Tega Cay out, Fort Mill in for tackle football

As issues of player safety loom large on tackle football, two local recreation departments are coming at them from both sides.

Tega Cay Parks & Recreation won’t offer tackle football this fall. They will offer flag football for ages 5-11. The decision comes after starting the tackle football program in 2008 and tripling participation in the years since. In a letter to families explaining the decision, Parks and Recreation Director Joey Blethen describes being “conflicted” in recent years.

“My love for the game was being consumed by my concern for the safety of our youth participants,” he wrote.

At issue were constant headlines on concussions. Last year Will Smith starred in a feature film, “Concussion,” about the link between brain damage and repetitive trauma from the sport. Former National Football League players sued the league over concussion-related health problems. On Tuesday, news outlets reported congressional investigators found the NFL tried to sway brain injury research, a claim the league denied.

Blethen, who began playing football in eighth grade and coached up to the high school level, agreed there are valid opinions for and against playing tackle football, and results from numerous studies and articles “varied based on the study and the author of the article.”

“We’re not telling families what to do,” he said. “If people still want to play tackle football, there are places they can play locally. We just won’t provide it here.”

One place is nearby Fort Mill. Brown Simpson, director of Fort Mill Parks & Recreation, guesses football has been offered in Fort Mill at least 50 years. It will be offered again this fall.

“We’re full force into it,” Simpson said. “We look forward to offering it.”

Like Tega Cay when the city offered it, and organizations nationwide, Fort Mill is focusing on improving the game and making it as safe as possible. The league and coaches have multiple trainings and certifications, much of it focusing on proper tackling to avoid head injuries.

Fort Mill has tackle football for ages 7-12, and flag football for younger children and 7-year-olds who may not be ready for full contact. Simpson expects his league could grow by 75 percent or more with Tega Cay discontinuing tackle football. Many parents and families hear the concussion conversation, Simpson said, and choose what level of risk fits them.

“I think they realize what they’re signing up for,” he said.

Both directors agree concussions aren’t limited to tackle football.

“Any type of sporting event, you always have that possibility,” Simpson said. “That’s the name of the game.”

Some soccer organizations have banned heading the ball for youth divisions. Simpson said he’s seen injuries in every sport, including concussions from volleyball to baseball to basketball. Blethen said there isn’t anything 100 percent safe and people have to decide what makes sense for them.

“It’s an inherent risk in everything you do,” he said. “You never know what the day is going to bring.”

Helping Tega Cay and Fort Mill with their decisions for the fall are demographics.

“There was a shift in the demographics,” Blethen said. “The numbers had started to dip a little bit.”

Flag football gains popularity

Last fall, tackle football in Tega Cay fell to 104 players. Flag football had 195. This spring, flag football had 248. Even if getting rid of tackle football isn’t a moral decision in Tega Cay, it could be a business one.

“It’s one of those things that you do professionally,” Blethen said. “You look where the numbers are.”

In Fort Mill, the numbers are much higher. The town had 285 tackle football players last fall. The Tega Cay decision is likely to add more this season.

As recreation directors have to make the same decision parents are, neither believes he is right and the other is wrong. They just fall in different places for evaluating risks of the game versus enjoyment and life lessons gained from it.

“For me, I think you’ve got a better chance of getting a concussion as you get older,” Simpson said. “You get bigger. You run faster. You hit a lot harder when you develop physically. At these younger ages, it’s more instructional.”

By instructing younger players before the harder hits come, Simpson sees his program potentially helping avoid injuries later.

Blethen, who sees the game as safer and attitudes on player safety much better than when he played more than a decade ago, doesn’t know how he would cope if a severe injury occurred in his program. Leading to, despite years in the making, the “very raw and passionate decision” to step away from a game he loves.

“I struggle with that decision of, what would I do and how would live with it if something happened,” he said.

This story was originally published May 27, 2016 at 12:44 PM with the headline "Tega Cay out, Fort Mill in for tackle football."