Youth Football: The Debate and the Dangers A debate about whether children should play tackle football has struck a nerve in the last few days. It probably wouldn't have reached that point without the death of Junior Seau, and the discussion that followed it. Jets Coach Rex Ryan said he was happy that his son, who was concussed last season, was playing football. Kurt Warner said he preferred that his sons not play. He later amended that after criticism from Amani Toomer. Merril Hoge of ESPN, who, like Warner, experienced multiple concussions in the N.F.L., said Warner was uneducated and irresponsible. Hoge said there was head trauma in every sport - it's the handling of it that is important, and parents need to get involved to make sure proper procedures are followed. Hoge also said that obesity was a greater danger to health, and that participation in sports like football should be encouraged, not discouraged. You can see his impassioned views in full in the video below. Opinions are one thing. What about the science? Is there any? Stone Phillips, the journalist and former Yale quarterback, produced a report on his Web site on research into head impacts in youth football. His work was picked up by PBS NewsHour (the video is at top). Joe Nocera of The Times wrote about Phillips's report in his blog in February: "Hard Hits, Hard Numbers" includes interviews with Virginia Tech researchers who placed instrumented helmets on seven and eight-year-old football players and collected data on more than 750 hits to the head over the course of a season. The details are jarring: the researchers found that some head impacts in youth football are equal in force to some of the bigger hits seen at the college level. And 3.5 million kids ages 6-13 play tackle football, compared to just 2,000 NFL players. "Nobody expected to see hits of this magnitude," said lead researcher Stefan Duma. Mr. Phillips brought the results to our attention, he wrote, "because I played football through college, had a couple of concussions and believe this issue is of importance to millions of families." Extra point It's hard to find fault with Warner's concerns as a parent. Some sports involve less head contact than others. And the impact of repeated collisions on young brains needs more study. Flag football is always an option for children. At what age do you think it's appropriate to start playing tackle football?