sigpisig: mrtoadswildride: sigpisig: ChrisDe: [images.usatoday.com image 180x160]

Problem solved.

I agree.

The Rock Center segment did not even mention headgear. WTF?

4 girls on my daughters team wear them, including our daughter who is the keeper.

Also did not see any players in any of the clips wearing them. Don't know if it is a regional thing (segment was based on the east coast and we are in north Texass).


WTF are people doing wrong now?

I played soccer (and indoor soccer) from when I was around 6 or 7 until I graduated high school...and the only serious injuries were the freak ones that a headband would never have prevented.

It has just gotten really competitive, and the refing sucks. They rarely call anything as dangerous play, let alone card anyone. If they would be more heavy handed with controlling a match it would be different. Most head injuries here are from hitting the ground after a bad tackle.


I ask again.....WTF are people doing wrong?

Do people not know how to play? do they not know how to fall? you can't blame the refs..or pretend that a girls play more physical than boys....that's just a silly excuse.

are people just not taught how to play properly?

This just in. Sport where you head a ball 20 yards and sometimes smash your head into another person's head who is attempting to head the ball 20 yards in the opposite direction can cause head injuries.

I've sent a few kids to the hospital when I was younger. A 50-60mph free kick straight to their head/face usually did the trick. That was when I was a teen, there are pros who can hit the ball at about 80mph and defenders who will literally throw whatever part of their body (aside from their hands or nuts) they can in the way to stop that shot.

IAmRight: Strategeryz0r: You're reason for wanting to force everyone to wear padding revolves around the potential of getting hurt.

How about you stop making up an argument no one's making to rally around and pretend that soccer's full of badasses?

/soccer is the lamest of all sports

I'm not claiming it's full of badasses, to each their own. I'm saying idiots like you need to stop forcing people who play a sport you don't even like to conform to your idea of safety. We play the way we play for a reason, and no amount of morons like you trying to force us to change it is going to make a difference. It's accepted in its current form internationally. Just because pussies like you think any risk a sport might carry should be mitigated so your precious snowflake might now get hurt doesn't mean anything needs to change. You need to realize if you can't handle the risk, then you shouldn't be playing the game.

Basically your name is inaccurate, because you're completely and totally wrong. I mean shiat you can't even come up with a proper counterpoint to anything I'm saying. Just admit you're a complete idiot and move on to some other sport. Perhaps darts is more your speed and safety?

IAmRight: Strategeryz0r: I'm saying idiots like you need to stop forcing people who play a sport you don't even like to conform to your idea of safety.

You sound like you have a lot of brain damage. I'm not saying that they need to wear pads. I'm saying your "knee braces make you slower and head protection/mouth guards ruin your ability to play" argument is stupid and "players don't currently do it because it slows them down" is a stupid reason for that argument. Players are morons. They do things based on whether they think it helps them or hurts them, not on actual performance. If they f*ck up a kneed ball without a knee brace, then hey, they f*cked up. If they f*ck it up with a knee brace on, then it's the brace's fault (I'm thinking the sleeve kind, not the bulky ones that offensive linemen wear).

Baseball players wear those retarded necklaces because they think they help.

Football players eschewed concussion-reducing helmets because they didn't "look like helmets." Hockey players didn't wear helmets because they wouldn't be able to see as well, because it made them slower, whatever. Yet they're just fine with 'em.

There's always an excuse not to protect yourself - that's what all of those claims are, excuses.

I don't think they should be mandatory because anything that injures soccer players makes me laugh.

Football and Hockey are not about ball control. Helmets in soccer reduce your ability to control headers, this is not a myth this is fact. Try it, I mean it. Everything I'm telling you is something I learned from personal experience of 15 years of playing the game. I've been hurt playing it pretty much every way imaginable. I've tried wearing the safety gear to prevent those injuries from happening(rugby helmet, larger shin guards, knee braces, cups, etc). It only took a handful of games before several problems became readily apparently.

Helmet:
Headers - not being able to effectively control your headers = not being able to utilize an enormously powerful offensive/defensive tool. Ergo, no more helmet for me. I use the rugby helmet when I'm in goal, because headers aren't as required for a keeper. However, in the field it's extremely detrimental

Knee Brace
Winded me quicker - more resistance to your knee = more energy required to run. This is exactly what occured when wearing one. As I said all it took was about 60 minutes of play before I was significantly more winded than without a brace.

Uncomfortable - once I started to sweat, the thing began chaffing my knee something fierce. This is easier to put with in other sports as you're able to take it off between quarters and let your leg breath. This is a luxury you don't get with soccer. Hell you can't even stop moving because if you're on offense you better keep moving forward, if you're pushed on defense you better be on your mark. Screwing up your position will lead to too many forfeited goals.

