Should Headers Be Allowed?
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.
Kids should be allowed to do headers because if they don’t, kids will live their rest of their life in fear of the ball. In fact, kids on soccer teams can score the winning goal in soccer if they learn how to do them correctly. This can lead them to success, and then they can
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Banning headers won’t stop concussions. There are lots of other sports that cause concussions too, like basketball and baseball. When playing basketball, there is always a chance that you can hit your head, and in baseball, you can get the ball thrown at your head. If we want to prevent concussions completely, we would have to ban all sports, and that’s not an option. Scientific American states that, “Player-on-player contact was the most common causes of concussions overall..” If we want kids to not get headers, we would have to ban the sport. There is always a chance that kids will get hurt from others. NBC News agrees, stating that, “But slamming into another player, rather than heading the ball itself, is what causes the most header-related injuries, the study found.” If there is scientific evidence that headers aren’t the main reason for concussions, then why are we banning them? We would have to stop the game completely if we want to get rid of the chance of concussions. This isn’t an option! Tons of kids all over the United States love soccer and maybe even want to be a professional athlete. Soccer isn’t only fun to play, but it is also a source for entertainment for people that can’t or can play. My own family, especially my Dad, loves to watch soccer games. That’s one of the only thing he watches when he turns on the TV! If we stop the whole sport, it will hurt many people's
Are young children putting their health and even their lives at risk if they partake in the sport of football? Some claim that the American sport is far too dangerous and the risk of concussions and injuries far outway the pros of the physical sport, while others insist that technological improvements and new regulations have made the sport safer. Jonathan Zimmerman, a professor of history and education at New York University, argues in his paper, “We Must Stop Risking the Health of Young Football Players,” that football is a sport that is too dangerous for the youth. He states his belief that technological improvements in helmets and changes in the rules of the sport have had little effect on reducing injuries and that nothing has worked.
Players are using their heads as a weapon which is careless, dangerous, and should be banned from the sport. A lot of time and money has been invested in improving football helmets. Quinn and Brachmann emphasizes that “There’s a strongly held belief that no matter how much time and money is invested into research and development there will never be a helmet that is truly concussion-proof ” (Quinn and Brachmann). Helmets have been effective in preventing skull fractures, but not concussions. Helmet manufacturers are researching and trying to develop safer protective head
The use of head to head contact at any level in football, should be illegal. There is no reason as to why you cannot keep your head up your body square and make a proper tackle. Coaches teach you how to make the proper big hit, without using your head at all. You put yourself at risk and the person you are hitting by lowering, or keeping your head straight up to make head to head contact. The proper way to tackle is made up of a 6 step process. Step 1 is to breakdown, buzz means to set your feet in a good balanced position, correct body posture for the hit, shoot into the hit, wrap up, and finally drive your target into the ground. But, players like to hit head to head to injure, or just look “cool.” Although it’s impossible to completely eliminate injuries from the game of football, helmet to helmet contact should not be allowed for three main reasons: it causes too many life threatening injuries, players are trying to hurt other players so they can’t finish the game, and it causes brain damage.
Kids just want to have fun. In a bygone era, parents wanted kids to play sports for fun and camaraderie. However, a new attitude is developing among coaches and parents, which is mopping-up fun from youth sports. Now it's all about the team and the game. The team must win the game at any cost.
First, the rules that are enforced are a great way of making the game safe for the players. There are rules like, not being allowed to tackle certain ways. For example, if you tackle someone from the back by pulling them, then that is said to be an illegal tackle. It is also said that it is illegal for someone to pull on others facemask when tackling. There are many others rules that are enforced in the game. Another one is the rule that says, Head to Head is not allowed. What that basically is that you cannot tackle someone by contacting your helmet to the opposing player. This rule makes it greatly safe because it reduces the numbers of injuries that occur to the head and the neck. The head is the key part of the human body. When someone hits another player with the helmet in the head, it reduces the risks of concussion and that can result to serious and severe body failures, including being...
That’s where the advancements in concussion detection and treatment comes into play. According to the article “Advancements in Concussion Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment” the writer states “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 207,830 trips to an emergency room annually between 2001 and 2005 due to sports participation injuries” ( “Advancements in Concussion Prevention, Diagnosis, and Treatment | The Sport Journal” ). The report from the CDC shows how many reported sports injuries occur in a short period. However, this does not include the vast number of injuries not reported every year. That is a lot of injuries that go unreported and not cared for. We can help make it to where all kids after a concussion report it and get treated by educating them on the dangers they face if they continue to play as they are and tell them they will be right back to playing after the testing has been completed and they are clear to play again. This is not hard to do it’s just the fact of telling the kids the truth of the matter and them knowing the tests aren’t hard and don’t take long to pass. But the kids need to know this is needed if they want to be able to play for years to come in school and even in
The number of children below the age of 19 are treated in American emergency rooms for concussions and other traumatic brain injuries increased from 150,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009. That’s not cumulative, that is actually per year. Everyone should know how and when to treat a concussion, no matter if it is for sports or in general. Concussions can come from anything. Concussions can be an easily preventable injury, however due to poor equipment, a competitive mindset, unrecognizable symptoms, and untrained sports physicians, they are becoming quite common and can lead to potentially fatal brain disorders.
