Why We Should Not Play Football Persuasive Essay

Football: A Popular sport among all americans played, from toddlers to adults. Although it might be fun and games, football is the leading cause of deaths of thousands of players from brain injuries such as concussions. Due to large amount of brain development issues, highschool football should not be played. Many cases of brain damage due to concussions at such a young age can cause young children to lose focus in school.

“Tom Brady is the gifted quarterback of the New England Patriots, widely recognized as one of the best in his positions. But in the late 1980’s and early 90’s his mom and dad didn’t allow Tom to play organized youth tackle football because of high risk injuries in youth football”(Hyman). Due to these high risk injuries, parents have been debating whether or not their child under twelve should be playing youth tackle football. For example, Cam’ron Matthews played on Alto Texas youth football team and sadly died after a hard hit to his brain in October. Children under the age of twelve should not be allowed to play tackle football because these kids are not developed enough yet to understand the concept of the game, they are at a higher risk of injuries, and they aren’t mature enough yet to be playing youth tackle football.

This issue can cause a lot of youths to go to the hospital. “Between 2001 and 2009, the number of kids under 19 visiting emergency rooms for concussions has increased by 62 percent” (Source #1). Another reason why youth shouldn’t play tackle football is

Redesigning the Football Helmet Head to head contact is a very serious matter. Kids, adults, and everyone in between are getting hurt in football due to the hard hits they take either in practice or games. The goal is to make football safer but people are still getting hurt and even killed. There are new helmets coming out every year but still not eliminating the problem.

Research shows that having many concussions may lead to Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE. When it comes to football, safety should be the priority, not banning it. Football can lead to concussions, but so can many other things. Banning youth football would not help at all, although the people wanting to ban it do have some good points.

Scholarly articles were evaluated to obtain information on this topic. While writing on this topic reasons why kids sustain brain injuries while playing football were exposed. Findings indicated that youth football can cause traumatic brain injuries.  Should Kids Be Allowed To Play Football? Kids are just dying to play football; however, playing football can be harmful to kids in many ways.

"By the time they get to high school, kids have a 5% chance of sustaining a concussion for each season they play" (Zimmerman). If they choose to keep playing football then they will eventually end up with a brain concussion or brain damage. Over the years 65-80% of head injuries go unnoticed ("Stopping the..."58).   Football player ignore the fact that it is just a headache. Hospitals took 150,000 in 2001 to 250,000 in 2009 dramatically increased because of concussions ("Injuries in...").

An online survey of 1,000 people conducted by ESPN in Northern California of early August did find that 57 percent of parents said the concussion problem made them less likely to let their sons play in youth leagues (Emmons, 2012). Over 3,200 retired NFL players have sued the NFL over the long-term effects of their head trauma days. Through suing the NFL they seek compensation for the information that was withheld from them about their protection. Studies show that concussions represent almost 9 percent of injuries in nine major high school sports. Although football is a rather violent sport it can still be while relatively safe when coached and monitored properly.

I’m a big football fan, but I have to tell you if I had a son, I’d have think long and hard before I let him play football,” says President Obama (Fox News). The debate of whether or not football should be banned started with this speech given by President Obama. Recently, studies have shown that a large number of hits may cause more brain damage than a handful of concussions. Although people think banning football will decrease the amount of teen deaths and concussions; football should not be banned because it is just as dangerous as any other high school sports, many people would lose their job if it was banned, and football and sports help keep kids off the street. Football should not be banned because it is just as dangerous as any other

Young boys go full force in everything they do, and football is no exception. Most boys will start playing at age five, beginning the blows to the head that continue each year they participate in the sport. Young boys do not realize that concussions each year are greatly detrimental to their developing brain. Playing tackle football before the age of twelve can lead to negative cognitive effects and memory decline later in life. Playing tackle football has an overall negative effect on the cognitive and memory aspects of the adult brain; therefore, the age of players needs to be increased above the age of twelve years old.

But when athletes hit their heads, the impact can shake up their brains and cause concussions. A concussion is a brain injury that leads to problems like dizziness, confusion, and nausea. (Source #1). If they banned football for kids, then kids wouldn’t have to worry about concussions. It is clear that kids shouldn’t be able to play football because it injures the kid’s brain.

After hours of attempted treatments, the boy sadly dies. To prevent this common scenario from happening, tackling in youth football should be banned until kids reach early teenage years because it can cause detrimental head injuries, and many other future and emotional effects. Being less developed creates a higher risk for injury. The younger kids are, the less developed they are (Smith). Their heads and necks are weaker so when they are hit, it causes them to have more severe injuries (Smith).

There are many sports that are too dangerous for children because they aren't fully developed yet and they have a high chance of being severely injured. More than 448,000 football-related injuries to youths under 15 are annually treated in hospitals, doctors' offices, clinics, ambulatory surgery centers and emergency rooms, according to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons One reason football is too dangerous for children to play is because of chronic traumatic encephalopathy, otherwise known as CTE. It is a deadly brain disease that can develop from the repetitive hits and tackles young football players experience. Many parents start their children out at a very young age. However, because younger football players' brains and bodies are not fully developed, they are more vulnerable to injuries, mainly to their brains.

Kids also should be careful and care for their own health even it means losing their career. Kids should not let the desire of playing tackle at a young age affect their future goals. First, researchers have realize that starting football at a young age affects them as they get older and older. Kids from the age 11 and below still don't have fully developed brains and tackling, getting knock down, and always having physical contact will affect the way of how the brain will develop. The age of twelve is a very important year for the brain development.

According to a research report from Loehrke, a young athlete suffers a sports related injury that is severe enough to go to the emergency room approximately every 25 seconds, or 1.35 million times a year. The most prominent of these injuries were concussions, which accounted for 163,670, or 12 percent of the total 1.35 million injuries (Loehrke). Dr. Alexander K. Powers, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Wake Forest Baptist Health in North Carolina, found that most children who suffer concussions recover, but the prognosis for children who suffer recurring concussions is unknown. Recurring concussions could lead to several disabilities later in life, such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer 's disease, epilepsy, and many other neurological disorders that would require a substantial amount of surgery to cure, if they could even be cured at all (Powers). Putting a child at risk to suffer injuries, such as the ones listed above, is one of the main reasons why the amount of children participating in competitive sports has been dropping