(BOSTON) - Retired men's soccer star and current ESPN lead soccer analyst Taylor Twellman is the latest American soccer legend to back the Safer Soccer campaign to eliminate heading in soccer before high school.

Twellman joins a team of US soccer legends including Brandi Chastain, Cindy Parlow Cone, Kristine Lilly, Julie Foudy and Joy Fawcett, along with high-profile coaches including Tony DiCicco and Jerry Smith, prominent concussion experts, and nearly twenty sports and health foundations including the Women's Sports Foundation, LA84 Foundation and Positive Coaching Alliance.

"I support Safer Soccer because the most important part of a young soccer player is their brain," said Twellman. "As someone who has played professionally, I believe that by eliminating headers before high school, our youth will become better soccer players while reducing their risk of having to retire due to concussions, as I did."

A former star for the New England Revolution of Major League Soccer (MLS) and a member of the US Men's National Team, Twellman was forced to retire in 2010 due to post-concussion syndrome. Now ESPN's lead analyst for Major League Soccer and U.S. Men's National Team matches, Twellman will lead Safer Soccer awareness efforts through his concussion advocacy non-profit ThinkTaylor.

Launched in 2014 by the Sports Legacy Institute (SLI) and the Santa Clara University Institute of Sports Law and Ethics (ISLE), the goal of the Safer Soccer Campaign is to educate parents, coaches, and the soccer community that delaying heading until age 14 or high school would eliminate the No. 1 cause of concussions in middle school soccer and is in the best interest of youth soccer players.

"The act of attempting to head a soccer ball causes nearly one out of three concussions in middle school," said Dr. Robert Cantu, the Sports Legacy Institute medical director and author of the book, Concussions and Our Kids. "This rule change would prevent more than 30,000 concussions a year in adolescents at a critical time in their brain development."

Current guidelines from US Youth Soccer recommend introducing headers to children as early as age 6, and there are no specific or widely used guidelines for introducing headers, the most dangerous activity in soccer for the brain. Scientific research on concussions has grown rapidly in recent years and helped lead to rules changes in sports like hockey, football and baseball.

"While other sports in the United States garner the majority of the attention regarding traumatic brain injuries, soccer is the No. 1 sport in the world which means we have to be at the forefront of change," said Twellman, a five-time Major League Soccer All-Star. "Soccer is the greatest game in the world and small changes will not only help our youth preserve their brain health, but also become better players technically. ThinkTaylor has always been about the CARE of our youth: Concussion Awareness, Recognition and Education."

"Taylor Twellman was the first prominent soccer player I ever heard advocate for raising the age of introducing heading," said Chris Nowinski, executive director of the Sports Legacy Institute. "His vision helped spark the Safer Soccer Campaign, and we're excited to welcome him into a leadership role as we push for this simple change that will do so much to protect youth soccer players."

The campaign website, SaferSoccer.org, links to a full list of supporters and a White Paper where supporting research can be found. Safer Soccer supporters are participating in a social media campaign with the hashtag #NoHeaderNoBrainer, and are posting pictures and videos with their soccer jerseys reversed backwards, to raise awareness that the guidelines for headers should be reversed.