California lawmakers will debate Wednesday whether to ban football tackles for children under 12, a move pushed by advocates who seek to protect children from brain damage but opposed by coaches who warn will prevent teenagers from important sources of physical activity.
The bill, authored by Democratic State Assemblyman Kevin McCarty, is scheduled to have its first public hearing before a legislative committee and is a long way from passage.
Wednesday’s hearing is important; The bill must clear the State Legislature by the end of January to have a chance of becoming law this year.
If passed, the bill would not take effect until 2026. The proposed amendment would be phased in until 2029.
A bill to ban under-12 soccer is scheduled to have its first public hearing before a legislative committee and is still a long way from being approved. Educational Images/Universal Image Group via Getty Images
The bill comes as flag football is gaining popularity across the country, especially for girls.
Research has shown football tackles cause brain damage, and the risk increases in people playing football, said Chris Nowinski, CEO of the Concussion Legacy Foundation and former Harvard football player and WWE professional wrestler.
It can cause chronic traumatic encephalopathy, which causes the death of nerve cells in the brain.
“I have no problem with NFL players, who are adults and understand the risks and are compensated, risking CTE,” Nowinski said. “I can’t imagine a world where we have children, who don’t understand risk, doing this for fun (and) taking the same risk with their brains.”
No state has banned tackle football for children, but there are attempts to do so.
Similar bills previously introduced in California, New York and Illinois failed to pass.
California law already prohibits full-contact practices for high school and youth football teams during the offseason and limits them to two practices per week during the preseason and regular season.
If passed, the bill to ban contact sports for children under 12 would not take effect until 2026. Actionpics – stock.adobe.com
The law that takes effect in 2021 also requires youth football officials to complete concussion and head injury education in addition to other protections.
Steve Famiano, a former youth football coach who heads the Save Youth Football California coalition, said the youth football league needs more time to implement the 2021 law to see how effective it is.
He said children under 12 should not be forced to play only flag football, which he said was a completely different sport from tackle football.
Research shows tackling football causes brain damage, and the risk increases the longer people play football. Joe – stock.adobe.com
“Flag football is geared towards smaller, faster kids, and some of the kids we see in soccer may not be physically developed, they may be a little overweight or bigger, they may not be children. fastest in the team,” he said. “They fit in very well with the youth football team. They can play offensive line and defensive line. You took it from the child, where did they go?
Tackle football at the high school level has declined in California.
Participation declined more than 18% from 2015 to 2022, falling from a high of 103,725 players to 84,626 players, according to the California Interscholastic Federation’s participation survey.
Football participation increased by 5% in 2023, up to 89,178 players.
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