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Post by nltdiego on Apr 12, 2015 19:21:22 GMT -6
Coaches,
What is your sale pitch to parents who say football is dangerous?
We have a meeting next week and looking for a sales pitch that focuses on safety.
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Post by coachhenry27 on Apr 12, 2015 19:39:06 GMT -6
Sometimes there's not much you can say. Doubters will remain no matter what evidence you present. Start with showing them what you do specifically to address safety (your training, team procedures, district procedures, etc.) You can show them the statistics that show that more significant head injuries occur in girl's soccer than football. Be honest and give them the national averages for football specific injuries and give them your significant injuries for your team from the last five years. Ultimately it is their decision whether or not they allow their son or daughter to play a specific sport. Just help them to make that an informed decision and not one based on speculation.
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Post by realdawg on Apr 12, 2015 19:49:36 GMT -6
Be up front and honest. Tell them you cant promise them that anyone can promise to anyone that injuries will not occur. Then show them the steps your program will take to prevent them as much as possible and deal with them should they happen.
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Post by coachfloyd on Apr 13, 2015 5:43:24 GMT -6
Show them the injury rates between soccer and football. They will be surprised. I had a kid not able to play college football because of concussions sustained during soccer.
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Post by funkfriss on Apr 13, 2015 8:23:05 GMT -6
Agree with others, here are some suggestions
1. Be honest: Tell them there is injury risk in football as is true with other sports.
2. Statistics and Research: Show them statistics showing the incidence rate of concussions and other injuries in football and other sports. I'll have to look and post later, but there is a report out there that lists this and football is the leader in concussions, but is only slightly ahead of soccer and wrestling. To me, if parents allow their kids to play these sports, I never want to hear injury as a reason for not playing football.
3. Prevention and Treatment: Demonstrate how you will help to prevent injuries including equipment, fitting, technique, strength training, stretching/warm-up, etc. Also, talk to them about treatment of injury. Again, there are studies out there that demonstrate that concussions, when treated properly and given time to heal, do not lead to chronic debilitating injury.
4. Other anecdotal information that hits home: An example would be the number of head injuries from riding bikes, skateboarding, etc. Ask parents if they would stop their son from riding a bike and show that there is risk there, just like playing football
5. Benefits: I think this gets overlooked in this discussion. Life is all about risk/reward, and playing sports is no different. There is definitely the risk of injury, but if their son is not allowed to play football he misses out on leadership, teamwork, commitment, discipline, accountability, compromise, friendship, sacrifice, and all of the other great traits that the game of football build.
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Post by fantom on Apr 13, 2015 9:29:18 GMT -6
Coaches, What is your sale pitch to parents who say football is dangerous? We have a meeting next week and looking for a sales pitch that focuses on safety. Something to keep in mind is that the people at this meeting want to believe you. The parents why firmly believe that football is too dangerous aren't even coming to the meeting. |
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Post by WingTheT on Apr 13, 2015 9:36:18 GMT -6
Show them the injury rates between soccer and football. They will be surprised. I had a kid not able to play college football because of concussions sustained during soccer. Totally agree on this. Had a player that had an offer to go D1 to place kick but had multiple concussions & tore his ACL/MCL his senior year. Never was the same afterwards....way to end a HS career huh? |
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Post by peacock1915 on Apr 13, 2015 10:23:38 GMT -6
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Post by natenator on Apr 13, 2015 10:41:45 GMT -6
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Post by tothehouse on Apr 13, 2015 11:00:14 GMT -6
I would explain your method of tackling...though it might not be tackling as the cause for the concussion. You can tell them you're going to do the USA football method...or the Hawk tackling...or whatever...just explain to them that you understand the concussion situation and will be limiting the contact and, when there is contact, will be teaching it the right way.
Tell them you're going to make a conscious effort in the weight room to strengthen the shoulder and neck area. Again...nothing can 100% prevent concussions. Just show them you're attempting.
Tell them you have a certified doctor on the sideline of each game and explain the protocol if a head injury occurs.
All you can do is tell them you're highly aware of it.
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Post by funkfriss on Apr 13, 2015 13:11:15 GMT -6
There it is! To put it in better perspective. If you break down the number you get 1 incident for every 796 practices/games. Now, each season lasts approximately 60 days (practices and games if you figure 2 week pre-season and 10 week season). That means that if each kid played for 13 years, they would be expected to only get 1 concussion. Those are pretty slim chances. You are 5x more likely to have a heart attack by age 40 than have a concussion playing football in high school (combining statistics from thischart and the American Heart Association). |
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Post by jcamerot on Apr 13, 2015 13:31:09 GMT -6
Not trying to nitpick your choice of words but "safe" is a pretty relative term. There is an inherent risk in playing football. You need to present everything you are going to do to limit that risk, as much as humanly possible. We, as coaches, all need to be aware of limiting the risk of injury to our kids.
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Post by bluedevils10 on Apr 17, 2015 11:06:51 GMT -6
There it is! To put it in better perspective. If you break down the number you get 1 incident for every 796 practices/games. Now, each season lasts approximately 60 days (practices and games if you figure 2 week pre-season and 10 week season). That means that if each kid played for 13 years, they would be expected to only get 1 concussion. Those are pretty slim chances. You are 5x more likely to have a heart attack by age 40 than have a concussion playing football in high school (combining statistics from thischart and the American Heart Association). I like the stats you breakdown, however the article headline is not something I would pass along to parents. I'm sure they can find it on their own anyway. I also agree about using the stats to show that there are other dangers in the world other than just playing sports. As coaches we have to continue to promote the sport and work to make it as safe as possible |
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Post by mahonz on Apr 20, 2015 10:44:41 GMT -6
As a Youth Coach I recruit kids and deal with this regularly. Convincing isn't going to happen. Selling works. I dont melt their brains with stats or articles and the like because if they are worried then that is natural and they are simply under educated. It was no different 20 years ago but now we have all this bad PR happening. I explain why this issue truly is an NFL issue. Speed of the game....atmosphere...equipment and that the NFL is diligently working to fix the problem. I explain the differences and sell them on the fact that this isn't the NFL....not even close. I go heavy into why playing the consummate team sport will help develop their Son and add to their own awesome Parenting skills to help their Son become a better Adult. I tell em that they wont ever realize this special opportunity in life if they never live it as a family. Football is unique and different...you have to live it. I sell them on the fact that not playing football now means that their Son might not ever get the opportunity to play in the future and that this might end up being a huge regret for their Son down the road. The reality is...the only reason you are having this conversation is that Junior is begging Mom or Dad to play and Mom or Dad is saying no. Walk away from this conversation with no regrets is what I pound into their heads. If you can do that....the kid will play. Maybe not right away but in time. You now have them thinking about their Son's future rather than their own current fears. Basically turn what they think is their own good Parenting against them.  My take...sometimes it works....sometimes it wont. |
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