Delaying tackle football particpation until late junior high or high school, eliminating hard contact in practice, concussion awareness where layers are held out until fully recovered, the teaching of tackling techniques that use the shoulder instead of the head as the initial contact point and rule changes that make the game safer should hopefully reduce future incidences of CTE in former players.
Mercer County seems to be doing things he right way by eliminating as much risk as possible. However, tackle football, by its very nature, will always be a dangerous sport to play.
In addition to football, young people out here in Colorado like to downhill ski race, ride broncs and bulls, shred halfpipes, bike race, etc. These are dangerous sports too. If the risks of participation are understood and all safety precautions have been taken, then go for it!
Life, itself, is a risk, especially, when we get into our cars to drive somewhere!
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There is this football phenom in central Oyo called the Buckeyes!
Not sure where Mercer County is ( how many miles from?? Cincy? Dayton? Toledo?
Not sure that this is news at all. Seems as if Mercer County is relatively prosperous. Maybe they should push tennis? How about a skating rink? Variety. What is the median income in small communities where football teams are no more. (Portsmouth, OH -- a frequent subject here with its opioid situation -- and a dying town -- once upon a time had a championship basketball team. Riverfront stadium was the site for football games. Go Trojans.)
@Auntie Mame — Give or take, Mercer County is roughly 80 or so miles north of Dayton. It is rural, and like most rural counties, wealth is relative to that of cities. It’s towns are small, and it used to be (according to my ex, whose family comes from those parts) that Catholic parishes were the landmarks of the counties in that part of Ohio, and is what residents identified with the most. It’s a very pastoral and peaceful part of the state where, if you look out over the fields, you can tell where the towns are by the church steeples.
Simple, traditional team sports such as football and basketball knit together many communities there, as they do here in Indiana. You hear more about those sports in rural areas, rather than, say, tennis. Friday and Saturday night games are major events.
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@MDB yes, being from the area, you nailed it. Football is woven into the DNA of many rural Ohio towns. Football is preached as family, and it is something that can sustain the attention and build more young men over the school year than tennis. Tennis is a rich man’s solo sport—that is how we Ohioans see it, even once we grow up and leave the farm. And families spend fall Fridays in the bleachers for football—it is often the only thing to do where bars and churches and small to nonexistent downtowns are mainstays in the geography.
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@Auntie Mame news? It is a good story. What is your definition newsworthy? Your post shows some real lack of understanding how interesting this story is, especially for those who live outside of big cities and for those who grew up in these areas. This is a wonderful piece about the lifeblood for many rural folks, those who will often feel overlooked (marginalized) by today’s MSM and hold it against politicians—especially those that they believe prioritize racial and orientation and religious minorities. As a Democrat, I can tell you this article gives a glimpse into the worldview held in rural Ohio—places where plenty of my peers were and are still blueblood, blue collar Conservatives. For this alone, the story is news.
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Hurrah! They saved gladiatorial entertainment for the masses, and gave something for the kids to do rather than strive to be better at their education, which would be so - elitist.
The boys will pay the price. They'll have their Friday Night Lights memories, until they can't anymore. They will walk with pride, until their hips and knees stop working. But what a game!
So sad.
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@MassBear You so wrongly assume that these kids don't strive for a better education. In the state of Ohio, out of a total of 863 schools that are rated, Marion Local ranks no. 9 in the state on the 2018-2019 Performance Index. The PI is a calculation that measures student performance on the Ohio Achievement Assessments/Ohio Graduate Tests at the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th and 8th grade levels and English I, English II, Algebra I, Geometry, Integrated Math I and Integrated Math II.
Please verify this for yourself as I have provided a link below to this data. Next time, before you disparage a group of people you don't know, please get the facts.
http://education.ohio.gov/getattachment/Topics/Data/Report-Card-Resources/Report-Card-Data-Forms-and-Information/Report-Card-Lists-and-Rankings/Performance_Index_Rankings.xlsx.aspx?lang=en-US
For those that don't know. Mercer County is about 80 miles north of Cincinnati.
P.S. I graduated from Marion Local and played football there. I have 2 artificial knees which are a result of playing football, farming in my younger years and partly due to heredity (my Dad has artificial knees as well). The comaraderie, discipline and shear hard work served me well in life and I would do it all over again in a heartbeat.
