AYF Releases Report On Injuries Within Youth Tackle Football

Source: sadlersports.com - AYF Releases Report On Injuries Within Youth Tackle Football
Author: John Sadler

American Youth Football (AYF) is the largest youth football organization in the US and represents a wide cross section of the youth tackle football ages 5-15. Since 2000, its endorsed insurance provider, Sadler Sports & Recreation Insurance, has collected information on 20 injury categories related to each of the 1,832 Excess Accident claims that have been submitted for payment to the claims administrator. The data for each category was input into a database and reports were generated to illustrate the injuries occurring in each category.

AYF constantly reviews and monitors this information in an effort to better protect its youth participants. Should a particular area of concern come to light, more detailed reports can be run to determine if a problem exists that needs additional attention. For example, when concerns arose over the potential dangers of age only vs. age / weight categories, a report was run that indicated that the risks of injuries in age only weight categories was about the same as age / weight categories. As regards the concussion concerns, AYF will track the frequency of concussions to total injuries over time to determine if the impact of parent / player education, coach training on concussion recognition, return to play policies, and improved tackling techniques have a positive impact on the trend.

Since this study is limited to Excess Accident claims that were reported under the endorsed insurance program, under some categories, it tends to understate minor injuries that were never reported and tends to overstate the more serious injuries that required medical treatment. However, it does represent a statistically significant overview of the frequency of injuries that occur within AYF and youth tackle football as a whole.

To follow is a summary of the leading injury statistics by frequency in each category:

Absence From Play – 41% for 3 + weeks; 20% for 1-3 weeks; 12% for 1-7 days; 11% not specified; 11%, unknown 7%;  none 5%. Note that many of the less serious injuries were never reported as insurance claims and as a result this category tends to overstate the length of time of absence from play.

Activity While Injured – 32% running with ball; 31% tackling; 15% blocking; 4% running without ball.

Body Part Injured – 12% knee; 12% wrist; 10% forearm; 8% ankle; 7% shoulder/collarbone; 7% head/temple; 5% finger/thumb; 5% elbow; 4% neck; 3% hand; 3% back.

Injured Person – 98% football player; 1% coach; 1% other. 

Injury Type – 49% fracture; 13% joint sprain/strain; 12% bruise/contusion; 5% concussion; 4% dislocation; 3% pulled muscle. Note that the percentage of fractures tends to be overstated since many of the less serious injuries such as sprains, bruise/contusions,  cuts/scrapes, and pulled muscles are not serious enough to be reported as insurance claims. Also note that the relative frequency of concussions to total injuries is consistent with other youth football studies.

Location On Field – 93% on field; 1% sidelines; 1% practice field.

Injury Occurred During – 51% game; 38% practice. Note that it is a common misconception that most injuries in youth tackle football occur during practice. However, the results clearly indicate that most occur during games. Furthermore, when we drill down and study concussions, only 28% of concussions occur during practice.

Type Of Play – 45% offense; 35% defense; 11% other; 2% kicking off; 2% receiving kick off. Note that very few injuries occur during kickoff returns. Therefore, the same kickoff rule changes that have been implemented by the NCAA and NFL to limit concussions during kickoffs would not be as beneficial in youth tackle football.

Position Played – 24% running back; 17% defensive line; 11% linebacker; 11% offensive line; 9% quarterback; 6% secondary; 4% receiver; 2% kickoff returner.

Situation – 32% tackled by player; 14% tackling player; 13% fell on/stepped on by player; 10% contact with ground; 6% collision with opponent; 5% blocked by player; 4% collision with teammate; 4% blocking player; 2% blocked from behind; 1% non contact.

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