For several yrs I've noticed that, during practice players wear a soft outter shell or safety cap. This happens @ all levels, H.S. thru pro. However, come gametime, those safety caps disappear. When I played (high school in the late 60's), to reduce injuries, we hardly ever went full speed in practice. Our only balls to the wall full speed came during games. It would only make sense (to me) for those safety caps to be used during games. They are either a waste of $ to be used during practice ONLY, or we are needlessly subjecting players to increased risk of head trauma by NOT using them during games. I don't understand; can/will someone pls explain?
I've wondered if pads and helmets cause more injuries than they prevent, because they encourage big hits rather than simply wrapping up and falling over. Rugby players don't wear pads or helmets; do they have the same injury and concussion rates as American football players?
Ajo, your comment reminds me of a player quote a few years back, he said you want to stop concussions, take off their helmets.
but it sounds like you just made a point for why using them in practice makes sense... "we only risked our heads during games. in practices we didn't go full speed to protect ourselves" "they only risk their heads during games. in practices, they wear safety caps."
A 2012 study showed that youth rugby had roughly 4x the number of concussions as youth hockey and 5x the number of concussions as youth football. It's definitely a risk factor to weigh when considering sports.
The incidence of concussion in youth sports: a systematic review and meta-analysis It was 4th on the list, but a DISTANT 4th. Pretty much everything from lacrosse on down had both very limited information and far fewer reported incidences. Considering volleyball was lowest on the list and I know at least two girls who got concussions in volleyball, I think it's safe to say that a ton more studies have been done over the past 10 years. The only real standout info from the compiled studies was that rugby is friggin' dangerous for kids.
Human heads were not meant to be used as warheads at the tip of a human missile. We keep making the helmets better but it’s got to be something coaches teach and players learn. Form tackle, wrap up, bring them to the ground. an especially hard thing to do in the modern age of wide open, fast, basketball on grass football. But it can be done
One of the women on the UT rugby club team died from a head injury about a decade ago. Just a few players tumbling together in a pile, nobody doing anything stupid or especially dangerous; by pure chance a couple of heads smashed together and by further chance one of them was fine and the other just passed out and never woke up. If they'd had football-style helmets she'd have probably been fine.