WASHINGTON — As evidence of the lasting cognitive damage caused by football to developing brains continues to mount, one Maryland lawmaker has decided to take the issue to the statehouse.
A new measure being drafted by state Del. Terri Hill, a Democrat, would prohibit the Maryland State Board of Education from approving tackle football programs for children under the age of 14 and require those 14 and up who want to play to take a course explaining the risks associated with concussions and brain injury. It would also include provisions against heading in soccer and checking in lacrosse for kids under the age of 14.
Personally, I am in support of this bill. While tackle football poses risks to individuals of all ages, it can be particularly damaging to youth. Many of the fundamentals of football can still be taught utilizing flag football or by playing other sports. Delegate Hill is also pushing a bill "which would mandate a licensed health care provider or an individual who has completed concussion risk and management training to be on the sideline for every practice and game for youth sports leagues that use any public facilities or those that occur on grounds that receive public money."
One person helping Hill craft the bills and garner support for them is a familiar name among area football fans. Madieu Williams played at Duval High School in Lanham, Maryland, and the University of Maryland before embarking on a nine-year NFL career as a safety that finished back in Washington in 2012.
Now a law student at the University of Baltimore, Williams provides a voice of experience with perhaps an unexpected view of the game.
“You do not have to hit to understand the game of football,” he told WTOP. “Yes, there’s a physicality to come with it. However, if you don’t know what you’re doing or where you’re going, you don’t know who you’re going to hit.”
Williams himself did not play tackle football until his ninth-grade year at Duval, when he was 14 years old, but still enjoyed a long NFL career. With a son of his own, he sees no reason for his son to either, especially given the emerging science that has come out the past few years.
“I will allow my son to play flag, but I will not allow him to play youth tackle football,” he said. “Whatever football’s going to teach him, there’s other sports he can choose to play that can provide that at an early age … Just because his father played, doesn’t mean he has to play.”
I didn't play contact/tackle football until my freshman year of high school. I became a two year letter winner and captain my senior year of high school. I was a three year starter and two time captain in college. Not playing contact until high school seemed to have had no negative impact on my ability to play at a high level.
What do you guys think? This has been an ancillary point of discussion in other threads but never the main topic of conversation as far as I can remember. I know there are 11W's who would be both for and against this bill.
