Buoniconti: Football impacts youth

Nick Buoniconti   (Public Domain)

Making an impact is not all it’s cracked up to be.  Or maybe it is, and that’s the problem.

Marc Buoniconti knows this all too well.  The son of “Hall of Famer Nick Buoniconti, Marc has been “paralyzed from the shoulders down” from a decades-old football injury.  He has also noted his father’s “significant cognitive issues in recent years.”

Marc has therefore done a 180 when it comes to youth participation in this sport.  Whereas he used to be all for it, he is now “adamant that children should not play football.”

What Marc used to herald about the game – “the teamwork, the camaraderie, learning how to win, how to lose, the practice, the discipline” – can certainly be gained in better ways.  The NBA, for example, is making safety a bigger priority.  The NFL will hopefully do the same. 

Schools, however, do not have to wait on the “big boys.”  They can do more to protect vulnerable youths here and now.

Resources

http://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/more-sports/marc-buoniconti-tells-ap-its-time-to-ban-youth-football/ar-AAso4VA?OCID=ansmsnnews11 

Copyright September 25, 2017 by Linda Van Slyke   All Rights Reserved