The debate on the healthiness of football and whether or not there should be restraints put on the game to reduce injuries. There are many people, like me, who believe that American football is bad for the players health. There are a couple bad things about football, the illegal contact and the concussions that come along with the sport. Football has been called dangerous and unhealthy by many medical and sports professionals. The first problem with the sport is the hitting. The players are committed to their sport, and will not show any mercy to their opponents. For this reason the players at the college level and in the NFL are hitting hard and with force. These kind of hits can lead to serious injuries. Would you want to be hit by a 250-300 …show more content…
There is a reason why the NCAA and NFL ban helmet to helmet contact, and that reason is the feared injury, a concussion. A concussion is one of the biggest things that players and all athletes have to be aware of. Even most doctors say that concussions are very serious and can end your career. Dr. Ann Mckee, a neuropathologist, did a study on 202 dead football players brains. Of the 202, 111 of those were NFL players’ brain. The study show that all but one of them had chronic traumatic encephalopathy or CTE. CTE is a brain disease caused by repeated hits to the head. This goes to show that the problem with injuries is common in the head, which doesn't shine a good light on American football to parents who have kids that want to play football professionally. As a matter of fact, the NFL and NCAA aren't the only leagues that we should be worried about the players sustaining head injuries. A concussion docter by the name of Dr. Bennet Omalu, the one who discovered CTE stated in a conference that “youth football is like child abuse”. He believes that kids under the age of 18 years old should not be allowed to play football. This year alone, about two dozen people have died from CTE and spinal injuries according to CBS
In the article “Should Kids Play Football” from the Scholastic Scope on February 2015, writer Jennifer Shotz discusses both issues of the benefits and dangers of playing American football. For example, Jennifer Shots mentioned that tens of thousands of young football players get concussions every year. She states that most players return to the game after they are healed but some never return because their concussion was too severe to their health. On the other hand, the writer also discusses how football isn't the only sport that encounters concussions. The rules of football are always changing and each new rule provides a safer way to play the game. For example, the writer notes that Pop Warner has reduced the amount of practice time dedicated
The average NFL player takes up to 1,000 blows to the head throughout their football career. Some of those blows can have the force of a sledgehammer (“RealNatural”). Based on a research study by Dr. Jesse David, there were 265 concussions reported in the 2012 season, during the 2011 season there were 266 concussions, and 270 concussions in 2010 season (Kacsmar). It has been known that repeated blows to the head can cause long-term brain damage since at least the 1950’s, long before most of the NFL players had begun their careers (“RealNatural”). Past infractions of the NFL have already resulted in over 4,500 forme...
Hitting players head to head cause way too many life threatening injuries for both opponents. On Bill Brink’s "Tackling the Issue of 'proper' Tackling," Robert Cantu was quoted saying, “football teams should practice without helmets.” That would be the best way to teach players to avoid head-to-head collisions, avoiding life threatening injuries(Brink). The problem coaches have with that is they think there players will develop bad tackling habits. But Cantu, argues that tackling isn’t all physical it’s a lot of mental toughness and muscle memory. The head to head collisions don’t just come from tackling, it also comes from blocking, blind siding, and pancaking. On Bill Brink’s "Tackling the Issue of '...
[National Federation of State High School Associations] NFHS (high school statistics 14-17/18) participation data shows a little over 1.1 million participants; for a total of roughly 6.6 million participants in youth football from Peewee up through high school Varsity. You could probably adjust this 5 percent in both directions as a deviation because again, while each area may have full padded football, not all data is centralized [2].” Due to its nature, the sport of football has always been a physical sport and participating athletes have always been prone to various injuries; however, the issue of injuries inflicted by the game did not become a social issue until recently. Among the several injuries this sport exposes; the leading affliction and hottest social topic is chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). In 2002 Bennet Omalu, a forensic pathologist and chief medical examiner of San Joaquin County, California, as well as a professor in the UC Davis Department of Medical Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, first discovered CTE and defined the same as, “… a progressive degenerative disease that afflicts the brain of people who have suffered repeated concussions and traumatic brain injuries (TBI)” [3]. Omalu discovered this new found disease in
For instance, from "Study of former NFL Players Highlights Risks of Tackling Too Young", ""Other research has shown that the brain undergoes key periods of development during childhood leading up to the age of 12 in males"…" This quote displays that the brain grows a lot at a young age and the growth can be affected by playing football. From "49ers' Chris Borland Retiring at 24, Wary of Head Trauma", "Borland is leaving football, and the promise of NFL stardom and piles of money could not change his mind. He was worried about head trauma." One can infer, the player was terrified of what may happen to his brain if he continued to play. Critics may say that brain injuries don't happen often and there is a slim chance of it occurring. However, as stated in "Study of former NFL Players Highlights Risks of Tackling Too Young", " players between 9 and 12 are exposed to an average of 240 head impacts in a single football season." It is clear, football causes multiple brain injuries, and some can be very
Football is America’s favorite sport. It is a fast-paced, hard-hitting game. Every week thousands of men and boys all across the country take part in football and every week these men and boys receive violent hits during the game. Frequently, as a result of these violent hits, the player receives a concussion. However, the long-term effects of concussions on players are not fully understood. New research shows that even a slight concussion in a football game can have lasting effects on a player. As a result of this research, children under the age of fourteen should not play tackle football.
-Football is not so reckless there are rules that keep you safe.Those rules apply to everyone from pee wee to the pros.There are equipment,rules,and doctors.The quaterback that got boomed never goets hurt.His pads kept him safe from hte hit.Now do you agree with kids playing
Ed Riley, who works at Stanford University as a physician, is the author of the article. In his opinion, parents are overreacting to head injuries in football. In return, the kids get put in a bad situation. If that kid wanted to play football, he or she would not be able to. Riley talks about “how their parents think the risk of brain injury outweighs the benefits of playing” (Riley, 2014).
Sure, there will still be helmet-to-helmet contact during games, but the frequency of violent head collisions will drop significantly. Therefore, while the evidence that tackle football presents a risk for brain injury does exist, it doesn’t necessarily need to be an inevitable fact. Discontinuing all levels of tackle football for children under the age of 13 is one-step that will have immediate
According to the article 'Hard Knocks' from The New York Times Upfront, this "culture encourages playing through pain and taking a hit for the team, many teens don't want to risk being put on the sidelines by telling their coaches when they think they may have a concussion". This culture that is created by the community has influenced teens to prioritizing the game over their personal health. With concussion being more dangerous for teenagers, purposely avoiding proper treatment can harm them even more. The football community also seems to put an empathize of things differently than other sports such as " We count the pitches of every baseball player to ensure a small number do not develop shoulder and elbow problems- and yet we don't count how often children get hit in the head playing football", stated by Dr. Robert Cantu, a professor of neurosurgery at Boston university. Even coaches are influence to have the idea that "practice should include a great deal of contact" as stated in Terrence Holder's article.
A third of all athletic injuries now occur in players under age 14 children who are getting hit hard repetitive have a more likely chance to get CTE later on in life (Part of the game, Page 2). As kids get bigger and stronger their football hits will get harder and harder so they football leagues are gonna have to improve their equipment big time(Part of the game, Page 2). In sum, football can be dangerous but it can also be a fun game. It is apparent that when you don’t play the game correct there's a higher risk of injury parents should not force their child into playing football because if they have the ball
The once loud stadium is brought to silence with what could have been a “deadly” hit. Some boys are out on the field to have a good time, but other players are playing to hurt and demolish their opponents. This is when the reality of how safe a player actually is comes into play. While children play football becoming overheated, broken bones, and head injuries are major concerns as to why football should be considered an unsafe sport.
The NFL’s expectation of violence and tolerance of systemic violence is disturbing to think about. Our troubled consciousness, however, can easily shake off the pangs of moral discomfort, and carry on. The hundreds of athletes who experience the consequences of this violence every day can not. They “[regard] their bodies as machines and weapons with which to annihilate their opponents” and deliver pummeling blows with each passing down (Messner and Sabo, 95). A human being is simply not designed to withstand the cruel, punishing hits all too common in professional football.
Football, America’s (most dangerous) Sport Football has been known as “America’s sport” for many years, as wells as America’s most popular sport. However over the years doctors and researchers have found data that has shown a significant increase in football related injuries such as concussions, spinal injuries, ACL injuries, etc. Why are football injuries increasing when some might think they should be decreasing due to more advanced protection equipment? Although players wear layers upon layers of padding, football still remains as one of America’s most dangerous sports.
Football should be banned. Its players have reported intense medical problems due to this sport, and people have died while playing. Today, I will explain to you why football should be banned, for the following reasons. Firstly, the repeated head trauma caused plenty of long-term effects that shows the extreme damage of the player’s brain. Secondly, letting players kill themselves is something we cannot allow.