The dangers of concussions have become big news in the sports world as of late, and with good reason. The damage that can occur after hard and repeated blows to the head can be life long, and have been blamed on some suicides.

Now some doctors say the brain damage may begin when athletes are just kids, playing in youth football or hockey. That’s what they expect may have happened with Ryan Freel, a major league baseball player who committed suicide recently. Of course, there’s a potential it could hurt youth who don’t go on to professional sports careers, too.

“We don’t know what the age of onset is with any of these cases,” says Chris Nowinski, a co-director for the Boston University Center for the Study of Traumatic Encephalopathy. (ABC News)

Paul Asay has covered religion for The Washington Post, Christianity Today, Beliefnet.com and The (Colorado Springs) Gazette. He writes about culture for Plugged In and wrote the Batman book God on the Streets of Gotham (Tyndale). He lives in Colorado Springs with wife Wendy and his two children. Follow him on Twitter.