Violin & Football?

September 10, 2008 at 7:40 PM

My son started playing the violin when he was five. He is now 14 and is concert master in the Mount Baker Youth Symphony Orchestra in Bellingham, Washington (MBYS.org).

He desperately wants to play football this year (8th grade), but has not participated in the sport before. He has played some basketball, but has not done too much do to asthma in the past. He seems to have outgrown it now.

I am a bit aprehensive to this endeavor because of the injury it could do. He is a very advanced violinist and represented America last year in the country of China.

Please help. I am a single mom and want to give my son every opportunity there is so that he might grow and mature into a wonderful, well rounded, responsible young man.

His teachers are somewhat against the football and don't recommend it.

I am trying to see what the time commitment entails and educate myself to see if this would be a good idea.

Thank you for any advice or encouragement you can offer.
Christian's mom,
Laura

From Corwin Slack
Posted on September 10, 2008 at 8:14 PM

If he is going to play football eighth grade is the best time for it. They're smaller and not as skilled at hurting each other. In my state everyone who want to gets to play and they seem to be able to organize teams so that players are relatively matched.

My son played the cello. He was no star at cello or football but it only took one year (eighth grade) to get football out of his system. A lot of kids got it out of their system in the first few weeks of practice.

Kids have to have a chance to take some risks. It is part of growing up.

From Anne Horvath
Posted on September 10, 2008 at 9:14 PM

One of my students plays varsity high school football. He is also an all-honors straight-A student. Lovely kid, very sweet and polite, and not the typical stereotype No-Neck.

He started football in 8th grade. I worked out a deal with him, and his parents: I let him slide with his practicing during Sept-Oct-Nov, but once the season is up, back to the salt mines! He has to come to lessons, and practice the best he can, but with schoolwork and practice, he struggles to get in 3-4 days a week.

In this part of the country, (Deep South), children's sports are taken very, very seriously. The local Birdcage Liner has whole sections devoted to High and Middle School football. The boys tend to be very big, very strong, and they do get injured. My student came in last week to his lesson with a scrape/bruise on his right arm the size of Delaware. He actually admitted it was "a little" sore.

My student plays violin for fun. He had to drop Youth Orchestra, due to the year-round weight training commitment. If your son is considering a career in music, this is a choice he might have to grapple with.

Also, The New York Times ran some articles this year about head injuries and football, and the long term health consequences of such injuries. That is also something to think about...Good Luck!

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on September 10, 2008 at 10:17 PM

Greetings,
are you talking about American football or soccer?
I would have thought the former -might- be a bit risky for a violinist. But the people to ask are the coaches and officials associated with the sport in your area. Ask them straight out what kinds of injuires, if any, have occured over the last few years and see how that relates to purusing the vioin. See if you can find information relaitng to sports specific injurie son the web. For example, if the majorit have been leg injuries, ankles and knees etc who cares ;)
On the whole though, it is better to let kids do sport. Good helath and friendship is a very important concomitamnt to being a violin nerd. It does take a lot of physicla stamina ot get throuhg a cocnerto or two.
One can hurt iones hands doing anything and the more protective and up tight one earns ot be (perhaps through well menaing parents - not thinking of you here) the more likely injury happebns in my experience. Something to do with the conscious trying to control what the subconscious wa shandling very nicely perhaps?
Cheers,
Buri

From Marianne Hansen
Posted on September 10, 2008 at 10:36 PM

I understand your concern, although I think Buri may well be right that limiting one's activities and becoming very cautious about injury may well be worse than simply playing with some awareness of injury. I want to tell you, though, about my father's experience (which I have just learned about this spring, although it occurred 65 years ago). He was a talented violinist - although not, I think, as good as your child. (He is certainly musical and has good pitch - throughout my life he has sung and played harmonica.) He also was a good wrestler. He wanted to both wrestle and play in the high school orchestra. The orchestra leader was extremely opposed to his wrestling on the grounds of injuring his hands - he told him not to do it, he nagged him, and after awhile, he began picking on him to try to dissuade him. My dad says, "And I finally got sick of being sent to the principal's office every time anyone in the orchestra caused trouble."

The result was that he rejected the orchestra. I had never heard the story, and I popped up last spring with my fiddle (having taken it up quite recently), sure that my dad would be pleased to see it and might be able to play that old recital piece after fity years with two hours practice, as so many people report doing. He refused utterly to touch the instrument. He let a decision he was forced to in his teens deprive him of instrument that he had enjoyed, and perhaps loved, for his entire life.

Now, I trust no one would be as hateful to your child as this guy seems to have been to my dad, but it is a possible outcome, that the child takes against the activity that is required when the desired activity is forbidden. So I would say that you should explain your concerns to your child, and for sure look into the injury rates in the local sports programs. But it would really be best if possible to avoid outright opposition and to seek a shared decision.

From Stephen Brivati
Posted on September 10, 2008 at 11:48 PM

Greetings,
agreed. I wa sasusming in advance that the decisoison would be allowing the child some if not all share in the decision based on the best available information and advice,
Cheers,
Buri

From Jim W. Miller
Posted on September 11, 2008 at 3:15 AM

Let him play football, else you'll have a son whose mother wouldn't let him play football.

From Laurie Niles
Posted on September 11, 2008 at 4:28 PM

I'm pretty sure this would be American football, right? I'd say let him try it out and come to his own conclusions about it. One has to work for the future, but also enjoy the unique opportunities of the present. Whatever he's seeking (and it may well turn out to be something other than football), let him start down the road. He sounds like he's earned enough trust by now to let him do some exploring.

From Paul G.
Posted on September 11, 2008 at 11:56 PM

I would let him try out, and that involves conditioning, and that will show him how hard that is...

My little brother (14) plays football (no instruments though), and practice is 5 days a week, and he's gone from 5:30 to 7:30 ish, and as soon as he gets home is shower and sleep

But your son will see how hard it is and that will probably discourage him.

From Paul G.
Posted on September 12, 2008 at 12:01 AM

Oh, and by the way, on friday practices, it's running the whole practice.

From Jerald Archer
Posted on September 12, 2008 at 5:44 AM

I would think it best to allow him to experience it for himself and take the risks. It's better in the long run to say that at least he tried than to go through life lamenting the fact that he did not. I can see your concern as to injuries that could happen, and it is well founded. Life is a collectons of choices, all of which have ultimate consequences, be they good or bad, and I always say Wisdom is gained by experience.I wish you and him the best, no matter what his decision may be.
Jerald Franklin Archer

From Stacy Pigott
Posted on September 12, 2008 at 8:16 PM

I'm female, so my sport wasn't football, it was softball, and horses. As a kid I was bucked off, kicked, stepped on, and just plain sore from riding horses and pitching, but it never interfered with my violin. I wasn't concertmaster of our top Youth symphony, but I was in the first violin section. Never missed a competition, rehearsal or recital due to sports.

If he wants to do it, let him try. Otherwise, he could end up resenting the violin, or on the flip side of the coin, he could become too scared to do anything "risky" and miss out on a lot of great opportunities in life.

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