Melissa Block （Host）： Kids who play soccer should not head the ball before high school. Thats the recommendation from a new campaign thats trying to educate parents， coaches and kids about the dangers of concussion and brain injury in soccer. The doctors behind the campaign say heading the ball before age 14 poses special risks to a childs brain development. Helping to lead the campaign are 3 former members of the U.S. womens national team that won the World Cup in 1999. Among them， Cindy Parlow Cone， who cited post-concussion syndrome when she retired from the game. She told me she still experiences fatigue and headaches， which she believes can be traced to years and years of heading the ball， starting at a really early age.

Cindy Parlow Cone： Well， I started playing soccer when I was about three years old because my older siblings played it， and I wanted to do everything that they were doing. As soon as you started playing soccer you started learning how to head the ball， and so by the time I reached 14 Id probably headed the ball over a thousand times already.

Melissa： Really？ And did you notice any effects when you were that little？

Cindy： I remember seeing stars every once in a while when Id head the ball， but I never really thought much of it. I mean obviously I know now that that is not normal—to see stars， and thats a minor concussion.

Melissa： I wonder if youve talked to doctors who have said， yeah， were pretty sure that your experience in youth soccer contributed to what youre experiencing now.

Cindy： Yeah， I mean we didnt know better when I was growing up， but now we do. And I think when you know better you have to do better， and we have a responsibility to all the youth kids out there playing soccer to try to make the sport as safe as possible for them. Im a youth soccer coach， and I will be talking with the kids that Im coaching about， you know—theres…were not going to practise heading. I coach 11 and 12-year-olds right now， and theres no need for them to be heading the soccer ball yet. Well focus on other technical and tactical skills associated—that are developmentally appropriate for them.

Melissa： Do you get pushback from parents， because I know from being on the sidelines of lots of youth soccer games that anytime a kid heads the ball， the parents go crazy—hey， thats great. And I would imagine， you know， if youre telling your kids not to do it， you might get parent saying were going to lose. Were going to be noncompetitive.

Cindy： Well， I think thats something that we have to communicate well with parents. At the forefront of this is to keep their kids safe， which I dont know a parent out there that doesnt want to keep their kid safe. So if this means delaying heading until theyre in high school and 14 years of age， then thats what it means. And I think thats why this is so important is just during those developmental years， were not having them constantly hit the ball with their heads. That repetition is not good for that age group， and they need to wait a little bit longer.

Melissa： Im curious. When youre coaching youth soccer， what do you tell a parent if he or she comes to you and asks， you know， why cant my kid had the ball at age 10， 11， 12？ What do you tell them？

Cindy： Well， I think in—first of all， until this campaign becomes the rule—that there is no heading in any of the leagues that these kids are playing in， I dont think I can tell them not to head the ball. I can tell them that Im not going to practise it in practice， and I can tell them that Im not going to force them to head the ball in the games. If the ball comes to them in the game before the leagues change the rule and they head the ball， Im not going to punish them in any sort of way. But just by eliminating the heading in practice and eliminating them feeling like they have to head the ball in the game， already， were decreasing the number of impacts theyre taking to the head.

Melissa： Well， Cindy Parlow Cone， thanks so much for talking with us.

Cindy： Thank you very much.

梅麗莎·布洛克（主持人）：踢足球的孩子在上高中前不該用頭來(lái)頂球——這是一個(gè)新的運(yùn)動(dòng)所提出的建議。這個(gè)運(yùn)動(dòng)旨在讓家長(zhǎng)、教練和孩子們了解在踢足球的過(guò)程中會(huì)有腦震蕩和腦損傷的危險(xiǎn)。發(fā)起這次運(yùn)動(dòng)的醫(yī)生說(shuō)在14歲前用頭頂球會(huì)給孩子的腦部發(fā)育帶來(lái)特殊的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。發(fā)起這次運(yùn)動(dòng)的是前美國(guó)女子國(guó)家足球隊(duì)的三位隊(duì)員，她們?cè)?999年贏得了世界杯的冠軍。她們之中的辛迪·帕洛·科恩退役后患上了腦震蕩后綜合征。她告訴我到現(xiàn)在她還是頭暈頭疼，而她相信這是因?yàn)樗诤苄〉臅r(shí)候就開(kāi)始年復(fù)一年的用頭頂球。

