Parents want padded helmets, no tackling after football deaths

( NewsNation ) — There’s a push for more safety measures on the football field after several young players died in the last month.

According to NPR , at least seven deaths involving students at or after practices and games were reported in August.

One of these was a 13-year-old football player in West Virginia named Cohen Craddock who died after suffering brain trauma while making a tackle during practice at his middle school. On the same day, Caden Tellier, 16, of Alabama , suffered a fatal brain injury after a game.

Cohen’s father, Ryan Craddock said his son had blain bleeding and swelling. Now, he wants to see schools attach padded head protectors called Guardian Caps to athletes’ helmets, something the National Football League already does.

Ryan Craddock told the Associated Press that he doesn’t think we need to do away with football, but more safety measures are needed to protect kids.

“I think that the Guardian cap could have helped in this situation, maybe even prevented, the death of my child,” Ryan Craddock said. “If we could learn from the unfortunate incident with my son to help one other kid, it’s worth it.”

Since 2022 there’s been a 50% decrease in concussions among players who have worn the soft-shell head covers in practice, the NFL says.

The National Center for Catastrophic Sport Injury Research says there were 16 football-related deaths last year among the millions of athletes who compete in youth and college football.

Tackle versus flag football

Proposals in individual states to ban tackle football for younger children during a critical period of their brain development have gotten little traction.

In New York, a lawmaker tried for 10 years to enact this rule, with no action. In January, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would not sign a similar bill if it were to reach his desk.

Still, youth participation in tackle football has been declining for years , the AP reports, and efforts to encourage young boys to take up flag football are growing. It’s already become popular among girls and is even sanctioned as an Olympic sport for men and women at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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