Ok_Analysis_4955 t1_jcsg91m wrote on March 19, 2023 at 5:14 AM

I saw a paper awhile ago that compared two cohorts of players, those who practiced head balls and those who did not. Their average IQ differed by nearly 15 points, a whole standard deviation. Causality comes up, Do only smarties avoid unnecessary head balls. Here is a different paper showing an Association w Neuro damage. https://neurosciencenews.com/neurology-brain-abnormality-soccer-concussion-195/

SnooPuppers1978 t1_jcvq6aa wrote on March 19, 2023 at 10:42 PM

What a depressing thing to know. I play soccer, and I love playing it, I don't practice heading, but I just play as hobby and sure in some cases I have to head the ball. It always felt nasty, but I thought surely it's safe or otherwise soccer wouldn't be as popular sport as it is.

Now I'm not sure if I should quit or simply never head the ball... I always look forward to playing and can't wait to play.

Maybe at least in training I will stop heading any faster moving balls. From now on though whenever I head the ball I'm left wondering how many IQ points did I exactly lose this time. Was it 0.01 or 0.001? 100 or 1000 headings would yield in drop of 1 IQ point.

I would like to see a study where it compares IQs (and other mental performance test results) at certain age for soccer players and IQ for same players in 10 years or different various time periods. For all pro, amateur, sunday league.

enelspacio t1_jcxrmyb wrote on March 20, 2023 at 11:31 AM

Enjoy your life… professionals do it tons and tons and over and over again, at very high ball speeds - you’ll be fine pursuing you hobby as normal