My evolving ideas essay is centered around the evolution of safety in sports. Within this essay, I will be talking about both football and Formula One as they have the most research available and I have the most experience and knowledge in these sports. Between the two sports, I will be categorizing them into three subgroups: safety within the player themselves (helmets and padding for football players, and the clothing of the drivers as well as the crash structures on the cars), safety within the athletes’ surroundings (football fields, wall padding, and barriers along race tracks), and improvements in regulations and policing of rules in the name of safety (targeting penalties, heads-up football, and stress testing on the cars). The topic of my TED talk will be centered specifically on concussion awareness in football. I want to narrow it down specifically to one branch of improvement, and as of now the plan is to include the changes in instruction tactics.
Both of the sports I am including have experienced ongoing shifts for a considerable amount of time. In the case of football, the notable shift started around the mid 2000s with the explosion in concussion awareness and research. For Formula One, safety improvements have been an ongoing issue since its inception. However the most notable changes happened in the 1990s after the death of Aryton Senna, and the 2010s with the major improvements in track safety and the implementation of the halo. The point of my essay is to point out the fact that safety protocols have historically been reactive when it needs to be proactive, and has always been seen as an afterthought versus performance improvements.
Sources:
https://f1-insider.com/en/history-of-formula-1-safety/ – this source has notable dates for F1 safety improvements
https://f1chronicle.com/the-history-of-formula-1-safety-devices-f1-history/ – goes into more specifics about certain changes in F1
https://www.driving.co.uk/news/motor-sport/f1-halo-explained/ – Goes into detail about the halo device
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkpvPWB3jMk – a short description of barrier technology in F1
https://www.nfl.com/playerhealthandsafety/equipment-and-innovation/engineering-technology/built-by-data-nfl-helmet-innovation – Football helmet innovations throughout the years and the main improvements with them
https://www.massgeneral.org/children/research/sports-concussion-clinic-research – an overview of research on concussion in football players