Wally Spagnola admits he grows weary of defending the game he loves.
But as president of Aurora Gators Youth Football, defend it he does — while also repeating the phrase, “I get it,” when in discussions with parents concerned about safety issues that have compromised America’s passion for this hard-hitting sport.
The Gators, a Pop Warner Football program that replaced the now defunct Aurora Superstars on the city’s West Side, are a member of USA Football where “everybody is talking about” the concussion controversy, noted Spagnola.
As are parents.
Coaches of peewee programs will tell you improvements in equipment and rules have made it a much safer sport than ever before. But there doesn’t seem to be a group around — including many high-ranking prep programs — that have not seen roster declines because of studies linking chronic brain trauma to concussions and repeated hits to the head, particularly to little heads still developing.
The Gators started with two teams when they formed a decade ago, then quickly doubled … hitting a high of six teams before the numbers started going down a couple years ago, Spagnola told me.
This season, he said, the Gators fielded four teams. But it’s not for lack of trying that the league is not seeing the growth it anticipated. More than ever, Spagnola says, recruitment has become a tougher sell.
“I tell parents to hear me out. And they listen,” he said. “But few of them change their minds.”
Jaime Castaneda, who heads up the Tomcats Youth Tackle League, faces the same dilemma. This East Side organization that formed in 2013 quickly jumped from 40 to 100 players on six teams last year, but saw those numbers this season drop to 80 players and four teams.
The coaches understand why. Which is why both say they carefully read as much as they can get their hands on when it comes to brain injuries and football.
“I really am trying to be the most informed I am,” said Spagnola. “When I see a study, I read it carefully. I try to look at it as open-minded as possible because I want the sport to be the safest for the players.”
Spagnola insists he’s seen more head injuries on playgrounds and on bikes than he has on the field. And speaking of playgrounds, he watches kids “throwing a ball around, rolling over or tackling each other” and understands more than anyone that “boys will be boys.”
The youth football programs, which are trying to emphasize safety more than ever before, he insisted, take that same roughhouse mentality and channel it “in the safest way possible.”
All of which makes the debate over kids playing football a complex issue that will continue to sprout plenty more research and debate. While some critics believe allowing kids to play football is a form of child abuse, there are plenty of caring, educated parents I’ve spoken to — including former NFL players and medical doctors — who are not giving up on the sport they love, convinced the benefits this safer game brings, like discipline, teamwork and leadership, outweigh the risks.
That includes my own sons, who not only enjoyed success on the field but still like to watch those “Greatest Hits” highlight tapes that now make their once-passionate football mom cringe.
The two oldest, who have little boys of their own and did not play until high school, insist the sport helped define who they are, but will wait and see how the research plays out before making any decisions.
“I don’t think I would have a choice” noted a younger son who was allowed to play youth tackle, “if he wanted to play as much as I did.”
Of course, I was most likely asking the wrong parent.
When Spagnola talks to dads about joining the Gators, they usually tell him “to take it up” with their spouses. “So I say ‘OK, where is your wife?'” But when making the pitch to the moms, “Nine times out of 10, I don’t get anywhere.”
Castaneda, too, sees a similar pattern, which is why the league has set up committees of players’ mothers who go through the same testing as coaches “to keep a mom’s eye on things.”
“It really is all about safety,” he insisted.
In the end, however, it comes down to “making the choice that is right for your family,” said Spagnola.
“But I just hope,” he added, “people are using the right information and not just going by the headlines.”
Twitter @dencrosby
