Football, of course, is America’s greatest past time. Yet recently all over the news we see that football comes with a price. As we all know it’s a tremendously dangerous sport. A few weeks ago, a young man lost his life at the age of 17 in a town just a half hour from mine. Senior quarterback Evan Murray from Warren Hills High School died after a hit he took while playing under the lights at a home football game. The news affected many in my area and really made me wonder how many people die each year from this sport? In addition, does the younger you start this game have an impact on your health in the long run? This blog post is for Evan and those who were affected by his loss as well as my mother who never let my brother play football. I never truly understood why until now.
Just last month three high school football players died from injuries that occurred while playing this sport (The Death). The “big hits” they took were strong enough to end their lives. As a matter of fact, “according to the National Center for Catastrophic Sports Injury Research, which is housed at the University of North Carolina, 13 high school American football players died from injuries between 2012 and 2014” (The Death). Though many would argue that the percentage of those who lose their lives to this sport every year is very low, we must just look at the fact that young people are losing their lives because of this sport. What we also must remember is that kids start playing football at a young age and are unaware of the total it will take on their bodies later in life.
As mentioned before, many football players start playing at a young age. Research has found that the younger one starts playing football, the more likely that there will be a change of structure when they are older. To prove this hypothesis, the National Institute of Health funded an experiment that did just that. The study was done by Boston University. They took forty NFL players and separated them into two groups. One group had started playing football when they were 12 or older while the other had started when they were younger than twelve. The common thing between the two groups was that they all had concussions and memory loss (Does). Next the participants were put into an MRI machine where the researchers “looked at the movement of water molecules along the brain’s white matter tracts”. They also participated in, “neurological testing to assess learning, reading and verbal capacities, as well as memory and planning skills” (Playing). The researchers found that “ all the players performed below average on several of the assessments. But by many measures, the overall mental functioning of those who started playing before age 12 registered roughly 20 percent below that of those who started at age 12 and older” (Players). We also must remember that the brain development. What many seem to forget is that from the age of 10 to 12 the brain is in its crucial stage of development and taking a big hit, which many do during this game can greatly impact brain development (does).
After looking at all this research, it becomes clear that the null hypothesis that the starting age in which one participates in football does not affect brain structure has been rejected. Many would see Boston University as a credible source due to the fact that is a world-class institution. We must consider that a few factors when it comes to this study. First, the sample size is pretty small considering only 40 NFL players participated. In addition, this study only looked at Men whose average age was 52, who participated in the NFL for more than two years (Players). In order support this hypothesis even more it would be best to look at not just NFL players but college football players as well. If we really wanted to back up the thesis we would look into other sports, not just football and see if the age in which one participates in a contacts sports affects the brain. It would also be useful to look at both men in women. If we considered all these factors we would be able to prove they there is a correlation between starting age and brain being damaged when it comes to contact sports. After searching on the web, I couldn’t find any studies that tested the hypothesis that the earlier one starts playing contact sports the more like they are to have a significant amount of brain damage, other than the Boston University study. However, I did find a study that researchers studied 85 brains that were donated (Brain). All the brains were from people who had participated in contact sports.They found that “nearly 80 percent of people who experienced repetitive hits to the head showed evidence of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE), and Alzheimer’s-like condition that results in the slow destruction of brain cells” (Brain). Though this study does not focus on age it proves the hypothesis that there is a correlation between brain damage and contact sports.
Though football is America’s favorite past time it happens to be a very dangerous sport. Personally, I believe in order to stop the brain damage that football are experiencing later down the road in their lives we must do the following. Our country should make a law that prevents tackle football until the age of 13 or 14 due to the fact that brains are in their main stages of development around the age of 11. After all flag football is just as fun as tackle just a little less dangerous.
Works Cited
“Brain Damage and Memory Loss Tied to Contact Sports.” Men’s Fitness. N.p., n.d. Web. 21
Oct. 2015.
“Playing Football as a Kid Increases Brain Damage Risk.” CBSNews. CBS Interactive, n.d.
Web. 21 Oct. 2015.
“The Death of Evan Murray.” Grantland. N.p., 30 Sept. 2015. Web. 19 Oct. 2015.
“Neuroscience.” Research Football Child’s Play Adult Peril Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Oct.
2015