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@MassBear — Thanks for the elitist take. Much appreciated.
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Thirty years from now, if not sooner, the statistics on chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) say that at least one of these players will be suffering from CTE. That will ruin his life, and subject his loved ones to tremendous pain and hardship.
3-4 years from now, no one will remember or care how many games this team won and lost.
Is this spectacle of high-schoolers giving each other brain injuries a justifiable activity in view of the one or more players who will eventually succumb to CTE?
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I live in Coldwater, which is a quick 25 minute drive from Maria Stein. I’m just one of many who went to college, lived elsewhere then returned. Mercer County is thriving. Our unemployment has been the lowest in the state for many months. Our sales taxes continue to set a new record every quarter. This area is well known for its work ethic. Our farms are not dying. Farm land sells for up to $15,000 per acre. Mercer County is a very special area of the state. Community support for not only football but numerous areas is quite significant. I could go on but I think I’ve made my point. I wouldn’t live anywhere else.
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@Terry Rutschilling Couldn't agree more. I guess I'm not necessarily from Mercer Co, but went to Minster, and live probably a half mile from Mercer Co, and about 10 minutes from Maria Stein. I can't wait to graduate and move back home. All of the local communities have traditions of excellence, and instill in their young people a very strong work ethic. These communities support their youth not only through sports, but through youth organizations, band, church, and much more. Not to mention, many of the youth of the area are graduating college and moving back home. I think this is part of the reason this area is thriving so much.
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This is a very good story, as are many of the comments. But it betrays a big problem with reporting on these regions today, including stories about dying family farms and lost manufacturing jobs: it focuses on the people who are left. I'd be interested in some stories in the Times about, say, the soccer players and band members, focused on kids who gave up football, as well as stories of all the people who recognized reality, sold their family farms and built their lives elsewhere and people who, maybe laid off or maybe seeing the writing on the wall, left some plant, moved out of the Old Country and reinvented themselves.
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@Stephen S Power You had me until you mentioned "recognized reality" and "moved out of the Old Country." I get where you're coming from. Being from this very successful area of west-central Ohio, I often feel sort of bad for the farmers struggling throughout the country, or those laid off from their jobs. Just a little over a year ago, I was reading an article from the Toledo Blade comparing Mercer County to Monroe County in Ohio (https://www.toledoblade.com/business/development/2018/12/02/lessons-offered-in-ohio-economic-picture-in-robust-mercer-county-struggling-monroe-county/stories/20181202022). When looking for success and hope (and ideas for future success), sometimes you have to look at the outliers, or the ones who are making it work even though the model says they should be failing. Mercer county (or the Midwest Athletic Conference, or the Land of the Cross-tipped churches, or whatever you want to call this area) continues to be an example of an outlier, one that continues to thrive, and one that I cannot wait to move back home to.
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As a 1999 Coldwater graduate who played against Marion Local multiple times in high school, I can attest that they run their program the right way. We could never beat them, which admittedly is probably a direct reflection of the fact I was one of the worst QB's we've had in the past 20 years. I have the utmost respect for Coach Goodwin and the way he coaches this team. Hard work, God, and family values can get you a long way in life and Tim Goodwin's football program is a direct reflection of that. Honestly, I wish I would have played for Tim Goodwin. I'm proud to be from rural western Ohio and high school sports are the core of my life. Without them and football programs like Marion Local, we wouldn't know what to do.
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I live in Ohio & find it odd that news stories about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy haven’t hit Marion, Ohio yet. They’ll regret letting their boys play football someday, what with all the knowledge out there about the game & brain injuries.
I think it’s child abuse and certainly nothing to be celebrated.
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Lots of comments about risk of injuries and death.
The best data available put the number of deaths per year of high school football (all causes - TBI, heat stroke, cardiac) at 10-15 children/year and has an injury rate of 10 per 1,000 exposures.
Consider many of these kids work on farms where according to GOA 237 children died between 2003 and 2016 or about 15 kids/year. I won't even consider the number of children that die in residential swimming pools or car accidents (hint...it's more).
The point is not missed by these players and their families, one cannot avoid risk by living.
If you want to learn more about the character of the kids from flyover country, YouTube search WeAreLucas, a hype video made by Maria Stein Local's opponent.
