Brandi Chastain Says, “No Headers For Anyone 14 and Under – Not Even For My Kids.”
Parents and Pros for Safer Soccer (PASS) campaign hopes to inspire a national conversation on when purposeful repetitive brain trauma should be introduced and when it should be avoided. Brandi Chastain, a two-time FIFA Women’s World Cup champion and two-time gold medalist who is best remembered for scoring the game-winning goal for the US on a penalty kick against China in 1999 now serves as a volunteer assistant coach for the Santa Clara University women’s team and is a strong advocate for safer soccer.
Concussion research and advocacy nonprofit Sports Legacy Institute (SLI) and the Santa Clara Institute of Sports Law and Ethics (ISLE) teamed up on a campaign to educate parents and coaches on the risks of headers in soccer prior to the high school level.
The sponsoring organizations believe concussions among youth soccer participants can be dramatically reduced. Former US Women’s National Team player and ISLE board member Brandi Chastain and former teammates Cindy Parlow Cone and Joy Fawcett are leading the campaign along with SLI medical director and concussion expert Dr. Robert Cantu, to educate parents and coaches that the risks of introducing heading prior to high school have to be weighed against the rewards of more skilled heading among children.
Diane Scavuzzo: Parents always want kids to play the same way as the professionals… Are you seeing a lot of resistance to eliminating headers in soccer for U14 players and younger?
Brandi: Part of sports is about emulating and what we have to do is educate the parents and coaches on why heading is not beneficial for young kids.
Preparing kids for reading the game, how to trap a ball when its in the air, and letting players know that when they are older – that is what is important.
Diane: How can this benefit the game in general?
Brandi: Because we are going to give the players extra time and training on special awareness there will be a change in the game, that header will not be the first go-to move players want to make. Keeping the ball on the ground and in control is important.
Diane: Most parents of U14 kids have seen those awful collisions that happen on the field when two players go up for the same ball and collide heads. We see these head to head collisions happen in the professional game as well, but less often.
Brandi: The pros know how to read the ball better. Hopefully we will be able to train our kids to see those collisions before they happen and teach them to ask themselves the question – do I or do I not engage in that near collision?
Young kids do not have enough experience to read the game. If we give them more time to learn about it they can be wiser to their choices – either get their before or not going into that challenge.
Diane: Who is a good example of a player who does not use headers often?
Brandi: Leo Messi is one of the smaller players in men’s soccer but he is set to break the Spanish record and he is a guy who rarely heads the ball. Heading the ball in soccer is just not necessary.
As a professional, and now a parent and coach, I believe that the benefits of developing heading skills as children are not worth the thousands of additional concussions that youth soccer players will suffer.
As a parent, I won’t allow my children to head the ball before high school, and as a coach I would prefer my players focuse solely on foot skills as they develop their love of the game.
I believe this change will create better and safer soccer.
What are the facts? Information on concussions and youth sports is often confusing but what is becoming clearer every day is that our children are at serious risk. From the horrifying TIME magazine cover article on sixteen-year-old Chad Stover who died playing a football game after suffering a traumatic brain injury. Asking the question of whether or not the game is worth it – the article explores the tragic risks of American football. Although many parents were aware of the possible injuries sustained in football, now there is wider acceptance that youth soccer has its own perils.
Cantu, a clinical professor of neurosurgery at Boston University School of Medicine, has been advocating for changes in all youth sports to eliminate repetitive brain trauma and reduce risk of concussion, and some sports have heeded this call. Notably, USA Hockey raised the age of the introduction of checking in ice-hockey to age 13, and US Lacrosse continues to change its rules and penalties to eliminate all purposeful hits to the head for youth. Current guidelines in soccer, which are not well enforced, recommend introducing headers at age 10. Who knew? Certainly not many of the youth coaches on the fields in America. Or are they ignoring this recommendation?
“Studies show that at least 30% of concussions in soccer are caused by heading a ball or attempting to head a ball and colliding with another player, and evidence is mounting from studies of boxers and football players that the younger one is exposed to repetitive brain trauma, the greater the risk of later life consequences. I have been forced to retire far too many young athletes with post-concussion syndrome due to having suffered multiple concussions prior to high school, and this is a clear opportunity to make soccer safer without hurting the game,” said Cantu.
SLI and ISLE are calling the campaign Parents and Pros for Safer Soccer – PASS – and have created a website, SaferSoccer.org, and a social media #SaferSoccer.
Parlow Cone, who also won two gold medals and a World Cup as a prolific header before retiring due to post-concussion syndrome, believes postponing headers will create better soccer players.
“With good coaching, heading skills can be learned during the high school years. Up until the high school age, the focus should be on coordination, technical skills and spatial awareness. Delaying the teaching of heading skills, while still preparing players for heading by teaching jumping and landing and strengthening the neck, not only will help make the sport safer but also is developmentally appropriate,” said Parlow Cone, who coached the Portland Thorns FC to the first National Women’s Soccer League championship in 2013 and has pledged to donate her brain to SLI upon her death for research.
“While we wait for more research to clarify the risk, and while we work with soccer governing bodies to educate on the risks of heading before high school or age 14 in age-based leagues, we encourage coaches and parents to consider these risks seriously,” said Chastain.
“Organizations that support a delay in heading until after age 14 will be listed on SaferSoccer.org. Last month, the Shipley School in Pennsylvania eliminated heading for its middle school teams. “Personally, I would urge all middle schools and under-14 youth soccer leagues to do the same,” says Chastain.
Concussions can cause very serious injuries, Patrick Grange died at age 29 after being diagnosed 21 months earlier with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), which has been linked to brain trauma.
Help spread the word by sharing a downloadable proposal letter with your child’s soccer program, team, or school.
