Marc Rowe sent me a long article on girls and concussions. It was actually a little too long to post here so it's on my site in the articles section. What they're finding is that females don't withstand concussion causing impact as well as males. The effects are more severe and long-lasting. There was one comment that really jumped out at me, though.
They said that helmets would certainly help reduce the severity of the impact and its results but they were not sure that the wearing of a helmet would not ratchet up aggressiveness in play. Huh, you think they'd hit each other harder because they're protected? No kidding!
Back when the dipped foam safety gear showed up in the early 70's that was precisely the argument Ed Parker made against gear. He was convinced that the gear would make people think they could tag just a bit harder, and that's pretty much what happened. It was quite a controversy for some time. As you new people can see, the gear manufacturers and lawyers won out because most competition today is done with safety gear. And people still get hurt. They call it by other names, too, besides safety gear. Contact gear for one, which is probably more accurate.
When I had my school the insurance company mandated sparring with the gear because it's an industry standard now. But you can do self-defense all day without it. Some schools have the guys wear mouthguards and hand pads. That's probably a good idea. The gear has gotten better in construction and design so grabbing is not as much of a problem as it was many years ago. And it lasts longer. I had a pair that cracked the first time I made a fist.
Anyway, read the article on my site. Click resources, the articles and it's at the top.
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