(from the New York Times) Young soccer players who head the ball are at greater risk of experiencing at least short-term cognitive damage than previously thought. Last month at the annual convention of the American College of Sports Medicine, researchers presented findings from a study of boys and girls in Puerto Rico, ages 9 to 11, who played soccer in a local youth league. Data from special headbands the kids wore showed that heading the ball subjected their brains to acceleration forces ranging from 10 to 60 Gs, which at the high end of the scale is considered forceful enough to cause a concussion in adults. While most of the children's impacts were below the 60 G threshold, cognitive tests shortly after each game showed that the children who had headed the ball at least once tended to have slightly lower scores — the boys in "rapid processing," and the girls in "sequential memory."
In 2015, U.S. Youth Soccer baned heading in games and practices by participants younger than 11.
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