辛迪·帕洛·科恩：嗯，我在大約三歲的時(shí)候就開(kāi)始踢足球，因?yàn)槲业母绺缃憬銈兌歼@么干，我想做一切他們正在做的事。你一開(kāi)始學(xué)足球，就會(huì)開(kāi)始學(xué)習(xí)頭球。因此到我14歲的時(shí)候，可能已經(jīng)練習(xí)了一千多次的頭球了。

梅麗莎：真的嗎？那你在那么小的時(shí)候有注意到這樣做有什么影響嗎？

辛迪：我記得練習(xí)頭球的時(shí)候時(shí)常會(huì)眼冒金星，但是我真的從來(lái)沒(méi)有多想此事。我意思是，我現(xiàn)在當(dāng)然知道那是不正常的現(xiàn)象——眼冒金星，這是輕微腦震蕩的（癥狀）。

梅麗莎：我在想你有沒(méi)有跟醫(yī)生提起過(guò)此事，而醫(yī)生有沒(méi)有說(shuō)：“嗯，我們很確定你青少年期間（練習(xí)頭球）的經(jīng)歷導(dǎo)致了現(xiàn)在的癥狀?！?/p>

辛迪：嗯，我的意思是在我成長(zhǎng)的過(guò)程中我們并沒(méi)有很了解此事，而現(xiàn)在我們很清楚了。我認(rèn)為如果我們對(duì)（這一情況）更加了解，就應(yīng)該做得更好。我們要對(duì)所有年幼就開(kāi)始踢足球的孩子們負(fù)責(zé)，盡可能保證他們?cè)谶@項(xiàng)運(yùn)動(dòng)中的安全。我現(xiàn)在是一名少年足球教練，我會(huì)和我的學(xué)生聊天。你知道的——我們不用練習(xí)頭球。我現(xiàn)在正在訓(xùn)練11、12歲的孩子，他們還沒(méi)有必要去練習(xí)頭球。我們把精力放在其他相關(guān)的戰(zhàn)術(shù)和技能上——這些很適合他們的發(fā)展。

梅麗莎：你（這樣做）受到過(guò)家長(zhǎng)們的阻撓嗎？因?yàn)槲以谇驁?chǎng)邊上看過(guò)許多少年足球的比賽，每當(dāng)一個(gè)孩子用了頭球，家長(zhǎng)們都會(huì)為之瘋狂——嘿，這太棒了。因此我認(rèn)為，你知道的，如果你說(shuō)你的孩子不要用頭球，你就會(huì)聽(tīng)到家長(zhǎng)們說(shuō)：“我們肯定要輸了，我們沒(méi)有一點(diǎn)競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力?！?/p>

辛迪：好吧，我認(rèn)為這就是我們必須要和家長(zhǎng)溝通好的事。最關(guān)鍵的是保證他們孩子的安全，我想沒(méi)有一個(gè)家長(zhǎng)不希望自己的孩子是安全的。如果這意味著把練習(xí)頭球推遲到他們上高中或14歲的時(shí)候，這就是其意義所在。我想這件事重要之處就在于在孩子們成長(zhǎng)的階段，我們不用讓他們經(jīng)常用頭來(lái)頂球。這種反復(fù)性的動(dòng)作對(duì)于這個(gè)年齡階段的孩子是沒(méi)有好處的，他們需要再等一段時(shí)間。

梅麗莎：我很好奇，當(dāng)你在教少年足球的時(shí)候，你知道的，如果家長(zhǎng)們來(lái)問(wèn)你：“為什么我的孩子不能在10、11、12歲練習(xí)頭球？你此時(shí)會(huì)怎么跟他們說(shuō)呢？

辛迪：好吧，我想，首先，我不能命令他們不練習(xí)頭球，直到這次的運(yùn)動(dòng)達(dá)成規(guī)定——規(guī)定任何足球俱樂(lè)部的孩子都不能練習(xí)頭球。我可以告訴孩子們我不會(huì)在訓(xùn)練中練習(xí)頭球，我也可以告訴他們我不會(huì)在比賽中強(qiáng)迫他們用頭球。如果在俱樂(lè)部更改規(guī)定之前他們用了頭球，我也不會(huì)處罰他們。但是通過(guò)減少他們?cè)谟?xùn)練和比賽中用頭球的次數(shù)，我們已經(jīng)減少了對(duì)他們頭部的影響。

梅麗莎：好的，辛迪·帕洛·科恩，非常感謝你來(lái)到這里。

辛迪：非常感謝你。