Last night I received a message from a fellow goal keeper coach with a link, the article was about a young GK of 14 who sadly passed away during a game due to a accidental collision, the knee of the other player had hit the lads head causing brain damage.
I feel really sad for the family of Luca and also for the player he collided with, he now has to live with this all his life!
Fortunately head injuries are very rare in grassroots footy but they do happen however I am now left wondering as a coach do I have some responsibility into advising parents and players who are GK's. I have followed closely the Americans grassroots footy where U11s are banned from heading and limitations for U12 & U13s, as yet most other countries are calling for more research before they follow the americans.
My own daughter who is at U15s is fearless as a keeper, something I have instilled into her, she has had a few knocks to the head, nothing to cause to much concern however I have thought about following Petr Chech and we have talked about the scrum caps, she is relluctant but the news yesterday has re-ignited the flame. I have now written to other sports bodies to try and get information about what they have in place.
Part of me thinks this is OCD but then I really dont want to know any young lads or lasses who end up with a head injury that possibly could of been prevented.
I have no idea if this is a result of footy, I caught up with an old friend, we was chatting about all the other lads n lasses we hung around with back in our youth, he told me of one who is in a bad way, he has some mental illness, he is 53, this chap was a centre forward for our team and could head the ball with as much power as some could kick it, is there a link? Are we now putting 2+2=5 who knows.