Athletes Essay

The mindset that society thrusts upon most high school athletes can take away from academics and other opportunities they may have for their future. For many high school football athletes, they are primarily focused on one thing throughout their high school years: sports. Evidence 1: In towns such as Odessa in Friday Night Lights, players are swallowed up by the glamour of football and neglect most things not related to football, rather than balance sports with academics. “It was a phenomenon that Trapper had seen dozens of times before, a kid so caught up in it all that there was no room for anything else, another kid for whom nothing in life would ever be so glorious, so fulfilling as playing high school football. Trapper didn’t see the

Other times when sitting to watch a sports game, the last thought that crosses through the mind is whether a player will be injured or will have consequences later in life. Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) is gaining awareness because of current uprise in athletes developing it at a very young age such as Lou Gehrig a famous baseball player. This disease affects the body by causing loss in muscle movement. Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a disease affects the mind not the body and is a progressive degenerative disease. CTE has many diseases that fall under its category such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson’s, Huntington's disease and Dementia. The most common factors for these diseases are concussions and head trauma because athletes

The symptoms of CTE may have life changing effects for both the individual and for his or her family. Some of the most common symptoms include loss of memory, impaired judgment, depression, suicidal behavior, difficultly with balance, and an onset of dementia. An individual with CTE may mistake the symptoms to the normal process of aging, or might receive a wrong diagnosis due to the fact that many of the symptoms are similar to other conditions such as Alzheimer's or Parkinson's disease. CTE is a condition of brain damage which lasts over a period of years or decades and is the result of impacts to the head. The brain of an individual who suffers from CTE gradually deteriorates and some areas will over time end up losing mass, though other areas can become enlarged.5 Another aspect of CTE is that some areas of the brain experience an accumulation of tau protein, a substance which may cause interference with the function of the neurons. Tau is abnormal protein deposits found in the brains of people with Alzheimer’s, the proteins arise in the brains of much younger people and tend to appear first in regions of the brain that aren’t typically affected by Alzheimer’s

Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis or ALS is a disease caused by concussions and head trauma. ALS is a rare neurological disease that mainly involves nerve cells, which control voluntary muscle movement, such as breathing, talking, or chewing. With this being a progressive disease that has no cure it has made a tremendous impact for check ups after blows to the head. A hit to the head does not always mean you have a concussion, but with symptoms and side effects the athlete should not take a chance and get it checked out immediately. This is more of a physical incapacity disease. ALS has become a common disease for athletes in the mid-twenties, and life expectancy is very slim once the diagnosis has taken place. The main reported life periods for ALS athletes has been 3-5 years, but with medication and treatments it has had higher life expectancies about 20% have 5 years, 10% have 10 years, and 5% have 20 years. The athletes lives have changed from the beginning of the diagnoses till the end of the lives they do live with the disease. Being a scary thing to think about athletes do tend to have the ability to walk away at retirement perfectly clear from ALS, which is a win.

The world of sports has grown larger than life over the past century, especially in college. Being a collegiate athlete is, without question, the hardest athletic profession in the world. Not only are students devoted to their sport, which requires an obscene amount of time of preparation, but they are also devoted to their school work. And the award they receive for their hard work? Of course there are the great memories, friendships made, “free education”, or national championships, but are theses students receiving their fair share? Should college athletes be paid? It is a question that has been asked, but never truly answered. College athletes should be paid for their work. I even have the perfect system to see

Many scientists and doctors have researched to find the reasons why young athletes have gotten those diseases. Due to many concussions and hits to the head young athletes tend to have ALS and CTE at a younger age. Take Pete Frates, a baseball player, into consideration; he was diagnosed at the age of 27, which reveals the drastic age difference between an average person and an athlete. This occurred due to the head injuries he received playing baseball. Furthermore, the average age to being diagnosed for a regular person is 50. According to NCBI.gov, “ALS is rare before the age of 40 years and increases exponentially with age thereafter. This further proves that because of the number of concussions athletes receive they are below the age average of

CTE, or Chronic traumatic Encephalopathy, is an incurable progressive degenerative disease that will gradually deteriorates the brain causing the brain to lose mass. CTE is caused by repeated head concussions and by traumatic brain injuries. Brain trauma injuries can lead to a buildup of tau, a protein that slows kills brain cells. CTE is found commonly found in athletes and members of the military. The only way to diagnose someone with CTE is after death through an examination of the brain. CTE can cause symptoms of confusion, mood changes such as aggression and depression, memory loss, anxiety, suicidality, and impaired judgment. CTE is often mistaken for Alzheimer's or Parkinson's due to the fact that both diseases share symptoms with CTE. However Alzheimer's is a progressive disease that slowly destroys memory and important mental functions. Alzheimer's is an incurable progressive degenerative disease that cause gradual brain cells death. Alzheimer's can cause one to experience memory loss, a mental decline, confusion, trouble concentrating, behavioral changes such as aggression, moods such as anger, and depression. Also mistaken for is Parkinson's disease. Parkinson's is a disease that is caused by the deterioration of neurons in the area of the brain called substantia nigra. Without this your body cannot create dopamine. A person with Alzheimer's would experience tremors, muscle stiffness, fatigue and memory

