No parent wants to see their kid go down with a head injury, and no kid wants to be subbed off for a head injury, but this is the risk that all soccer players face every time they take the pitch, especially for young, developing brains. This essay is going to be taking a deeper look into a monumental step taken by US soccer in an attempt to limit concussions for youth players, and why it was the correct decision, despite much speculation. Even though the right decision was made, I feel that it should’ve been taken it a step farther. Maybe it will be in the future. I will go into further explanation on this later. Now what was this monumental step?

On November 9th of 2015, the US Soccer Federation announced a new set of regulations for youth soccer players in America. They were set in place to resolve a lawsuit involving head injuries in youth players.  According to an article from US Club Soccer dated March 14th, 2016, the new rules consist of the following: Players in U-11 programs may not engage in heading during training, nor in matches; Players in U-12 and U-13 programs are allowed a small amount of heading in training, but are still prohibited to head in games; If a younger child is playing up on a higher age group team, said child should abide by the rules of their own age group, not the one that they are playing in. For example, a 10 year old playing on a U-12 team should not head the ball at all. Now, these regulations have yet to be incorporated to all youth club soccer, due to most competitive leagues not being under the direct governing power of US soccer. As of right now, they are only being implemented for youth national teams and MLS youth programs. However, these restrictions have raised some questions from concerned parents with children involved in these programs, but why? Shouldn’t they be happy with the measures being taken for their kids’ safety?

Parents who have children in the involved programs are expressing concerns that this header ban is going to take away from the development of their young footballers. This then leads to further speculation on what the heading ban is going to mean for the future of international soccer in America. Will our quality drop compared to the rest of the world due to restrictions on our youth’s “fundamental” development? Personally, I don’t think that this will happen. The correct technique and form to head a ball is a fairly easy thing to catch the hang of, even at an older age. I know this first hand. From a young age, I always had a fear of heading the ball so I avoided it, but later on I was taught the correct and safe way, by former professional footballer and now put it into use almost every time I take the pitch. These concerns are out of line in my opinion. Upon being interviewed by one of his local news sources, The Las Vegas Review Journal, Doug Borgel, a soccer coach with 25 years experience revealed that he has been on the receiving end of questions from these concerned parents. Borgel made a few comments about these concerns. “Parents want their kids to learn the fundamentals early, and headers are a big part of it; You teach technique at a young age to avoid injuries, concussions in soccer don’t come from heading, it comes from elbows, head to head contact,” he said. The latter comment begs a whole different question though.

Will this new implementation of heading restrictions actually solve the problem of concussions in soccer? A study was conducted by the Duke University Medical Center consisting of college footballers from the ACC (Atlantic Coast Conference). The study showed that of the 29 concussions among the division’s soccer players in a two-year span of time, that the most common way a concussion was obtained was by head to head contact with another player, just as Borgel had said. This piece of evidence is starting to lead us all in the wrong direction now. If the concussions aren’t coming from heading, but head to head collisions, aren’t these regulations useless and pointless? Was this decision on headers the wrong one after all? 

However, another study which was conducted by Scotland’s University of Sporting Excellence clearly backs up the decision. The study was done as follows: Soccer players headed the ball twenty times, which were deployed by a machine that simulated the speed, pace, and power behind an average corner kick. Prior to, and after the heading sessions, the involved athletes were tested for any change in brain functioning and memory. The results came in, and they are groundbreaking. Decreased brain function was detected after just one heading session. Performance on the memory aspect of the test was reduced by 41-67 percent. These effects did normalize after an estimated 24 hours. However, this monumental evidence of decreased brain functioning and memory performance leads me and many other professional cognitive neurologists to believe that frequent, regular use of heading in soccer will lead to bad brain issues in the long term, especially for young, developing minds.. Maybe these new regulations weren’t only an attempt to limit clinical injuries like concussions in youth but also the more damaging long term effects, such as decreasing brain function and deteriorating memory. The test conducted by Scotland’s University of Sporting Excellence backs this up, and undoubtedly backs up the new regulations as the right decision.

Yes, this decision was the right thing, but couldn’t it be taken one step farther? I have an idea that could make this happen, and I can foresee it happening in the future. Being that the majority of youth club soccer is not under the governing power of the US Soccer Federation, the new rules cannot be enforced in these programs. The program is an example of such clubs. Hastings Football Club is registered under the Minnesota Youth Soccer Association (MYSA), not under US Soccer. I think that US soccer needs to be the governing body of all youth programs in America, not just youth national teams and MLS youth programs. If this was done, the heading regulations could be implemented and enforced across the country, creating a more widespread positive effect.

So all in all, I know that the US Soccer Federation made the right decision and is one step closer to solving this head injury epidemic in soccer. The ACC concussion study shows that the majority of concussions in soccer are not because of heading a ball, but head to head impacts. This led to speculation on what the ban is actually accomplishing. The myth that the new heading rules were useless and pointless were clearly debunked by the groundbreaking evidence shown from the study conducted by Scotland’s University of Sporting Excellence. Although the new heading ban isn’t exactly reducing a lot of concussions, it is keeping our youth from suffering long term brain damage such as increased inhibition. I believe that these rules should be taken a step farther and be enforced across the country, because right now they aren’t accomplishing much as it is. We need US soccer to take control and implement these rules across the nation because we have to keep all of our young footballers safe. They are the Lionel Messis’ and Cristiano Ronaldos’ of the future.