@Anthony DeSalvo Yes, it is what it is. Still dangerous and pointless.
One can, however, eliminate THIS risk!
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@Donna Yavorsky Life is about managing risk, not avoiding it. Face the risk, prepare for the stress, accept the danger and overcome it. More teenagers are at risk in an automobile than in contact sports.
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Just went to a sports med conference with leading researchers in the field of CTE. Every little hit taken, not just the big head trauma episodes add up and cause longterm damage. Even heading a soccer ball is ill advised. No parent should allow their kid to play football.
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@Kas Every hit taken or administered is a learned experience which will reduce the risk of injury in other life situations.
This is an excellent article on what I see happening with youth football. Injuries and demographics are changing the sport. Great to see high schools adapting. Nice job Mr. Drape
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Why are comments focused on disparaging football or questioning the methods employed by the coaches in order to motivate the young men they coach?
Having played college football with coach Goodwin, it is great to see how successful he has been! There are thousands of high school coaches, across the country with similar stories. If you don’t like football, don’t let your children play, but don’t lecture those of us that did.
Team sports, not only football, help create memories and bonds that last a lifetime. In this age of instant gratification, we would do better as a society if we had to work a little harder, and make actual sacrifices to reach our goals.
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@John
So an atheist has no place on this team? It doesn’t seem to be inclusive unless you subscribe to a very conservative way of thinking .
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and here I thought that Joe drape had written a feel good story that showed how a football program done the right way has bonded a community, taught important values and given its team members a sense of self respect.
And in comments he gets dumped on.
I know football culture has its drawbacks and excesses, but if people can't even accept this football lite approach, they probably don't have any use for football at all.
That's the only reason I went to school, to play the game with my best friends.
And when it got to be more than my skinny self could handle, I took the off ramp.
Now I watch college and pros, but few events top high school contests as a community event. Our high school won the state championship for the first time in history and all it took was one good coach.
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@frankly 32
You are correct. The war on football continues. I just hope the public realizes the death of football means the death of women’s college athletics as we know it today.
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@Shamrock melodramatic slippery slope approaches to discussion. I like it. War on football, lol. I love the game and still watch it plenty—but the game has problems and those only get fixed with criticism. Same as a wealth gap—cannot fix what you are not willing to hear is happening.
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Here is what I don’t understand about this article. It quotes a Marion Local player about his experience with football: ““I’m going to leave here knowing what hard work is and what it gets you,” he said.” But aren’t a number of these kids farm boys? If growing up on a farm, by itself, fails to let you know “what hard work is and what it gets you” something is wrong. Also from the article: “In August, Marion Local began two-a-day practices at 7:30 a.m. Players started the day in wet grass and often ended sessions in 95-degree heat.” Couldn’t they have learned the same lessons about work and effort by being in the fields or the barns rather than practicing to play a game?
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What is being done of equal value to inspire the young women in these schools? And please do not say anything about cheerleaders- a sad afterthought
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@Mary Wade As an alumni I can tell you Marion Local also has robust and competitive women's sports. The women's volleyball and basketball teams are very competitive.
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Actually “What is being done of equal value to inspire the young women in these schools?” is that they almost all have chapters of FFA (what used to be Future Farmers of America). These chapters include both males and females. And the objective of these organizations is to teach young kids (both male and female) the value of agricultural careers. Perhaps what involvement in these chapters does with respect to teaching kids about what the importance of work and effort means is more valuable than lessons learned in putting a ball through a hoop.
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I went to similar rural school north of Maria Stein. Our football team (of which I was a member) went 8-1 50 years ago and we had a lot of fun. Approximately half the boys in my class were on the football team. We just had our 50th class reunion and it appears that the boys who did not play football were just as successful as the boys who did. What is disappointing is the large amount of resources spent on athletics while the girls and the smaller, lesser athletic boys could not participate. The coaches were more interested in their coaching and not very good teachers. Football was fun, but lets not give it undo importance.
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@Dan
Good point. The coach taught American History class was a learn nothing class. Ditto physics. I did not learn American History nor wasn't interested in it until about 30 years later when I had the opportunity to teach it at the junior high level.-- a two-year program. (It's fascinating.)
