Unless prevention starts at the peewee level it’s hard to pinpoint when the damage was done. To make it to the NFL you’re going through some punishment.
100%. All the vets in the league grew up watching NFL published hard hit highlight reels. They all played in middle school and high schools where hard hits were encouraged.
It takes a LONG time for safety related messaging to soak in through all the levels of the sport. The kids just starting peewee today are the ones who will have coaches/protocols that care about concussions for their entire career.
Until they’re in their 50’s we won’t truly know how much better the preventions are.
Unless prevention starts at the peewee level it’s hard to pinpoint when the damage was done. To make it to the NFL you’re going through some punishment.
A lot of people who are being reported as having CTE now have had bad protocols since peewee. There were no guardian caps when I played.
It’s substantially safer now but that doesn’t help dudes in their 30s and 40s who played in the late 90s early 00s
100%. All the vets in the league grew up watching NFL published hard hit highlight reels. They all played in middle school and high schools where hard hits were encouraged.
It takes a LONG time for safety related messaging to soak in through all the levels of the sport. The kids just starting peewee today are the ones who will have coaches/protocols that care about concussions for their entire career.
Until they’re in their 50’s we won’t truly know how much better the preventions are.