are where some of the worst collisions happen.

Thomas Flynn, commissioner of the The Rhode Island Southeastern Massachusetts Football and Spirit Conference, notes that "all of our coaches in the Rhode Island Southeastern Mass (RISMA) Conference receive concussion awareness training through the USA Football Heads Up program, which models their concussion program after the CDC’s concussion awareness program. There is also a tremendous effort to teach kids proper tackling and blocking techniques which avoids helmet contact."

Kriz, whose children play ice hockey, stresses that football isn’t the only youth sport that presents a risk of head injury. Hockey, soccer, rugby and lacrosse can also put players at risk. He limits his children to one collision sport.

"I worry (perhaps, unfounded worry) about the athletes that go from one collision sport season right into the next, or decide to play a collision sport year-round," he says.

Here's some of the advice Kriz would give a parent considering youth football (See online Q&A for his full response): Find out the credentials of the coaches. Find out if they've gotten training for heat-related illness, as well as concussion education. Find out if your son will compete in a division that's appropriate for his age, weight and physical maturity?

If your child does decide to play, Kriz says, neck-strengthening exercises are a good idea since they may protect against concussion risk.

"Let your son give football a try," he says.

And, he adds, "Most importantly, tell him to have fun."