Researchers recently found through an iPad app-based experiment that repeated hits to the head, such as heading a soccer ball, could affect an athlete’s performance on cognitive tasks.
Emily Flood, certified athletic trainer for UF’s women’s soccer, said this study provides a good basis for the concussion discussion.
“There are so many different ways you can head a ball,” she said. “Some girls control it like a pass because it’s a soft-header, or it’s a hard-header that they’re trying to compete withsomeone to win in the middle of the field.”
The study included 24 teenage female participants, 12 soccer players and 12 non-soccer players. Researchers found the soccer players were much slower than non-soccer players on a task that tested their reaction speed.
Becky Burleigh, head coach of UF’s women’s soccer team, said the concern of heading and concussions is an evolving issue.
“Until we have conclusive evidence that heading is an issue, that’s just a part of our game,” Burleigh said. “We wouldn’t want to be at a competitive disadvantage for not heading when other teams are.”
Injuries can occur when people hit each other as opposed to the ball, or if a player doesn’t have his or her arms up for protection of the space around them, Burleigh said.
Both Flood and Burleigh said teaching proper technique is a precautionary measure that can prevent players from getting concussions after heading a soccer ball.
Austin Zide, a goalie for a UF men’s club soccer team, has only had one concussion since starting competitive soccer at age 7.
However, the 18-year-old finance freshman won’t allow a study based on concussions and heading in soccer to affect the way he plays the game.
“I love the game,” he said. “I wouldn’t let something like that worry me or change something that I like to do.”
