HEWETT, W.Va. — Ryan Craddock has experienced his share of tragedies in his two decades as a miner and firefighter.

Then came the hardest breakup of all: his own.

Craddock and his family are mourning the death of his 13-year-old son, Cohen, who died last month from a traumatic brain injury after breaking into the team during football practice at his high school.

Cohen’s death and the death of a 16-year-old Alabama high school player from a traumatic brain injury on the same day have sparked new debate about whether the safety risks of playing youth football outweigh the benefits the sport brings to the community.

“I don’t think we need to give up football,” Craddock said. “A lot of people enjoy football, myself included. I just think maybe we need to put more safety measures in place to protect our kids.”

Craddock is among those who believe that specific actions need to be taken to prevent another wave of deaths.

Statewide proposals to ban football for younger children during a critical period of brain development have not gained much support. Meanwhile, youth football participation has been declining for years, and efforts to encourage young boys to play flag football are growing.

In 2023, three youth football players died from head injuries and 10 from other causes, such as heatstroke, according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. Robert Cantu, medical director of the organization, which has tracked football-related deaths for more than 40 years, calls it a “typical” year.

“So I wouldn’t be particularly concerned about two deaths in a week,” he said. “But I would be very concerned if we had two deaths in a week for four or five weeks in a row. Because we’ve never had anything like this before.”

Cantu also has another philosophy: “No hit to the head is good,” he says.

In the past, Cantu has recommended that children under the age of 14 not tackle in soccer, not head the ball in football, and not body-check in hockey.

In football practice, at least, most helmet-to-helmet contact can be eliminated by using non-collision methods such as tackling dummies, said Cantu, who is also co-founder of the Boston-based Concussion Legacy Foundation, which supports patients and families struggling with the symptoms of brain injury. He suggests that children play flag football until they get to high school.

Flag football is already hugely popular among girls and has been named an Olympic sport for men and women at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, in 2023, about 500,000 girls between the ages of 6 and 17 were playing flag football.

Attempts to ban tackling in youth soccer have met stiff resistance. One New York legislator unsuccessfully fought for 10 years to pass such legislation. In January, California Gov. Gavin Newsom said he would not sign a similar bill if it reached his desk.

There has been some progress, however. For example, all 50 states have some form of sports-related concussion laws, most requiring athletes to miss a game or practice if a concussion is suspected and get clearance from a doctor before returning.

Loren Montgomery, who won nine Oklahoma state championships in 14 seasons as head coach at Bixby High School, believes football is “safer than ever,” citing efforts to minimize the risk of injury, such as penalizing helmet-to-helmet contact and certain types of blocks, as well as technology, including cognitive tests to assess concussions and protective soft helmet covers known as Guardian caps.

“Of course there are risks in all contact sports, but the values ​​of teamwork, hard work and overcoming adversity far outweigh the risks,” Montgomery said. He has allowed his son to play football since the fourth grade, “and I believe it has made him a more well-rounded young man.”

Guardian caps are used from the NFL all the way down to the youth level. One cap made by Guardian Sports sells on Amazon for $75. But the caps only have a six-month limited warranty from the date of purchase, meaning they can be expensive for a school district to replace every season.

Craddock, however, promised to investigate the use of caps at Madison High School in Cohen’s memory.

On Wednesday, a few days before his son was to be buried, Craddock found the strength to talk to Cohen’s teammates.

“I told them it was a bad accident, to move on,” he said. “I didn’t want them to carry the burden of my son on their shoulders. But I wanted them to play for him. I wanted them to play ‘Cohen strong.’”

Jamie Tellier, father of Caden Tellier, hugs his student after a memorial service for Tellier’s son in Selma, Alabama, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)

This undated yearbook photo provided by Total Image shows Caden Tellier, a 16-year-old quarterback at Morgan Academy in Selma, Alabama, who died Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, after suffering serious injuries during a college football game the previous night. (Total Image via AP)

Students, teachers and community members fill the Morgan Academy gym to honor Caden Tellier, a high school football player and student who died after suffering an injury during a game Friday night. The memorial service began with one of Caden’s favorite songs in Selma, Alabama, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)

FILE – Kansas City Chiefs linebacker Vitaliy Gurman, left, and outside linebacker Joe Thuney, 62, wear Guardian Caps on their helmets during practice at the NFL football training camp Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2022, in St. Joseph, Mo. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel, File)

A sign is seen Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024, outside Madison Middle School, where a student at the school died Saturday of a traumatic brain injury he suffered during a tackle at a football practice in Madison, West Virginia. (AP Photo/John Raby)

A memorial for 16-year-old Caden Tellier is seen in the parking lot of Morgan Academy in Selma, Alabama, Monday, Aug. 26, 2024. (AP Photo/Safiyah Riddle)

Ryan Craddock holds a photo of his three children, from left, Shawn Craddock, 18; Kendall Craddock, 17, and Cohen Craddock, 13, at his home in Hewett, W.Va., Thursday, Aug. 29, 2024. Cohen died Saturday, Aug. 24, 2024, a day after he suffered a head injury while making a tackle during his high school football practice. (AP Photo/John Raby)