A lot of parents these days won’t let their kids play sports like football, lacrosse, wrestling, and so on because of the fears of concussions and CTE. Parents that do let their kids play these sports are criticized as being irresponsible. Would you let your kids play these sports if they expressed a desire in playing them?
Our kids were both musicians. Contact sports were off the table completely because of risk to injury of hands and lips.
So…because of our kid’s interests…no contact sports.
But actually, we probably would have discouraged these anyway. There are plenty of other sports for HS students that are not contact sports (tennis, cross country, swimming, etc).
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Of course. For me though, lacrosse looks really fun, and I really wish I got to play it. But I guess the injuries aren’t worth the risk
Never too late to join an adult rec league if you are interested!
We also wouldn’t have encouraged contact sports (also was a musician, now turned engineer). Our piano teacher was upset enough that she was playing volleyball for a while.
My kid played both soccer and lax. Yes, there were some injuries including concussion. I was very nervous as a spectator, but they loved it and excelled at it. And fwiw, the worst – and most lasting injury they sustained – was as a rower.
I broke several bones over the years doing a non-contact sport. I introduced my kid to it, they didn’t like it, so they didn’t pursue it. And yeah, glad that football wasn’t his calling!
I’d never push a kid toward a sport that they didn’t want to play. On this, I think it depends on the kid and the other options available.
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We let our kids do what they wanted. One did play ice hockey from 4 - 9, he quit when he was given the option of either hockey, or soccer/baseball/basketball. Three of them played soccer from 5 up to varsity soccer until graduation, 4 ran track, 1 ran xc (she didn’t play soccer). She did break her wrist at track practice 
. There were a few soccer concussions, and my youngest had a bad ankle break at a soccer game resulting in 2 surgeries, and he’s studying abroad and tore tendons in his shoulder recently playing soccer and needed surgery.
Good points about plenty of injuries in non contact sports. All my sports injuries were solo activities - skiing, running, lifting.
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I’m not cocooning them in blankets for 18 years, so assuming their health history and interest level warrants, yes. But I’m not pushing them.
All my injuries have come from non-contact sports; nothing is totally without risk
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My father played football back when there were semi-professional football leagues. He NEVER allowed my brother to play football and made us all pledge that our children wouldn’t either. My father had all the signs of CTE, which is only confirmed with an autopsy, which we didn’t have, but my BIL is a neurologist and ruled out everything else. Even decades before that became obvious to us, or before people knew what CTE was, he knew something wasn’t right.
My brother ended up playing goalie (soccer) and had many concussions. He says it still affects him to this day. Back then, people thought soccer was a “safer” sport.
My son underwent 18 months of vision therapy (not due to a concussion). We were warned that a concussion could undo all of the progress. His doctor treated many hockey players from high school through NHL levels.
Our neighbor’s son received a TBI falling from a ski lift. His neurologist is one of the leading CTE researchers. He says it’s child abuse to allow your kid to play football before their neck muscles are strong enough, and it still isn’t advisable even once they are bigger and stronger.
To sum it up, it was an absolute no for football until it was beyond my control. I know other sports carry risks, but it’s not a continual part of the game that’s “baked in”. In most sports, there could be an unforeseen accident or a collision. In football, they continuously practice those collisions, resulting in repeated microtears. That’s where I draw the line. (And don’t even get me going on football culture in our town. Not something I wanted to be a part of)
PLOT TWIST:
To our surprise, our son, who was supposed to be on the ski team, signed himself up for football when he was at boarding school. He did not tell us until the season was starting. Everything I read said that waiting until high school lowered the chances of CTE, and at least this was 8 man football (more running than tackling and line hits) in a league not known to have a very competitive football program and with few oversized kids. Being 115 lbs, wearing a boys’ size 16 blazer, and having no experience at the time he started playing, I figured he wouldn’t be getting too much playing time, so there wouldn’t be much to worry about.
The thing is, he’s an uber athlete and impressed the coaches so much in practice that by his sophomore year, he was playing every down, both ways, and on special teams. By junior year, he was captain. Thankfully, he grew a little each year, but was always one of the smallest kids out there. Some of my scariest moments as a sports mom were watching him run back kick-offs (I think that’s what it’s called. I was so uninvested that I don’t even know. Whatever it was, he set a school record on yardage). We often talked about how his grandfather would have both loved and hated to watch him. He says in his 4 years playing, he only had one hit hard enough to make him “see stars”, but it’s my understanding that it’s all the little hits that add up.
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Football seems markedly worse than lacrosse and wrestling, but I admit I haven’t looked into the matter very deeply. I’d be pretty reluctant about football, as much as I enjoy watching it as a fan. Lucky for me, none of my kids is athletic enough to play.
One of my sons is literally built like a linebacker (6’3”, with HUGE muscles he was born with). I am SO glad football wasn’t offered at his schools or the temptation to let him play would have been there. He played gk in soccer. Never had a concussion (in fact, the only injury he had was self-inflicted, when he punched the ground in frustration after letting in a goal. He was in 9th grade and didn’t know his own strength and so crushed several bones in his hand, requiring surgery).
Another son played hockey till 12 or 13 until he had to choose between it and soccer (and chose soccer). In all his years of playing (through college) he never had a serious injury or any concussions.
Not sure If soccer is defined as a contact sport; I definitely would want my kids/grandkids to play. Football, definitely not. I am so opposed to football that I refuse to even watch it. Don’t people understand they are watching someone inflict injuries that will end up very likely destroying their lives? I want no part of that.