There is now competitive cheerleading-- somewhat dangerous gymnastics!
I think community sports are important and useful and through the US should include access to year round swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball, gymnastics, ice skating at a reasonable cost or free. Consider it as part of the infrastructure. After all, if we can support Amazon and Walmart with our taxes why not sport centers?? (or is that socialsm, Mr. Brooks?)
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Two questions:
Are the rights of student-athletes who do not wish to participate in the associated religious rituals respected?
Also, do the students who choose to play this particular sport display a sense of entitlement and superiority, vis-a-vis students who choose to play different, but equally legitimate, sports? After all, they are big fish in a very small pond, playing a sport that over 95 percent of the world's population couldn't care less about.
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@rella — This is a small, tight-knit community. It is also in a traditionally devoutly religious (mainly Catholic) part of Ohio, so I’m sure most everyone has no issue with the rituals. And I doubt, too, there is any sense of superiority. Anything but. In many rural areas, high school sports brings people together. These towns support their teams wholeheartedly. You see the same thing in small towns and rural counties here in Indiana.
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@MDB "Most everyone" isn't everyone. It is that inability to tell the difference that leads to insensitive treatment of minorities.
Also, do people in these towns really support all of their teams in all sports wholeheartedly, or just some of them?
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@rella
1.Yes, some choose to not go and are not viewed any different,
2.No
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I really do not like the idea of tackle football. But this article was a walk down memory lane for me. From when I retired in 1999 until my mother's death in 2008 I was spending at least a week every other month at the Otterbein St. Marys CCRC where she lived; sometimes I was there for weeks at a stretch. That is a bit north and east of Maria Stein. I can picture all the places named in the article.
This part of Ohio is pretty prosperous as the article notes. It's economic base is great farmland, tool and die manufacturing, a large plant that produces bottles in New Bremen, and for the last number of decades a Dannon yogurt factory on the south edge of Minster that has gotten a lot of the farmers seriously into milk production. And don't get me started on the wonder that is Schweiterman Pharmacies; there are five or six of them spread over the two counties.
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@carol goldstein
I don't just like the idea of tackle football, I love it then and now and forever! Some folks simply are not liking of physical contact sports or sports in general.
Cheerleading is one of the more accident injury prone activities but of course many don't do that anymore.
Sports were my life saver not my injury source.
All of my adult sons still ride bicycles, 2 of 3 play golf and all workout religiously along with spending such time with their own families. Not such a bad thing after all that they followed my lead on their own impulse.?
I am also realistic and know it has risks. Spending ones time as the many kids who don't play any sport, has it's own set of risks, not that everyone is an athlete either. I do remember the kids that tried hard to pass P.E. which at my school included a requirement to learn how to swim in the class of 61. Also those boys who could not climb the rope, nor much of anything else. My middle brother was one of them and never in his life did he exercise in any way shape or form and he paid for it dearly with his health.
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"In this part of Ohio, however, football remains vital. Its coaches and educators have found a way to use the sport to amplify its values: hard work, accountability, community, God."
I would love to hear one of the coaches try, with a straight face, to explain (to this agnostic) a connection between football and God... and then justify why football, with its potential for serious injury, is a better conduit to the divine than, say, track, basketball or the debate team.
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@D Price Football has nothing to do with "the divine." Religion isn't just blind worship in Maria Stein, it's about living the life Jesus wants us too. With strong character, strong morals, compassion, accountability, community, and integrity. All of which can easily fall right into football as it can just anywhere else. It's literally that simple but I'm sure the my old coaches could go into much detail than I.
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@Benton
Right on. Religion and the military don't exactly align either but lots of us found it in that activity, which isn't always the most healthy thing to do.
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If football helps these young men build a connection with their God, then who are you to question it?
It is quite tough to explain religion to someone who doesn't believe in it; why do you think it would be fair to make one do that? Let them believe what they believe.
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What a wonderful story! Football is a marvelous way to build character with the benefits outweighing any potential hazards. And yes, football is hazardous just as any sport is.
For those who want to get rid of football, what about all of the other sports that are hazardous? Do you want to get rid of them as well? For example, rock climbing is clearly a very hazardous sport, especially if you are into free climbing. Yet, if you chose to ban it because of its hazards (as in sudden death), you would have banned one of the most uplifting achievements by a human - Alex Honnold's free solo of El Capitan. Individuals should be free to participate in any sport that they wish.