CTE is not identified until after death when the brain is examined. Those with CTE have telltale protein buildup in the frontal cortex of the brain at an early

In November of 2016 Former NFL Football player, Kevin Turner died of "Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS)" at the age of forty-six years old. Shockingly, it was found after his death that he died of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) not ALS. From this new discovery, the idea of ALS and CTE being linked was brought forth. ALS is a disease that attacks and weakens all other parts of the body except the brain, whereas CTE is a brain disease that is found in people who have experienced repetitive head injuries. There has been multiple studies and research on why older athletes are becoming diagnosed with ALS or CTE but now scientists are starting to find the disease in younger athletes as well. The number one fact that has been linked to

Recently some athletes have died or are suffering from ALS and CTEs. Athletes that are diagnosed with any of the two diseases, sometimes do not even know how and why they developed one or the other. ALS and CTE lately have been more common especially in athletes. ALS and CTE can affect men and women who play or practice a sport or activity that has physical contact, but it is more common in men although these conditions are rising in women as well. One reason why athletes are getting ALS or CTEs is due to sport injuries mainly head injuries. Sport injuries do not seem to be so important but they can lead to something more serious. Something that athletes also get is concussions and trauma, repeated concussions are dangerous.In

Researchers show that athletes are more prone to CTE more than normal people at a younger age because athletes suffer more head trauma than most. High School football players suffer head trauma every day as practice goes on. The players don't even have to be in a live game to be hitting heads because during practice heads are being hit hard which leads to the jolting in the brain. The head banging will lead to some serious injuries in the brain while the person does not know something is wrong. The same athlete will start to play football in college which will lead to even more hard hits. All of this will give that individual a higher chance to get CTE when growing up.As athlets are getting CTE, some can also be diagnosed with ALS. Researchers have not officially found the reason why athletes are being diagnosed at a young age for ALS but some believe a reason could be is because that athletes are doing so much vigorous physical activity that athletes are exposed to environmental toxins in the air. The typical age for an athlete to get ALS is 25 to 40 years old, while a regular person will get it at around

In high school many kids often choose not to participate in extra curricular activities saying that there pointless or that only a certain type of person would do something like play football, or join the chess club. While this type of thinking may get some people through school and through life, can it really be looked at as being a healthy lifestyle? Today sports have proven to be a healthy outlet for students, in dealing with stress in the classroom at home and among their peers.

In addition to customers expecting premier program and interaction quality from sporting goods store, particularly Sports Authority, customers expect premier outcome and physical environment quality, as well. However, during the group’s collective and independent visits to Sports Authority, the quality that both the outcome and physical environment were not up to the standards that we expected entering into the store. Nevertheless, Sports Authority had some positive aspects about both the outcome and physical environment; however, there are numerous amounts of changes that Sports Authority needs to implement rules that would overall improve the overall customer service quality of the store.

CTEs are progressive diseases that affect the brain, opposing ALS symptoms. It deals more with the mentality side of the brain than the side of the brain that deals with movement. A person with a CTE suffers from memory loss, speech impairment makes poor judgments and has a difficult time with completing everyday tasks. They become depressed and more aggressive. Most of these long-term effects are linked to the following diseases: Alzheimer's, a type of dementia that affects the memory and behavior; Huntington’s, a genetic disease that breaks down the nerve cells in the brain; Dementia, which isn’t symptom-specific (just an overall term for the ailments the patient has); and Parkinson's, another form of dementia, similar to Alzheimer’s but it also affects movement as well. These diseases seem like an older person would be diagnosed with. Yes, it is common for older people to be diagnosed with these diseases, most prevalent in people ages fifty and up, but athletes, who are considerably younger, are contracting the disease as well. The reason why is because there is a link to sports play (with an emphasis on physical contact sports) and head trauma. The protein called Tau, which helps stabilize the cell shapes and is found in the central nervous system becomes defective when the brain is whacked upside the

     For my career research paper I have chosen to delve into the world of the sportswriter, and take a closer look at what that occupation may hold for myself. I have chosen to research this form of journalism because I consider myself to be a sports fanatic, and would very much enjoy spending the rest of my working days writing about the conditions in the world of sports. During the last year or so I have taken a period of time everyday to relax and read over sports articles from baseball and football at some of my favorite websites, such as espn.com or nesn.com, or to sit down and watch Sports Center on ESPN. I also seem to have an ability to remember statistics and rosters of players and