Wayland Mom: 'Should I Let My Son Play Football?'

Wayland mom Julie Suratt and her husband have twin boys, and she said she always assumed when they asked to play football, if they’d ask, she’d give them a flat “no.”

Considering the mounting argument that the sport is far too dangerous, and a risk for head injuries, she figured she wouldn’t even ponder before making the decision.

Not only did she ponder, but her decision is still up in the air - for now - and she discusses it all in an in-depth first person published in Boston Magazine this month.

Suratt’s article touches upon the School Committee’s debate over the subject of the risk of injury in football, the decline in participation, as well as a murder committed in 2011 by a Wayland football player.

According to the Sports Concussion Institute, the CDC estimates that between 1.6 and 3.8 concussions occur each year, and that 5-10 percent of athletes will experience one. It’s also reported that football is the most common sport with concussion risk for males, whereas soccer is the most common for females.

“Figuring that the twins wouldn’t even consider playing if their buddies didn’t, I even made a pact with their best friend’s mom a few years ago that neither of us would cave,” she writes in Boston Magazine. “This way, I assumed, the question would never come up. But one day in September, it did.”

Organized football in Wayland includes Wayland-Weston Youth Football and Cheerleading, which allows kids in grades 2-8 to play, and Wayland Warriors high school football.

Read the entire feature in Boston Magazine by Suratt here.