Many different coaches around sports at any level whether that’d be pee wee to the professional level vary on what age it is appropriate for kids to start playing contact sports. The five most played sports in North America are soccer, basketball, baseball, ice hockey and football with ice hockey and football being the most physical out of the five. Playing these two sports comes with a lot of physical consequences down the line with many athletes faceing CTE (Chronic traumatic encephalopathy) which is a neurodegenerative disease found in people who have had multiple head injuries. According to a study at Boston University found that 110 out 111 brains of former NFL players finds traces of CTE in them. That still has not stop athletes at the high school level of pursuing their dreams of playing pro football.
The Sir Frederick Banting Broncos football team is one of many teams looking to win a championship this season, starting quaterback Cameron Sybold says that he does not think about life after football “I understand that its dangerous, but I never had any issues with my head only minor injuries with my fingers, hopefully i can stay safe because i love the sport.” He also says that his parents support his decision on playing football.
Dylan Willis a quarterback and defensive end for the Broncos says that the worst football hit he has recieved was when he strained his shoulder being tackled. He also says that his parents were nervous about him playing football “At first my mom was pretty nervous, but my dad used to pay football and he is pretty okay with it, but my mom is still pretty nervous but she has grown to accept that I love the sport and she is okay with me playing.”
The appropriate age for when kids start playing contact football varies but head coach Brock Burgess at Banting says that contact in football starts at the Pee Wee level when kids are 7 years old.
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