I don't give a damn what you think about the safety gear, or what I'm telling you. You don't play the game, you don't like the game, and you haven't tried it. Ergo you have 0 perspective. There is no game popular in America that you can compare to Soccer. The demands are completely different, and Soccer does not have the short quarter/period lengths of popular American sports. Meaning you cannot adjust your safety equipment for comfort at a decent pace. You just don't have the time or luxury to do so.

It's not an excuse, it is a fact. I've tried it myself. So you can take your ideals and shove em up right back up our mis-informed ass. You're simply comparing apples to oranges, and have been this entire time. Hence why you're a complete idiot. Hockey and Football are games meant to be more impactful than soccer, a game of soccer played correctly is a brutal game. But not to the extent that you're supposed to be killing each other(like hockey and football). Which is why nobody pushes for helmets. It's not a matter of seeing correctly, it's a matter of ball control and the nature of the game. It's detrimental to the player, and not required when the game is played properly.

Strategeryz0r: IAmRight: Strategeryz0r: I'm saying idiots like you need to stop forcing people who play a sport you don't even like to conform to your idea of safety.

You sound like you have a lot of brain damage. I'm not saying that they need to wear pads. I'm saying your "knee braces make you slower and head protection/mouth guards ruin your ability to play" argument is stupid and "players don't currently do it because it slows them down" is a stupid reason for that argument. Players are morons. They do things based on whether they think it helps them or hurts them, not on actual performance. If they f*ck up a kneed ball without a knee brace, then hey, they f*cked up. If they f*ck it up with a knee brace on, then it's the brace's fault (I'm thinking the sleeve kind, not the bulky ones that offensive linemen wear).

Baseball players wear those retarded necklaces because they think they help.

Football players eschewed concussion-reducing helmets because they didn't "look like helmets." Hockey players didn't wear helmets because they wouldn't be able to see as well, because it made them slower, whatever. Yet they're just fine with 'em.

There's always an excuse not to protect yourself - that's what all of those claims are, excuses.

I don't think they should be mandatory because anything that injures soccer players makes me laugh.

Football and Hockey are not about ball control. Helmets in soccer reduce your ability to control headers, this is not a myth this is fact. Try it, I mean it. Everything I'm telling you is something I learned from personal experience of 15 years of playing the game. I've been hurt playing it pretty much every way imaginable. I've tried wearing the safety gear to prevent those injuries from happening(rugby helmet, larger shin guards, knee braces, cups, etc). It only took a handful of games before several problems became readily apparently.

Helmet:
Headers - not being able to effectively control your headers = not being able to utilize an enormously powe ...

You make some great points. Unfortunately none of them matter for soccer players in the US. If soccer in its current form is linked to concussions every high school and college in the Untied States will require protective gear for liability reasons.

Strategeryz0r: I'm not saying that to be all badass, the inherent point is that you can be critically hurt playing ANYTHING. So by your rationale everyone playing any sport should be covered head to toe in padding, otherwise you might get a concussion or hurt your knee or whatever.

So your argument is because it's possible to get hurt doing anything, safety equipment is worthless?

I could get hurt by a meteor driving home tonight, so why bother wearing my seatbelt?

Is that your argument?

spqr2001: Educating coaches on concussions is priority #1 in terms of youth/high school soccer. I know there was a game I had a concussion and, after a few minutes on the sidelines, went back in. I don't remember much about the game at all, but I have been told by teammates that I was knocked cold on the ground in the middle of the field. A coach who was educated in concussions would never have allowed me to go back into the game. Having played soccer for 13 years and coached for going on 10 now, I know the majority of head injuries in soccer do not come from heading the ball. Most of them come, as mine did, from two people challenging for a header and knocking their heads together, a diving header where you get kicked, or from your head hitting the ground when you get tackled the wrong way.

This is an important point which bears repeating. Many of the coaches I had in my youth were wholly ignorant of many signs of injury, including concussions. From seeing my nephews play, this hasn't seemed to change over the years. Obviously, my "evidence" is ancedotal, so your results may vary.

Personally, I've never used any headgear (nor seen any available in stores, for that matter). That said, I'm not against doing so if:
1) it's a league mandate, as leaving it up to the players (or parents. for youth leagues) is bound to mean no one does it
2) headgear is proven to be effective (A McGill study suggests that they could reduce occurrences of concussions by up to 50%, but the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness Executive Committee & American Association of Neurological Surgeons both seem to think the jury is still out on their effectiveness) (the American Academy of Pediatrics' Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness Executive Committee's report requires subscription, but is cited here) (Other Source: AANS)

Fortunately, the league I'm in now is largely older folks who care more about sharing a beer at game's end and being healthy for work the next day than who wins & loses. Hopefully, I didn't just jinx myself...

You know where a girl's chances of getting a concussion are greatly reduced? In a home economics class.