A letter about football from October 19th, 2015

Dear FutureMe, I sent this to arrive July 10th, 2025 in Calvin's email account. Be prepared for a discussion. ****************************** You’re only 4 & ½ now, but we’re doing our best to plan for your future. Your name is on a USAA account, and, in doing so, we are planning for you to have the least expensive car insurance when it comes time for you to begin driving. We also are training you to pray for God’s blessing over each and every meal, and to treat others as you want to be treated. These are all good lessons to learn and know, my son. Another facet on the diamond of knowledge is knowing when a “game” is too dangerous to play, like tackle football. Currently, football is America’s favorite sport; this country prides ourselves on being tough enough, when we get knocked down, to get back up again. The sport of football seems to exemplify this spirit, but there is a very real – and to be taken seriously – danger with every head-knocking play of football, which your Mom & I would seek to keep you from being experiencing. I suggest you either 1) play volleyball or tennis if you want to play a sport, or, if they aren’t offered, 2) get in better shape by swimming, resting, running & weight lifting. Resting? Yes, rest *must* be a planned and performed part of your routine. Getting enough non-exercise time to rest your body is an important part of the equation to getting good sports performance. Your brain is your most important muscle, and it needs down time, too, just like fasting is a good practice to grow closer to God and learning His directions, and gives your gastrointestinal tract a rest. As for the football coaches in which you would presumably trust by default, nobody really checks to confirm that coaches are trained in proper football technique, injury prevention, or concussion & head trauma injury identification. Even if the coach(es) are trained in injury prevention, it’s a different person who is out there yelling at kids to motivate them to perform better, faster, harder than they are doing. Football is a sport of constant clashing, and they want you to get battling, scrapping and fierce. But, once you’re injured, they will forget about you, because you’re not worth anything to them injured; they have lots of other kids to juggle who they need to manage to put their best team on the field. In the past 30 years, the top 5 most dangerous Fall sports were football, cheerleading, soccer, cross country and field hockey. Yes, cheerleading is a sport, don’t you poo-poo that. Ask your Mom, who was a cheerleader, what amount of preparation, abilities and endurance it takes. Cheerleading is basically year-round gymnastics while yelling, and BTW gymnastics is something which we don’t want you or your sister to participate, lest you think we’re just targeting you unfairly. But you likely won’t have to concern yourself with cheerleading or field hockey. Cross country makes the list because of the overuse of the body in running out into the wild blue yonder, creating some heart-related complications, heat stroke, shin splints and then there are the more common knees, hips & ankles injuries that are common in long distance trail running. Soccer runs the risk of concussions, ACL/MCL/PCL injuries and broken foot/leg bones. I’ve seen it firsthand; it ain’t pretty. 1 time, playing fullback (defense), as I saw we scored a goal, I turned to shout “Yeah!” to my teammates behind me and thrust my fist up in the air. But, unknown to me, there was a guy on the other team whose face got in the way of my celebratory fist-thrusting. He went down hard and started crying. I felt horrible and was in shock about it. I didn’t mean to hurt the kid, but I still injured him. Though that may not have been a destructive injury, the number of “catastrophic” injuries in these 5 sports goes like this: Field Hockey: 4 Cross Country: 32 Soccer: 60 Cheerleading: 93 Football: 1,018 Football has FAR, far, far, far, far more harmful and long-term injuries than any other sport, many of which are often to the head, which doesn’t recovery from injuries like bones and muscles do. Son, we love you, and football is a sport we enjoy watching, but we don’t want you to play it, for your benefit. But even if the possibility of head injuries doesn’t persuade you (and it should), just yesterday we were watching an NFL game when the Titans Center Chris Schwenke had someone else “roll up” on him from behind. It broke bones – BONES – in his lower leg and ankle area, and we saw his left leg lying at an awkward angle, obviously broken. His teammate Chance Warmack, saw the injury and feel to 1 knee in emotional prayer. This year before the season began, during training camp, an NFL running back retired at age 29, saying basically that he needed a change after focusing on football for 24 years. Do the math quick & that means he’s been playing football since he was 5 years old, which isn’t unusual in this country. That man didn’t have a normal childhood, and we are working to give you as normal as a normally developed childhood as you can enjoy. While we may get upset at having to repeat & repeat & repeat & repeat ourselves to you and discipline you A LOT these days for not listening or paying attention to direction, we know you will grow out of it. We hope you will eventually see the knowledge and wisdom in our guidance, and grow to be a great, healthy spiritual warrior for Christ. Below is an article found at: http://www.cnn.com/2015/10/18/us/high-school-football-player-dies/index.html reporting YET ANOTHER ***** – ***** – of a high school football player. We want you to do something else if the fall sports bug bites you, or, maybe . . . you could use this season as preparation for you Winter sport, like basketball or even tennis. After you read and absorb this data for a while, and have prayed and slept on it, please come discuss this with your Mom & me. We aren’t tyrants or dictators, so we want to discuss with you the