Fred Bowen's "The Score" column,
October 19, 2001, Washington Post

Heads Up

One of the big questions in soccer these days is not which team will win the World Cup next year, but whether heading -- hitting a soccer ball with your head -- can hurt your brain

A few years ago, scientists studied European pro and club soccer players. In special tests and puzzles to measure how well their brains worked, the soccer players did worse than swimmers. Swimmers were chosen because they don't get conked on the head -- unless they swim into the side of the pool.

But Penn State University recently performed the same kind of experiments with the school's men's and women's soccer teams. This time scientists found there were no real differences in the scores of the soccer players and other athletes.

The bottom line: Nobody is 100 percent sure whether heading, especially if you do it for a long time, could hurt your brain.

So what's a soccer-loving kid supposed to do?

Don Kirkendall, a professor who works with the University of North Carolina's NCAA champion women's soccer team, has some suggestions:

• Don't head the ball before about age 12. It is better and safer for kids to work on other skills. Some leagues do not allow heading below the age of 10.

• Avoid backwards heading. That is when a player tries to redirect the ball by snapping her head backwards. It's a dangerous move because the player can't see what's in back of her and may accidentally smack her head on something or someone. The player heading can get hurt, and so can the defender.

• Pay attention. Kids are much more likely to get hurt from an accidental blow to the head -- from a kicked ball or a goal post or another player -- than from heading the ball on purpose.

• Tense your neck before heading the ball. Otherwise, when the ball hits your head, your head can rattle around. That's not good for the brain.

Kirkendall said there is no scientific proof that special helmets and headbands make heading safer. But he suggests that leagues for younger players let a bit of air out of the ball so it isn't so hard. And every game should have an adult who knows what to do if a player gets a really hard knock on the head.

But everyone agrees that kids should keep playing soccer. As David Hovda, director of the UCLA Brain Injury Research Center, told me, "There is a greater risk to kids from not playing soccer than from playing soccer." Kids need the exercise and the fun of being part of a team.

So keep playing. Just use your head about heading.

Fred Bowen is the author of sports novels for kids.

© 2001 The Washington Post Company