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My brother and I were gymnasts in HS, a non-contact sport with plenty of injuries though neither of us suffered anything severe or lasting and would not discourage the sport.
DH and I didn’t think to consider the potential for sports injuries when our son was growing up – we just wished he wanted to participate in one. He chose chess in middle school and rowing in HS though, as @gardenstategal posted above, rowing is not without its perils. His permanently calloused hands and “frog legs” that continue to challenge tailors will be with him for some time.
However, now that I am more aware of the potential for serious injury in various sports, I would think differently today if I had young child. Football, soccer, rugby would definitely be out, probably hockey, too.
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The only sport we essentially banned was tackle football. Others gave the same sort of reasoning we used.
Our S24 had two concussions playing HS soccer, and a knee injury that fortunately did not end up requiring surgery. He loved it, and we don’t regret it, but I am not super bummed he isn’t continuing competitive soccer in college. He does still play competitive Ultimate, however. Apparently the concussion risk might be lower–which makes sense to me–but it is still a dynamic field sport.
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My oldest son is only 6’1”, but was always one of the tallest early on, broad shoulders, legs like tree trunks. Football here starts at 8, and he played all of the sports, so dad coaches would talk to him about football. Fortunately he had no interest out side of flag, and was a GK for the varsity and travel team, and at college in club soccer.
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We feel the same way about football. My husband is an orthopedic surgeon and did his sports medicine fellowship as an NFL team doctor. It’s not just the brain injuries - he routinely sees former players with chronic pain,severe arthritis and needing joint replacements by the time they are in their 30s or early 40s. He describes a lot of these guys as being essentially crippled by the time they are in their late 40s and 50s. No other sport takes that kind of toll on the body. It’s the one sport ( with boxing a close second) that he absolutely would not allow our kids to play and my oldest is also 6 ft 4 and huge.
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My kids both played soccer as youths. I played as an adult. I would let them again. Probably lacrosse too. Even baseball but it ended for son quickly - first at bat in kid pitch, right in the face. Every other at bat he was far off the plate.
Would I let my son play football ?
Nope.
Yet my daughter, helmet and all, got a concussion her first time skiing. Scary as heck btw.
My son has been ok but mountain bikes and I know lots of people who have been injured. Rodney Rogers, for former Wake and NBA hoops player, got paralyzed from a motor bike and just passed.
It’s unpredictable but football players seem broken when they get old.
But in general, I’d want them to play anything but football. My son did play flag.
My kids are both musicians, too. They didn’t have an interest in contact sports… but my son sliced off the very tip of one finger at a cooking class. It took a long time before he was healed enough to play his violin again.
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Short answer, anything but football (that later changed, with a bit of a caveat).
My kids all played sports - both of my daughters and my sons played lacrosse, soccer and basketball, as well as track/cross country for years. Neither son ever expressed interest in football mostly b/c of not liking the tackling. Good, b/c I was vocal about not wanting them to play anyway.
But then….My older son, a three season athlete in h.s., was approached on the soccer field freshman year of high school by the football coach when their kicker was injured. Up until that point, he was planning on playing lacrosse in college. He ended up getting recruited as a kicker/punter by a smaller D1 school and was the team’s starter all three years (one year was lost to pandemic). He never had a sports injury in any sport but he did have a concussion around 9 y/o when he fell outside in our yard slipping on wet grass!
Younger son switched to rugby in h.s., a sport that did make me cringe. He continued to play club rugby in college but his only injury was a torn hamstring. I admit rugby made me nervous but it did wonders for his very low self-esteem/confidence, allowing him to feel like he had something of his own after being in his brother’s shadow growing up.
My daughters weren’t as competitive with sports as my sons. Oldest played soccer thru high school. She did play one season of lax in h.s., did receive a mild concussion after getting hit in an illegal play. She quit lax after that season-ending injury. My youngest switched to tennis in h.s. and continues to play club tennis now in college.
My sons have always been golfers and that is their sport of choice now as 20-somethings. My older son also plays in an adult soccer league.
Interesting Army Side Note: Along with many others, our son entered the service interested in Special Forces. The type of kids who end up in this branch definitely think of it as a contact sport. When the SF recruiter came to West Point to go over the branch requirements, he warned that anyone chosen to serve in SF must be OK with accepting that their bodies will most likely be wrecked, physically and emotionally, by 40. After detailing all the potential after-effects, our son chose a keyboard instead.
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Great topic which makes me ponder our past sports adventures.
We have a family of musicians like @thumper1 and @tamagotchi above. So we attempted to guide our kids towards “safer” sports for their hands and mouths. To no avail.
Two of my kids swam competitively and then segued into water polo. Which is probably one of the riskiest sports for fingers and mouths. Lots of elbows to the face over the water or kicks to the face under the water. Sigh.
They loved their time in club and HS sports and had a couple more injuries than I would’ve liked. My son’s biggest injuries ironically came from swimming, his non contact sport. As a sprinter I recall at least twice he sprained a finger or two by slamming his fingertips into the touchpad at the end of a race.
But looking back, I think we wouldn’t have done things differently. They loved their sports and teammates and learned so many valuable lessons that serve them well today.
The other day my son said that the minute before he is about to play a solo in an orchestra is just like being on the starting blocks for a huge swim meet. The same adrenaline surge. And he says he uses the same strategies he used as a swimmer to calm himself and harness that energy.
As an aside (and I am guessing that many people know this) HS soccer has a very high rate of concussion. Once kids get to the age of heading the ball, the concussion risk is real. I believe second only to football.
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