direction(s) you want to take when it comes to sports. Love in Christ eternal, ~Dad Mourners gathered on the track that rings the Alto High School Yellowjackets' football field in Texas on Saturday. They held hands and prayed for junior Cam'ron Matthews, who died after a game under the Friday night lights the day before, marking the sixth U.S. high school football ***** this season. It was not clear from local media reports what exactly happened, but about an hour's drive from Alto, reported that the 6-foot junior told his teammates during a huddle that he felt dizzy shortly before halftime. He then collapsed, and a helicopter transported him to a Tyler hospital, the station reported. The game against Carlisle High School of Price, Texas, was postponed. Multiple media outlets, reported that Matthews died Saturday after suffering a seizure during the game. Alto Independent School District Superintendent Kerry Birdwell grew teary as he described the young wide receiver, quarterback and safety. He told CNN affiliate KTRE that counselors will be available for students on Monday. "When you have your own children and you want them to emulate someone and to follow in their footsteps, Cam'ron was a perfect example of that," Birdwell told the station. "He was a great kid in the classroom, unbelievable athlete, but more importantly just a great, great kid." 11 deaths in 2014 In 2014, five of the country's 1.1 million high school football players died of causes directly related to the sport, such as head and spine injuries, according to a survey by the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina. Another six players died of indirect causes: Three were heart-related, one was from heat stroke and two were caused by hypernatremia (an electrolyte imbalance) and water intoxication, the survey found. "Certainly this is not going to be one of the low years," Robert Cantu, medical director for the NCCSIR and a professor at the Boston University School of Medicine, said during an interview earlier this month. The past decade has seen an average of three fatalities each year directly attributable to high school football, the survey said. In 2013, there were eight deaths directly linked to high school football. Between 2005 and 2014, the deaths of 92 other high school football players were indirectly related to the sport, according to the NCCSIR survey. Here's a look at the other players who have died this 2015 season: Rod Williams Roddrick Williams was a popular offensive lineman and tuba player at Georgia's Burke County High School. On the football field, the bespectacled 17-year-old was known for his hard play and lighthearted song and dance numbers that made teammates laugh. On October 10, one day after the Burke County Bears took the field without their beloved No. 71, the Pride of Burke County symphonic band played his favorite songs as part of his funeral service. His tuba rested on the 50-yard line in the school stadium. Williams' October 5 *****, two weeks after he collapsed during a practice in Waynesboro, was heart-related, Burke County Coroner Susan Salemi told CNN, declining to elaborate. The 5-foot-11-inch, 300-pound junior collapsed September 22 shortly after football practice began. The school trainer performed CPR until an ambulance arrived, according to the station. Kenney Bui Kenney Bui, 17, a wide receiver and defensive back for Evergreen High School near Seattle, died October 5 after suffering a traumatic brain injury during a game the previous Friday. In a video Bui is seen earlier in the game making a hard tackle on a running play and getting back up. He was later taken away in an ambulance after taking a hit to the head near the end of the game. Bui died from blunt force injuries to the head, according to the King County medical examiner's office. His father, Ngon, a janitor in Seattle's public schools, told KIRO he learned of his son's ***** via text message: "Your son is dead." Close to tears, Ngon Bui said, "I love my son. I don't want nothing to happen to ... kids. And a parent to have to worry." Bui's father asked his son to quit the game after a previous injury, but the teen's mother and Bui overruled him, the station reported. Bui suffered a mild concussion in early September but had been medically cleared to play, Highline School District spokeswoman Catherine Carbone Rogers told CNN earlier this month. Evan Murray Evan Murray, a senior at Warren Hills Regional High School in northwest New Jersey, died September 25 after leaving the game with an injury, according to the school. A GoFundMe page to assist Murray's family said the quarterback and captain -- a popular student who also played baseball and basketball -- "felt woozy" after getting hit in the backfield. "He was always there for all of his teammates. Played hard, all the time. He's going to be sorely missed by everybody," baseball coach Michael Quinto said. Ben Hamm Ben Hamm, a junior linebacker and team captain at Wesleyan Christian School in Bartlesville, Oklahoma, died September 19 after suffering a head injury during a tackle in a game eight days earlier, CNN affiliate KOTV reported. Hamm was in a coma after being rushed to the hospital with bleeding in his brain, according to the station. His father, Steve, wrote of his son's ***** on the team's Facebook page: "Ben's condition has deteriorated ... because of a lack of oxygen in his blood and this morning I am saddened to let you know that the world has lost a spiritual warrior!" Tyrell Cameron Tyrell Cameron, 16, a student at Franklin Parish High School in Louisiana, died September 4 after a game injury, the Franklin Parish coroner's office said. He died at Franklin Medical Center. Cameron was hit during a punt return in the fourth quarter of the game against Sterlington High School, Franklin Parish head coach Barry Sebren said Northeast Louisiana Ambulance Service was on the sidelines and rushed onto the field to help. The cause of ***** is under investigation, but KNOE reported Cameron broke his neck.