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The Hidden Brain Risks of Soccer: What Every Parent, Coach, and Player Needs to Know | Broken Brains Podcast · Broken Brains with Bruce Parkman

• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hey folks, Bruce Parkman here from the Mac Parkman Foundation with Broken Brains, the official podcast of the Mac Parkman Foundation, where you know we get to talk about a subject every now and then, unlike the uh, you know, the longer you know formats that we do when we interview people.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: And today I want to talk about soccer, or what some of you might call football.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Because here in America, we most of us have a different perspective of football than Europeans or people around the world.
• 0:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this is the most popular sport in the world.
• 0:38
  SPEAKER_00: It's paid by more people in the world than anything.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: Yet in America, this is still kind of those one of those girly sports, man.
• 0:46
  SPEAKER_00: You know, we don't talk about it.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: And there's this misconception out there that soccer is this safe sport.
• 0:52
  SPEAKER_00: Like that's okay for anybody to play.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: Kids can play, adults can play, elderly can play.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that's true.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Anybody can play it.
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: But when it comes to the brain, soccer is a contact sports.
• 1:05
  SPEAKER_00: And it's as harmful as playing football, as playing hockey, as playing lacrosse or wrestling and all the other fun stuff that we do with these amazing organs that keep us on God's earth.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I mean, it's it is absolutely as lethal.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: Well, soccer has heading, okay?
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And we think that heading's cool.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you've watched the World Cup here lately, you've noticed that there's a lot of heading going on.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, not only they the heading the ball, sometimes they miss the ball and they head each other or they crash into the ground.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: And we we saw more than a number, a number of times where goalies and other people had hit the ground, their heads bounced off the turf.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: And that's that's astroturf.
• 1:50
  SPEAKER_00: All right, that stuff that that that's that's concrete with some carpet on top.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's not soft and it's not forgiving.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so what happens with all these contacts?
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_00: The thing with soccer is that you can take as many hits in soccer as you do in a football game, but you're taking them right to the brain.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, footballers have helmets on that doesn't help at all.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_00: That padding really doesn't make that much stick.
• 2:15
  SPEAKER_00: But you're talking about a soccer ball that can go upwards of 130 miles an hour hitting somebody in the head.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's contact.
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care what you say.
• 2:27
  SPEAKER_00: I don't even know how many G's that is, it's contact.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: And when we start talking about female soccer players, it's even worse.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Why?
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: Because they have a longer neck-to-body ratio and a weaker neck structure.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, nothing against them being ladies.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's how God made them.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_00: But when that soccer ball's flying across and smacking you upside the head, and you're doing this voluntarily, by the way, you're putting your head in that in the way of it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we tend to think it's okay.
• 2:57
  SPEAKER_00: And that gets to the whole root of the problem of repetitive ed impacts, is that they're not okay.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, they're they're asymptomatic.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you can you can head a soccer ball and turn around and talk to your wife, talk to your husband, talk to your kids, talk to your fellow players.
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: No harm, no foul.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: But just because you're not woozy, and of some, you know, of course, on some of these headers, you are woozy.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: And you don't think that's a concussion because you're not knocked out.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: But your brain's been impacted.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: And while those little hits keep happening, the brain eventually becomes inflamed.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: It just can't deal with the amount of impacts that it's taking, and the brain begins to fail.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: Now, we're looking at soccer balls today.
• 3:42
  SPEAKER_00: Think about what soccer balls were back in the 70s and 80s.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: They were made of leather.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: And when they played in the rain, though the leather got wet.
• 3:50
  SPEAKER_00: So basically you're heading a rock.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that's why, you know, we tend to see some, you know, with professional soccer players, we deal with a lot of them in England, where soccer is taken a lot more seriously, England, you know, Europe, Europe, Australia, and we do find that there is a significant prevalence of CTE and soccer players.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: But unlike our football players, for some reason, you know, that form of CT does not get the recognition and exposure that it does in the U.S.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: So we continue to think that soccer is a safe sport.
• 4:24
  SPEAKER_00: And it I mean, from the brain perspective, it is not.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: As a matter of fact, several years ago, I was talking to Willie Stewart.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Willie was the head of neurology, I think at the University of Scotland.
• 4:36
  SPEAKER_00: He was basically our doc the doctor and McKee of the U.K.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: And they had a game, it was a charity game, and they had all these soccer players, man, like just think of your NFL Hall of Fame players, right?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_00: They showed up, you know, they're having a great time.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: For one half of the match, they couldn't head the ball.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: That was the rule.
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: The same soccer game, but for one half of the match, you cannot head the ball.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: After the game, they said, hey, so what was the difference playing when you could head or not?
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: And each of those soccer players said, really didn't even notice.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if we're not noticing it, it's probably a lot better for our brains because we really don't deserve to play sports that we love that harm us in the end.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: So that's what I wanted to talk about today, is that, you know, we just got done with the World Cup.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing time.
• 5:26
  SPEAKER_00: USA went a lot of way.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think they really showed up on that last one, but they went, they did amazing, man.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: They went well, and that coaches did a great job with those uh young men.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: But we also watched a lot of head trauma get established during this run.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: And you think of those guys that have been playing for years.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: And, you know, we've got a problem that we need to address.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: So, you know, if you've got a child, please do not let them hit a soccer ball.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, you know, while you know you're watching a bunch of adults do it and they seem okay, and that's fine, and and maybe some of them are, we don't, you know, see, you know, the the prevalence of brain damage is there for sure.
• 6:07
  SPEAKER_00: You don't see a lot of the tragedies that we see in other sports.
• 6:10
  SPEAKER_00: But it doesn't make it any safer.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so when you know, we watched a lot of a lot of head trauma that we don't need to provide our children.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have a child, man, just just play no head soccer.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: It's just as fun.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: If the pros loved it, you know, your child's gonna love it.
• 6:26
  SPEAKER_00: Heading the ball doesn't make you any more manly or, you know, you know, it's it's it's got nothing to do with it.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need to do.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And in high school, if you want to roll the dice, then find a coach that doesn't think he's the USA World Cup coach and and appreciates the importance of your child's brain and allows them to not head the ball all the time.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: And maybe doesn't even practice it because guess what?
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Safer child children are safer children, children with better quality of life and healthier brains are worth much, much more than a win or loss or, you know, a notch in a collar.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we got to take care of our children.
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: So, anyways, to us, soccer is a contact sports and it needs to be respected like one.
• 7:08
  SPEAKER_00: Fun sport to watch, fun sport to play, but it's also something that impacts the game.
• 7:14
  SPEAKER_00: And that's what I wanted to let you know today.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: Till the next time on Broken Brains with uh Bruce Parkman, the official podcast of the Mac Parkman Foundation.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much for attending.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: And I do believe this is episode 101.
• 7:27
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see you on 102.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: And thanks for listening.
• 7:30
  SPEAKER_00: And and keep sending in your comments and insight and advice and like us on Spotify and uh and Instagram and Facebook and all the other platforms you've been watching us from.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_00: Cannot thank you enough for all the support.
• 7:42
  SPEAKER_00: And don't forget to get our free book on repetitive impacts and use in youth and youth brains off our website at www.mpfact.com.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Uh dot org.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: Thank you so much.
• 7:54
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see you next time on Broken Branch.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: Take care.