Most people assume the concussions happen from head balls, but that is not the case. The majority of concussions are caused from players colliding in the air and hitting their heads together or from hitting their heads on the ground not from heading the ball the Associated Press addressed this article, “Heads up: Concussion risks prompt more soccer players to visit the ER”. As a result of people being misinformed, head balls are being designated as dangerous play for younger players. Soccer has had very few changes to the rules, of play since it was invented in the mid 19th century, so why should they change the way it is played now? Concussions have always been a problem, but have started to become a more serious problem because doctors have been able to detect and diagnose concussions easier and now know not only the short term effect but long term as well. Instead of changing the rules soccer should just have a disclaimer telling people the risks and letting them make the choice of playing soccer or
Athletes are at a much greater risk to receive a concussions at least those who play contact sports. Specifically soccer players have an even higher chance to get a concussion. In the article FIFA my mandate concussion breaks in soccer games, it says “soccer players suffer from head injuries than softball, wrestling, basketball, and baseball players combined.” Many people who watch soccer may think that soccer players get concussions from heading the ball. On the contrary to the popular belief in the article Soccer concussions: getting the facts, it says that “concussions in soccer are not caused by heading the ball.” In soccer there are no rules saying that soccer players have to wear something to protect their head. There are so many ways for one to get a concussion in soccer because of the lack of head protection. One could get a concussion by head to head contact, a knee to the temple, or even hitting their head on the ground. Concussions can cause brain damage and for soccer players who are at a higher risk can receive a significant amount of brain damage before the age of
To concur with the first point, high school athletes receive more concussions than college players do. The National Research Council has determined that “High school athletes suffer concussions at nearly twice the rate of college players.” Although high schools take more action in keeping their players safe it is still dangerous for high schoolers who are in these contact sports. Despite the fact that there are impact test for athletes to take, it still will not keep them safe from obtaining a concussion. Because high school athletes receive more head injuries than college players, it raises the question of should athletes only be able to have one concussion before they have to stop participating in contact sports?
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.
Nonetheless, some parents are still very reluctant to put their kids in football or rugby. This, I believe, is why high contact sports could eventually perish. Fewer and fewer kids are playing sports each year where there is an elevated risk of a head injury or concussion. (Paine) Parents do not want to gamble with their children’s mental ability and thus deny their children the opportunity to participate in high contact sports. In some sports, they have changed all sorts of rules and almost completely changed the game to ensure player safety. For instance, Hockey Canada called for a rule change to delay body checking in minor hockey. Instead of having the kids learn how to hit in PeeWee (ages 11-12), they have pushed it back an age group to Bantam (Ages 13-15). (CBC Sports) Parents were becoming too nervous about placing their children into a sport where there was hitting or hard body interaction for absolutely no reason. Why spend thousands of dollars for your child to play a contact sport and risk having them injured when there is little chance of making it as a professional athlete. Essentially, contact sports are becoming less popular among younger children and
“Maybe I´m stupid or whatever, but to me if I got a concussion, if I could see straight and carry a football, then I´m not telling anybody”, Ricky Williams, NFL Football player. The argument about whether kids should play football or not is an important topic to argue. People need to understand that the concussions and other injuries are more serious with young kids. The problem is that many people think that it could be stopped by not allowing kids to play at all. Although parents can reduce risk of injury by not allowing their kids to play football, parents should let their children play football because it lets kids follow their dreams, it helps kids become more mature and independant, and if kids use proper technique they can reduce injuries.
High school soccer is one of the biggest areas for concussions. In 2010, more high school soccer players suffered concussions (50,000) than athletes in wrestling, baseball and softball combined (Payne). In the article, U.S youth soccer players told: Don’t head the ball by Greg Botelho, a study published in 2012 by the American Journal of Sports Medicine found that girls’ soccer had the next highest concussion numbers. These are significant number that show that concussions are a major problem. In the article, Will Soccer’s New Header Rules Make Kids Safer? Jon Schuppe points out that a September study of high school athletes in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that heading was the soccer activity responsible for the highest proportion of concussions in boy (30 percent) and girls (25 percent). This is an alarming percentage of high school soccer athletes that are suffering from heading related concussions. Could banning heading on the youth level result in kids choosing their feet to control the ball instead of their head. Not to mention, when kids do get into age groups where they are allowed to head the ball they can focus on proper heading technique instead of having to focus on teaching kids how to dribble a ball correctly. High school teams will not only have players with solid foot skills, but also players
Football isn’t even the most dangerous contact sport that you could play. Other high school sports have recorded just as much, or even more concussions than football. In an article on WebMD.com Robert Preidt writes that, “Between 2010 and 2015, the concussion rate was higher in girls' soccer than in boys' football, the findings showed. During the 2014-2015 school year, concussions were more common in girls' soccer than in any other sport in the study.” Despite being viewed as one of the most dangerous sports, football does not even have the largest rate of concussions or the most serious concussions. In fact, in another study on Fox Sports.com, soccer was seen to be responsible for more of the serious concussions. Concussion numbers can be dropped with attentiveness and responsibility as kids play the game of football. Most concussions in youth football are a result of the player being irresponsible or intentionally violent while they play. But, new rules are in place that diminish this style of play. The amount of concussions can be reduced, and organizations are working on making football a safer game to play. In an article on the New York Times Marvin Washington, a former NFL player, says, “I know this is contrary to public opinion, but the game of football is safer than it has ever been, and is evolving into an even safer game.” The safety of football players at all