Thread: Help (not on a car)

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You asked! The chance for permanent injury is greater in contact football than in the "running" sports they already do. Depending on your economic situation you should note there are few college scholarships for girls in football but there may be quite a few possibilities for scholarships in the Title-9 sports. Despite modern equipment, the chance for knee injuries and/or concussion is much higher in a 4th-and-1 situation or receiving a pass in the presence of headhunter cornerbacks. One compromise I have seen is where a girl is a place kicker with less of a chance for heavy contact but with two girls the question is whether one could be a place kicker/holder or maybe a punter. I know how that age can work on a Dad to get what they want but my common sense tells me to convince them to excell in basketball where there are more scholarship possibilities. Years ago in my H.S. there was Field Hockey for young women and that is a very vigorous outlet that also offers scholarships. The university I am retired from has no football program and chose to put limited funds into men's basketball and women's field hockey as well as a strong program in tennis for men and women. You should look into the Title-9 provisions that require colleges to offer equal scholarships for women in sports. I can still recall head-on tackling drills where I could feel my vertebrae go click, click, click like dominoes. My two daughters were way too small for athletics and went into band and flag events at halftime and I would not have considered letting them play football, but basketball is really growing for women's sports and 13 is a little young to risk knee injuries or concussions. I can also recall being a mediocre basketball player on the JV team when the coach of the Girls team thought it would be a good idea for the girls varsity team to practice against the boys JV team and it was amazing because the girls were literally fainting in exhaustion in a few minutes due to the speed of the boys game. I think that gap has narrowed now with more emphasis on Girls basketball. At 13 it is sort of like the pressure some kids have to endure in Little Leage, particularly pitchers in Little League relative to bone growth in the early adolescent years. Just my opinion, Billie Jean King may have a different view!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder