Education and Advocacy for Safe Soccer
About the Safer Soccer campaign
Safer Soccer was launched in 2014 by the Concussion Legacy Foundation, the Santa Clara University Institute of Sports Law and Ethics (ISLE), and led by U.S. Women's Soccer legends Brandi Chastain, Cindy Parlow Cone, and Joy Fawcett. Our mission is to educate parents, coaches, and soccer stakeholders on the benefits of delaying the introduction of headers in youth soccer until high school. Our goal is youth soccer organizations will not teach or allow heading in soccer for children under the age of 14.
On November 9, 2015, the Safer Soccer campaign saw a major victory as U.S. Soccer announced a series of safety initiatives aimed at addressing concussions in youth soccer, including rules that will strictly prohibit players 10 and younger from heading the ball, and will reduce headers in practice for 11 to 13-year-old players.
Safer Soccer is part of the Concussion Legacy Foundation's Don't Hit KidsTM initiative, which aims to accelerate the reform of youth contact sports so that each sport promotes a youth version that does not allow purposeful repetitive brain trauma for children before age 14.