In todays world youth football is a very controversial topic, many people feel that concussions make the sport unsafe for todays youth. But why do kids get so many concussions and is it really not safe for children to play football?
Every 21 seconds in the United States someone gets a concussion. This is an insanely high number of concussions in the United States alone. When someone gets hit very hard on the field their brain, which is made up of soft tissue, can bang against the skull. This causes swelling of the brain and in some cases tearing of blood vessels and nerve damage. Concussions can cause extreme damage, especially in kids when the brain is still developing.
Almost 10% of athletes will get a concussion in each sport season. Although 10% is a large number a more tragic statistic is that almost 50% of athletes do not report that they have sustained a head injury. This means that more than half of athletes keep playing through their injuries. This is extremely unsafe because playing with a concussion can lead to more serious brain injuries.
Most people don’t know that a concussion changes the way that the brain functions. That is why they are so serious and why too many concussions can cause long term damage. Also when a child gets a concussion it can affect how they grow and develop. Because of this children should not be playing football. The risk of longterm damage is not worth the reward of playing peewee football.
Works Cited:
http://kidshealth.org/teen/safety/first_aid/concussions.html
http://www.concussiontreatment.com/concussionfacts.html
Bradley,
In todays world would it be sensible for a 12 year old to smoke cigarets? No… that is because we now know the harm that smoking cigarette causes. The same concept can be related to playing youth football, in the past (when we didn’t know the harm that concussions caused) kids starting playing football when they are only six or seven years old. But now that we can see the harm that concussions cause it is not worth risking a child’s healthy development on an outstanding youth football career. And to counteract your argument people drive cars when they are around the age of 15, but not when they are young kids because it is not safe. That is the same thing that I am saying about youth football. Notice I didn’t say that football should be banned all around, only for young kids.
I have to completely and whole heartedly disagree with you about kids playing football. Concussions are as much apart of football as they are of life. Like you said every 21 seconds an American gets a concussion, which I can assume the majority aren’t playing football when they get their concussion. Kids should have a choice to play football or not even with the risks involved. I did and I’m grateful I was able to play. Should we not allow people to drive cars because 14.3% of all concussions were caused by car accidents?http://www.cdc.gov/traumaticbraininjury/get_the_facts.html