Save the Brains-Post

Today, at 6 p.m. the boys ages 13-14, gathered at Atten Park. The safety of this youth football league is a constant issue for Wheaton parents, as it is for many parents of athletes nation-wide. The Riddell helmets the boys wore even had a warning sticker on it that said, "Contact in football may result in CONCUSSION-BRAIN INJURY which no helmet can prevent"...pretty reassuring for a parent, right? As the boys started stretching and getting ready to run drills, the parents watched on the sidelines. They all looked nervous. The body languages, especially of the mothers watching, were an telling example. The fathers stayed the entire time, proudly watching and cheering on their son all night long. Yet, it was clear that the mothers had a much harder time watching. "Yeah, football is not my favorite sport to watch, it's just too violent," a mother said. One of the coaches, Phil Sosnowski, in charge of this age group of boys walked over to the parents about half-way through the night and told them what their boys would be doing the next three days. The contact part of evaluations is scheduled for Wednesday, he said. So, tonight consisted of a lot of team push-ups, sprints, and agility drills to give the coaches a taste of the kind of talent they have to work with this upcoming fall. So thankfully for those nervous mothers, they have a couple more days to build up the courage to watch their sons get tackled...again, pretty reassuring, right?