Pediatricians seek to KO youth boxing

In a new policy statement published today in the journal Pediatrics, the American Academy of Pediatrics, along with the Canadian Paediatric Society, is recommending that doctors "vigorously oppose boxing for any child or adolescent" under the age of 19 because of the risk of concussions and other injuries, and instead steer kids toward non-collision sports.

"There's no reason why we as pediatricians should be condoning such a thing, when we know that the risk is not zero for these kids, and perhaps the damage may be more long lasting," says Claire LeBlanc, M.D., the lead author of the statement and the chair of a CPS committee on sports medicine and active living.

Full article: http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/29/youth.boxing.pediatrics/index.html?hpt=hp_c2

Unless there has been some new staggering evidence that amateur boxing is permanently damaging kids I don't see the reason for this. Getting kids into boxing helps keep them active and gives them something to channel their adolescent rage.

And amateur boxing today is practically all shoe shining.