Tua, Youth Sports, & The Brain

Google the name Tua Tagovailoa today and you’ll have a front row seat to the online debate that’s unfolding regarding the Miami Dolphin Quarterback, the concussion he suffered in last night’s game against the Bills, and whether or not this latest in a series of Tua’s horrifying on-field concussions is reason for him to call it a career. A growing number of Tua’s friends, NFL peers, commentators, and fans are speaking out today on social media in a growing chorus of “Time to retire. Enough is enough. Health comes first.”

Here at CPYU, we continue to track with the good work coming from the folks at The Concussion Legacy Foundation. It’s a growing body of work that has put the game of football. . . a game that so many of us love to watch, including watching our kids play. . . in the crosshairs of legitimate concern. And, as we’ve reported in the past, it seems that every week brings some new finding regarding Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) that should be ramping up our concern.

While most of us don’t have kids playing professional football, we do have kids who play youth football, along with other sports that include the potential for blows to young, developing heads and the brains those heads hold inside. With that in mind, I want to offer some thoughts here on a recent bit of research regarding youth sports and non-concussive impacts. . . all put together in ways that we hope will help you think Christianly about the best course to take with your kids in light of this advancing body of research and the related concerns. As we do in our CPYU Parent Prompts, I want to invite you to think in a progression that we teach students in my book A Student’s Guide To Navigating Culture. . . World: What is happening? . . . Word: What does God’s Word say? . . . Walk: How can I navigate this with my kids? . . .

World: What Is Happening? Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a degenerative brain disease found in those who have had repetitive brain trauma, which cannot be diagnosed accurately until one’s brain is examined after death. Looking back over the histories of deceased athletes, researchers have discovered that there are cases of CTE in athletes who never experienced a concussion. A connection has now been made between higher odds of developing CTE as a result of the number and strength of non-concussive head impacts experienced over one’s lifetime, also known as subclinical traumatic brain injuries (TBI), which typically show no immediate signs or symptoms. “It’s not a single injury that causes the disease, but instead accumulation of microtrauma from thousands of hits over years.” Parents should take note, as many of these unseen TBI’s take place in youth sports where the brain is developing and most vulnerable. https://concussionfoundation.org/cte-resources/nonconcussive-impacts

Word: What Does God’s Word Say? The God-given high-calling and high-privilege of parenting requires us to set borders and boundaries that protect our children from harm and which provide for their well-being. Our responsibility requires us to lead them into a spiritually, emotionally, relationally, and physically healthy adulthood. Parents who feel the social pressure to raise high-achieving athletes need to turn from the idolization of sport that couples with the desire to fit in, which puts undo athletic pressure on their kids (Romans 12:2). This all-too-often results in overlooking the physical dangers involved in youth sports, thereby putting kids at risk for non-concussive head impacts.

Walk: How Can I Navigate This With Kids?

• Take stock of your own attitudes toward your children and their participation in youth sports. Do your hopes for their success outweigh the kind of common-sense approach that would result in prohibiting their involvement in sports where head impacts occur?
• Follow the recommendation to keep kids out of competitive youth sports where head impacts occur until after eighth grade.
• Encourage free play where kids are managing their games rather than adults. The benefits to free play extend beyond just concerns regarding physical safety.

This would be so much easier if we didn’t love our sports so much. But ultimately, the safety of our kids must come first.