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@Rob-Chemist
It is absurd to compare football's potential for injuries with only one other sport, rock climbing. I challenge you to compare, in both severity and numbers, the injuries in football compared to basketball, soccer, baseball, golf, etc., in a typical high school athletic conference. If you want to also include rock climbing in that comparison, do that, too.
It is also absurd for the coaches in the article to talk about the increased safety of football by dispensing with contact scrimmages in practice. This just sends the message to hit very hard in the games and proves all the more that football has the potential for serious injuries. Why would you want to do something in a game that you don't really practice for? The reason is obvious: it's dangerous.
Don't get me wrong. I like football---hard hits and all. I played football when I was young. And I agree that individuals should be allowed to participate in any sport that they wish. But just don't make arguments that football is safe or safer than other sports and is without risks, both physically to the individuals playing the sport and to the communities investing an inordinate amount of money and hero-worshiping.
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@Robert Plautz
Your game vs practice analogy is not real life logical IMO. It's common place in modern football to see coaches avoid contact in practice and they still turn out better players than in my 1950's & 60's experiences in jr high, HS and in college. Less contact = less chance for injury? not complicated! Your message machine isn't aligned with mine for sure. Hero worshipping? I love the sport and have "heroes" but I don't
idolize them.
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@Rob-Chemist The counter-argument would be about scale. Football is by far the most hazardous in terms of lasting brain injury in youth sports. Would you be in favor of gladiator matches to the death in our schools, just because we allow other sports that are hazardous?
In your example with rock climbing, the answer would be yes - free climbing to dangerous heights for children is probably not a great idea. But for both free climbing and football, it may be a different story for prepared, consenting adults.
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How is advocacy of a sport known to cause significant brain injuries a good thing?
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Brain injuries are no joke. Chronic pain decades after a high school playing career is over is no joke. High school glory is a sad thing to be bragging about later in life. Consider if football is really the sport you want to risk your future quality of life for.
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I didn't play football when I was in high school. I was too small and light. I played soccer, lacrosse and played trombone in our marching band and orchestra. I was also in our senior class play. In all of these after school activities, I essentially learned the same things that these football players are learning: teamwork, friendship, duty, sacrifice, practice, hard work, physical and mental effort, dedication, and pursuit of excellence.
All high school students that participate in after school activities generally learn the same things as I did many years ago. You don't have to be a football player to learn good lessons that apply to life beyond high school.
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@Zack The point of my comment, perhaps not so obvious, was that one doesn't have to play a rough sport with possible severe injuries and possible future CTE in order to learn lessons that will do well later in life. This article talks about why the parents in Ohio support football: to teach their children about hard work, accountability, community, and God. Wouldn't you agree that other after school activities (band/orchestra, sports, theater) teach at least the first three?
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@Charlie Fieselman
As a football player for many years I fully agree with you.
2
Marion Local and its fellow Midwest Athletic Conference schools are so dominant in Ohio high school football that the Ohio High School Athletic Association (OHSAA) resorted to manipulating its classification scheme (Divisions I through VII) in order to keep them from winning too much, packing them into the same divisions if possible to give other teams in the state a chances at winning titles.
Kind of like gerrymandering. Grossly unfair to the schools.
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Ohio, in its desperate crawl towards oblivion, is really worried teenaged boys arent motivated to hurt each other sufficiently. Fortunately a rugged he-man shows them the way.
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@frank discussion As an alumna of Marion Local, I can assure you violence/causing "hurt"/harm is not the case for this program. We grew up in towns without malls or movie theaters - what else do teenagers do? It's a best case scenario for students to be involved in athletic and extra curricular activities. In an era when many rural Ohio towns of a similar size are ravaged by the ongoing opioid crisis, Maria Stein's interest and investment in its football program is a rightly a point of pride.
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@Janelle
It's not just football, as the writer mentions. Most of the kids go to college. All the sports teams are excellent and the band has been consistently superior forever.
The New York Times got it exactly right: the reason Marion Local dominates is the character of the community.
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@frank discussion
“Because what is football? It’s hard work and requires sacrifice and mental toughness.”
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