So the helmets are better than when the coach played. Thank goodness. How many MV students were on the football teams (all levels) last year? What percentage of them was injured in games or practice bad enough that they would not play that day (were it a gameday)? I bet half of all high school players suffer injuries they have for life. How is the spine protected by those better helmets? How about knees? Fingers? And how many football players at MV in, let's say, the 2015 season got a full football scholarship to a 4-year college? Name each player and college. I will check online to see if any such person is on the college team identified.

"And how many football players at MV in, let's say, the 2015 season got a full football scholarship to a 4-year college?"

That question presumes that a scholarship is the goal for all these kids. It's not...not anywhere close. The vast majority are playing it for fun
How many are injured playing soccer each year? Little League. Should we just look at where any injury takes place, rank them and then stop playing the sport on the top of the list. Then we can do it again for the net sport, then the next...Then we can look at the smaller sports/activities like cheer, gymnastics, riding a bike or a skateboard, and we can shut those down s well.

You sound like a very caring and compassionate person solely interested in our kids safety. It really stands out. ;)

"I bet half of all high school players suffer injuries they have for life."

Forgot to mention, this completely non-supported idea that you just made up in your head fits your narrative like a glove. Well done.

Web Link

Helmet lawsuit info

Web Link

CTE article relating to high school football

I think one of the best things we can do for kids is to not allow any of them to play tackle football until they get to high school, by law. Just about everything we coach in tackle football can be taught in flag football. We now have kids playing tackle as young as 6 or 7. There’s just no good reason for it at all. They don’t need the contact to learn the game. My hope is that by reducing the number of years a player has to endure contact, we can save more brains, more joints, more bones, and still enjoy a very high level of the sport.

@Tom & "Deniers": Think it was Sports Illustrated that reported that 50% of HS football players have significant knee damage by the time they graduate HS. It's no fun to be 50 with ruined knees. As for CTE, helmets must be rethought to provide significantly better collision (and neck) protection. For example, they should have a "soft" shock-absorbing outer shell for a "soft-hard-soft" layered structure. Get some physicists and engineers to design them. Sure they'll be bulky, expensive and ugly but that's better than getting concussions and CTE. As for soccer, Europeans are starting to look into CTE issues for pro soccer players --- head clashes and headers for hard-hit balls --- but not at the levels found in football players.

It is truly disappointing to see parents support high school football when there is ample evidence of life-changing harrm it causes. Thankfully, newspapers are publishing more stories about high school football and CTE. There was a recent article in Washington Post on how some high schools are abandoning this form of recreation that puts kids’ well-being at risk. That an educated population in Bay Area is not up to date on this national trend about this is perplexing.

With all due respect to Shelley Smith a critical fact is left out of the analysis - damaged brains cells DO NOT REGENERATE. That's correct, brain cells that are damaged by interior collisions with the skull do not regenerate like other cells in the human body. The NFL, NCAA and other football stakeholders don't want this information to become mainstream because it ruins their "football has never been safer" red-herring narrative. In fact, even the word concussion does not represent what occurs when a player is injured due to head trauma. The real term is IRREPARABLE BRAIN INJURY and IRREPARABLE BRAIN DAMAGE. That is what actually happens when each player hits their head, whether small collisions or big hits. Shelley Smith is just another football stakeholder trying to pull the wool over the public's eyes - slowly but surely their narrative is being exposed. More and more educated people are pulling their kids from this barbaric sport and eventually it will be a ghetto sport like boxing.

Public Taxes for Football Should be Abolished

Because public health of kids, with uninformed consent, is at stake, the public should no longer be forced to pay for football by way of tax dollars. It is a crime that publicly funded institutions use tax dollars to permanently injure young men's brains. Eventually someone will file a class-action lawsuit against a school district and successfully prosecute this claim.

There should be no justification for public tax dollars for football field lights as this sport will eventually dwindle to a shadow of its former self. If people are hell-bent on injuring their children then let them pay for their own kid's demise with their own money - just like travel baseball, volleyball, basketball, etc.

I feel sorry for the players who are unknowingly injuring themselves and jeopardizing their future health. The parents who know better should be ashamed of themselves and the one's who don't should spend some time and get educated.