|
Tuesday, September 29, 2015 | BataviasBest.org
Via The New York Times:
MAPLEWOOD, Mo. — Students and families at Maplewood Richmond Heights High School are looking forward to homecoming, the highlight of the autumn school calendar for decades. But for the first time, the centerpiece event will be soccer, not football.
The school board in Maplewood, a St. Louis suburb, disbanded the high school’s football team in June, even though it reached the state championship game five years ago. A decade ago, such a move would have seemed radical. But concerns are growing about football players’ safety, and soccer and other sports are gaining popularity.
“Over all, it was, ‘Can we field a team that is competitive and safe for the kids to perform?’ ” said Nelson Mitten, the president of the Maplewood Richmond Heights School Board, who said players’ injuries last season included a broken ankle, a torn anterior cruciate ligament and a significant head injury. “Whenever you have anything like that, you have to be a responsible board and discuss what we can do to make sure we can field a team.”
Back on August 19, I generated a Facebook post that expressed my concerns relating to the health issues that surround the sport of football – primarily at the high school level. With numbers seemingly down across the board, and now schools apparently choosing to disband their teams as a result of injuries, my fears expressed on Facebook have now reached a climax.
Parents are taking their kids out of football at an alarming rate as it is, and as recent news such as this continues to be brought to light, that number will surely increase. In fact, many are beginning to believe that this story may indeed lead to a domino effect – which could cause schools around the country to decide on eliminating football from their list of fall sports. Boy, would that be a crying shame.
Football is a great game. However, the gridiron as we know it is dying going back all the way to its grassroots – and something must be done to stop the bleeding.
Otherwise, football’s future doesn’t look so bright.
Other articles you may like:
