One of the up-and-coming sports in America is soccer. The thrill of extra time goals, the dribbling skills from the players, and stunning goals that leave the opposing team and fans of all kinds stunned. All these thrills of soccer are what bring people of all ages to the sport, but with the excitement also comes the injuries. Concussions are slowly rising in the women’s soccer injury department, coming in third to lower leg injuries and hip injuries. High school women’s soccer is second in most concussions and injuries to football.
Maryville women’s soccer head coach Dale Reuter has coached the soccer team for three years now. During that time, he has only experienced one soccer player receiving a concussion during practice. She was unable to practice or play with the team for four weeks. Most concussions tend to happen during a game, but over 20% of concussions happen during practice according to Sports Concussion Institute.
Maddi Morrison, now a freshman in college, played varsity
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soccer for three of her four years while at Pleasant Valley High School. Morrison received two concussions, both during two different practices. “The first one was from getting nailed in the head when someone was taking a shot,” Morrison said. “The second concussion was when Cora, the goalkeeper, threw a ball and it hit me right in the temple.” Impact speeds of a player heading a ball can reach up to 70 miles per hour according to Sports Concussion Institute. With her first concussion, Morrison told her coaches right away that she was feeling dizzy and was concerned about how hard she was hit in the head. Athletes who haven’t experienced a concussion before tend to avoid telling their coaches that they could possibly have a concussion for a few reasons. One would be that the athlete doesn’t know the signs or symptoms of a concussion. Leading to delayed diagnoses and treatment. Another would be that athletes don’t want to miss out on the chance to keep playing or miss out on a big game. Reuter and Maryville High School have a concussion protocol that is for any injury to the head, ranging from incorrectly heading a ball to head to head contact. Reuter said he sees and knows that some players might try to avoid telling him and the other coaching staff about possible concussions that an athlete might sustain. Reuter often pays close attention to a player after a play where they used their head. “In my experience, if a player is taking a while to get off the ground, we are going to get her evaluated right there,” Reuter said. He communicates with his players and he also watches the body language from that athlete. He says he watches the player to see if they have wobbly legs or if they hold their head and seem kind of dizzy. He will then bring that athlete out if they are showing those signs and the coaching staff and trainer will start to check to see if there are any immediate signs and start questioning the athlete to see if they are exhibiting any of those symptoms. Megan Foltz, a current four year varsity soccer player at Pleasant Valley High School, has not experienced a concussion while playing for PV. Foltz said she knows the problems that concussions cause and the damage they can do in her future when she no longer plays soccer. “It depends on how dizzy I feel,” said Foltz. “I would probably keep playing if I was only just a little dizzy after the fact. Unless I am extremely dizzy, I would continue to play personally.” Reuter stressed multiple times that he wants to inform his players about their future after soccer and that concussion can cause serious problems months and even years later. He said that he wants his athletes to know that while soccer is important, their well-being and mental health is more important. The United States Soccer Federation in the last year has banned soccer players from the age of 10 and under from heading in the game and practices.
USSF has also limited the amount of headers teams for the ages of 11 to 13 can do at practices according to The New York Times. Reuter and Foltz think this is a bad idea. Foltz said she thinks that banning young players from heading will cause sloppy technique and cause further damage in those players’ future in soccer. Reuter said something similar and that he doesn’t agree with that idea of banning headers for younger players and instead they should teach younger players the correct way to head the ball and help players to learn the correct form. Reuter said he doesn’t push his players to do headers, instead he leaves it up to the players during the game to make that choice for themselves. All he wants to do is teach them the correct form for heading so they are prepared and confident in
themselves. Companies are creating headbands and other head gear to help prevent or lower the injury the concussion could cause. Foltz said she thinks the headbands work to an extent, but won’t fully stop a concussion. She said she personally wouldn’t buy one but if she did get a concussion she might change her mind and buy one to help protect her in the future. Reuter is a fan of headbands, but like Foltz thinks they work to a certain extent. Reuter said there is no certain way to end concussions in soccer currently, but with the new information coming out, he hopes that coaches and athletes will be more aware of concussions. “Anytime you gain knowledge on something that is such a big part, injuries are such a big part of any sporting event,” Reuter said. “It should be number one on a coaches list of priorities, certainly is on mine.” Reuter goes on to say that the more coaches and athletes learn about concussions, the more they can prevent it and the safer they can keep their athletes.
For the safety of the players in the present and future, a stricter concussion protocol should be required at all levels of football. Though improvements have been made, the game of football is constantly changing and the protocol needs to keep up with the changes. Today’s athletes are bigger, stronger, and faster than ever before: "Size and physical conditioning techniques in sports at all levels have evolved to create an intense athlete. They 're able to create more force, power and speed than ever before and that leads to harder hits and a greater number of hits" (Neporent). These advances in training have led to a more dangerous sport. The protocol has improved in recent years along with an emphasis on player safety, but the increasing numbers of players with long-term effects of concussions show there is still work to be done.
Injuries are a huge part in professional sports. When playing a professional sport athletes do not always take into consideration that their bodies are vulnerable to injuries. One of the leading injuries that can end athlete’s career is concussion. According Kia Boriboon author of the article “Concussion Management In Football: Don 't Shake It Off” concussion occurs when the brain repeatedly collides with the skull. Concussions are serious and cannot be taken lightly they are detrimental to a person’s athletic career as well as life. Players who have suffered from a concussion or like symptoms of a concussion are at risk and should not continue playing their sport until cleared by a medical doctor, who is an expert in concussions. If concussions are not treated with the appropriate medical care, it can cause physical and mental health problems for athletes well after their professional career have ended. In
Concussions and the effect they have on people ranging from the young to the old has become a very popular discussion in recent years. Generally people watch sports for entertainment and then there are those who engage in high impact sports from a very young age on. The people at home know how fun playing in a sport is, however they may not know the brutal consequences for some participating in that sport. Injuries to the brain are a main concern among those in the world of high impact sports. Football, soccer, wrestling, lacrosse, and rugby are among sports that athletes receive injuries in. The injuries vary from sprains, to fractures, to torn MCL or ACL, and bruised organs. Concussions are a severe type of injury endured by athletes in the sports world and this life changing injury is one that people are becoming more aware of.
The article titled “Concussions increasingly common on the football field,” was found on the Alabama News website. This article takes a look from the coaches perspective when he finds that four of his players have suffered from concussions on his high school football team. The coach from the Greenville high school football team Josh McLendon, raises concern about football and practicing the sport. He talks about his players injuries and how most of the concussions occur during practice. Even though the team works hard to change practice routines and rules, they are not able to prevent concussions from happening. The article talks about symptoms that players do not notice. Often times a player will feel dizzy and he will just assume he took a hard fall, but players start to get blurry vision, dizziness, and headaches. Before players would hide their injury and play through it, but with the heavy effects concussions have had on retired football players, McLendon urges his team to speak up when they start to feel ill. He hopes that other coaches will learn from him when they stress the seriousness of concussions “Wouldn’t tell the coach, wouldn’t tell a parent, it would just kind of go away. But know since we have made people more aware of it I think they’re coming to the forefront of it a little more,” athletes who do not hear about the severity of something will not stop to think
Throughout the years, many sports have evolved from that of their beginning. Be it through rule changes, advances in the way people watch the game, advances in how they play the game, but this biggest one of all is the change in equipment. This is most commonly seen and heard about in American football. Due to all of the advances in the medical field and seeing the sports injuries that occur. Football had to adapt and change to the new standards of safety for the players with new and improved equipment to lessen the chance of long term damage.
Ice hockey is a fast-paced and full contact sport whether you are in a body checking league or not. However with a full contact sports, concussions are unfortunately inevitable. There are numerous factors that play into the number of concussions in ice hockey. Body checking and numerous head impact injuries that occur in hockey are a huge reason for concussions. Although administrators are taking steps towards concussion prevention and education, this education is proving to be ineffective. This paper will take a look at the various injury mechanisms that contribute to concussions and other head-impact injuries in ice hockey, as well as discussing concussion education.
Through sports or through everyday life, concussions tend to happen. An estimated 300 000 sport-related traumatic brain injuries, predominantly concussions, occur annually in the United States. Sports are second only to motor vehicle crashes as the leading cause of traumatic brain injury among people aged 15 to 24 years. (U.S National Library of Medicine). Coaches and parents often do not go through the right procedures or protocols when dealing with a teenager who has received a blow to the head. The usual questions that are asked when there is a head injury are, “what day is it, what’s the score, and how many fingers am I holding up?” Now these are not poor questions, but these questions alone cannot determine if a person has suffered a concussion. The correct method, which they are now implementing in most professional sports leagues, is for anyone with a head injury to take a legitimate concussion test performed by the team doctor. (WebbMD) At present the symptoms can be hit or miss. After receiving a concussion, research shows that an “estimated 80 to 90% of concussions heal spontaneously in the first 7 to 10 days”. (Barton Straus) But, it is important to remember not to return until all symptoms are
How can a concussion be prevented? What is the minimum time an athlete needs to be out of the game after a concussion? What are the chances of an athlete suffering post-traumatic stress disorders after a blow to the head? In all sports athletes are prone to injuries, they can happen at any time and at any given moment. Nevertheless, people that have suffered from a head injury or concussion will also have problems dealing with their learning processes in the long run.
Since football’s inception, it has been considered a manly sport. Young boys have been encouraged by their parents to participate in the game. For many boys, it is considered a rite of passage. However, football is a dangerous sport. A study conducted by the Center for Injury Research and Policy found, “an estimated 5.25 million football-related injuries among children and adolescents between 6 and 17 years of age were treated in U.S. emergency departments between 1990 and 2007. The annual number of football-related injuries increased 27 percent during the 18-year study period, jumping from 274,094 in 1990 to 346,772 in 2007” (Nation 201). These reported injuries include sprains and strains, broken bones, cracked ribs, torn ligaments, and concussions. A concussion usually happens when a player takes a hard hit to the head or is knocked unconscious on the playing field, and if not diagnosed and treated quickly, a concussion can result in death.
Recreational athletes, competitive athletes, high school athletes, college athletes, and professional athletes all have one thing in common: the risk of a concussion. It's impossible to go a season without one athlete from a team receiving a concussion. The more that these concussions are studied, the more we learn about them, such as their detrimental effects on athletes. Because of the risk of health issues and death that come with concussions, doctors, coaches, athletic trainers, and lawmakers are stepping in to protect athletes of all levels from receiving concussions.
Football is one of the most popular sports in the world. It is played in a lot of different ways, fashions, and other countries. It can be a very brutal sport with players hitting at the intent to hurt one another. With these intents come great consequences. In recent years the head injuries involved with this brutal game play have been getting uncomfortably high. Many rules have had to be enforced for player safety, because of the increase of head injuries resulting in tragic effects on players both old and new. One of the injuries that have had the most devastating effects is the concussion.
In today’s world, the benefits of sports are huge. Sports are a way of teaching key skills that parents can’t such as sportsmanship, social values and many more. One of the most popular sports all over the world is soccer; hence soccer is the first sport that many children play and later on love. Within the past couple years, controversies have arisen over whether or not children should be heading the soccer ball while playing. For example, a header in soccer is when the player redirects the ball with their forehead, by taking it out of the air, to pass, or to shoot. With all the concussion prevention and media that has been centered on the NFL recently, the spotlight has turned over to soccer.
The ball comes flying towards you! You’re going to do it! You’re going to score your first goal! The ball zooms toward your head, and you take a step back. “You can’t do headers in the game,” you say to yourself as you walk back to your spot, wishing that you could have scored that perfect goal. I believe headers should be allowed because kids need to learn to be brave, it’s a part of the game, and there is protective gear to keep kids safe.
A prospective randomized intervention study tested if balance board training could reduce lower extremity injuries in female soccer players. With soccer being the world’s most popular sport, the experimenters developed a training program for female soccer players to reduce lower extremity injuries, since previous studies tested male soccer players. Lower extremity injuries such as ACL tears or ankle sprains are extremely common in soccer players. Therefore, K. Soderman, S. Werner, T. Pietila, B. Engstrom and H. Alfredson developed the study, “Balance board training: prevention of traumatic injuries of the lower extremities in female soccer players?” 221 female soccer players from second and third Swedish divisions volunteered for Soderman, Werner, Pietila, Engstrom, and Alfredson’s (2000)
Some believe that it is the collisions between players. “young players — and especially girls — need to learn to make space for themselves on the field to avoid colliding with each other when heading” (Fields). This quote provides a different look at the scenario, it shows that the actual ball hitting one's head isn't the problem, it is hitting the head on one another. “For boys, 77 percent of heading concussions are the result of player-to-player contact and 14 percent are caused by the ball. For girls, 61 percent of the concussions are a result of colliding with another player, and 34 percent are caused by the ball” (Fields). These statistics provides evidence to back up my previous statement. Only very minimal research has been done on this accusation. According to the rules and guidelines of US club soccer rules have already been implemented to prevent collisions with the goal keeper. Since the keeper is being protected by these rules shouldn’t players have the same