Concussions In Youth Sports

For this research synthesis I choose to write about concussions in football, specifically in youth football. I chose to focus more on youth football because concussions are such a big problem within the football world, so instead of focusing on them at a professional level it should be looked into at the entry level. If things can be done in youth football to prevent or lower the risk of concussions, then those steps should be taken. The main thing I wish to focus on is if tackling in youth football should be allowed. I came to choose this topic because I was deciding between whether or not football players should have to go to college before the NFL or concussions in football, but I chose concussions in football. Concussions in football was the topic I ended up choosing because I felt there would be more information about this topic. Also, I chose a topic dealing with sports because I grew up playing them, so I have always like them and I am a sport administration major, so I picked something that is talked about a lot in the sports world. This is an important issue because concussions can cause serious, lifelong medical issues, so they are something that needs to be addressed. My classmates should care because most of them have either played football or had a family member that played and they could have been effected by the negatives of concussions.

Concussions occur on a large scale in football. During a concussion, the head can experience a blow directly or can have whiplash. When the head is hit, the brain hits the inside of the skull, giving it a temporary bruise. This bruise or tearing of the brain can lead to mental impairments that can affect a person’s emotional state of being, physical problems like deteriorated mobility and sensitivity to light and sound. Doctors are quick to point out one of the major reasons that youth receive concussions, saying, “... children have big heads relative to the rest of their bodies and weak necks… that elevates the risk of concussions,” (P6). Along with a lack of education and care for the protection of athletes, youth are already at a huge risk. When children wear their football helmets, they are saving themselves from many injuries that could have occurred without them, most especially protecting the brain. But, in many cases, this is not enough.

There’s no doubt that concussions in football has become a major problem, not just for the professional athletes, but for kids of all ages from age 8 to 19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has shown that concussion have doubled in the last decade and The American Academy of Pediatrics says that, “emergency room visits for concussions in children ages 8 to 13 years old has doubled, and concussions have risen 200 percent among teens ages 14 to 19 in the last decade” (Keith Dunlap, The Oakland Press). This shows that the seriousness of concussions is not just an issue at a pro level but an issue throughout all levels of play. The risk is definitely present when you play football but it shouldn’t stop parents from letting their children participate in the sport. Playing organized sports such as football isn’t just a place to get injured, it’s a place where your children can learn the importance of teamwork, sportsmanship, toughness, competitiveness, they learn succeed, and also they learn about failure. The parents who don’t allow their children to play sports don’t let their kids learn about these important lessons of organized sports. Football is also a way for kids to take their anger and struggles out in the game and help them express themselves. It can also be a way for kids in bad situations to get a way out, to try and reach the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

In the world of football, big hits are something that are looked at in a positive light. They are seen as a way of asserting dominance over other players and it is celebrated by teammates. Big hits are a very crucial, almost necessary, part of the game that millions of people gather to watch every Sunday. However, in the past decade, the NFL and other organization have realized that concussions can lead to very serious problems later in life. One of these problems is known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). It is a degenerative brain disease, much like Alzheimer’s, that mainly effects individuals in high contact sports such as boxing or football. Over time, this connection between concussions and CTE has become more common knowledge and more people have started asking the question “do the risks of children playing football outweigh the benefits?”. The answer to this question is yes, football is entirely too violent for children to be playing. According to “Big Hits, Broken Dreams”, one in ten football players gets a concussion, and 35% of players have more than one. The video also states that only 50% of high schools in the United States have a certified athletic trainer on the field (CNN, 2012). If concussions are really a concern for the schools, then why are there not more athletic trainers on staff at these schools to deal with sports injuries? This also forces the public to question these schools even more because if they are willing to cut costs and not hire a

Today, one of the more common injuries in youth sports is a concussion. A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury that occurs after a player has either taken a hit to their body that has caused both the head a brain to quickly jerk back and forth, or by a sudden shock or knock to the head. With the force and sudden movement, there is movement of the brain which can cause chemical changes that can lead to permanent or stretching the brain cells. By the above definition you can start to think of many instances in sports where a player can receive a concussion.

In sports, the best athletes are the individuals that give each team a chance to win every game. The bad news for the best athletes is that sometimes their health gets put second to their abilities. Roughly 1.8 to 3.6 million sports related concussions happen each year (Concussion Statistics). Stronger and faster athletes as well as more impact of the hits or falls have doubled the number of concussions in a decade (Concussion Statistics). Concussions can happen to every athlete, but when it happens to the star athletes, it is different. Schools have to follow direct concussion safety laws, but professional sports have more leniencies (Get). Wins are more important in the professional leagues compared to the high school and amateur levels.

Concussions are rapidly becoming more and more of a concern in sports today. This is especially true in the sport of football, youth, amateur, and professional. What is a concussion? How do they happen? A concussion is a traumatic brain injury that occurs when the head is impacted, hit, struck, or shaken. Inside the skull, this violent movement of the brain is very detrimental to the brain itself. When a concussion occurs the brain literally bounces or twists in the skull causing damage to the brain cells, which in turn cause chemical changes in the brain. These changes make the brain more sensitive to other injuries or stress. All athletes participating in contact sports are at risk

What are the effects of a concussion? Each year thousands of kids play youth football, and nearly all of them will take big blows to the head. Many people say that research is based off of athletes who played 30 years ago. However young athletes brains aren’t even fully developed, and a concussion can affect an athlete’s ability to learn and perform in school. Concussions caused by sports can have lifelong effects, and for this reason, sports should be made safer to prevent concussions from happening.

The topic that I chose to focus on in my major was the rise of concussions in youth sports. The essay that I will be analyzing is called “State Experiences Implementing Youth Sports Concussion Laws: Challenges, Success, and Lessons for Evaluating Impact” written by Kerri McGowan Lowery and Stephanie R. Morain published Fall 2014. The article is insightful and informative for a student pursuing a career in exercise science field because I learned new information that was previously unknown before such as the percentage of hospital visits by youth with these types of injuries, the people that are behind the scenes such as coaches and staff, and who is in charge of setting the rules for youth sports injuries.

In the article “I’m refusing to let my son play football, and you should too” by Doree Lewak, when she was talking to Dyan Hes, a mom who will not be letting her son play tackle football, she wrote “‘My biggest fear is that he will get a concussion, and it will interfere with his brain development, his studies and his enjoyment of other sports,’ says Hes.” Hes has feared what most would rather not think about: what will happen when the child plays. Concussions happen more often than not in a sport like football, and the child will have to live with the trauma for the rest of their life. In the article “Why Do We Let Kids Play Tackle Football?” by Stefan Fatsis, he wrote “…there’s already data that shows the effect of tackle football on undeveloped brains, like a study released this year by researchers at Virginia Tech and Wake Forest that found that 7-year-old players absorb impacts on par with those in college football.” In children, that kind of impact is definitely life threatening. When a young child gets injured in the head, the injury can hinder their growth of the child’s brain, and that child’s future will not be as great as it could have been. To guarantee a child a safe and healthy future, they must not play

Playing sports is seen as all fun, but when the majority of professional athletes have suffered a concussion or some type of head injury at least once in their career, it stops being fun. Many major league and professional sports teams need to start to make changes to protective equipment, but the leagues also need to introduce stricter rules and regulations along with mandatory equipment for all players to lessen the chance of serious head injuries.

The popularity of soccer has continued to increase year after year due to large events such as the World Cup and the Euro Cup. Now, fans are demanding more of a show rather than just a simple game. Due to this demand, players have been looking for different ways to up the ante, most specifically the way goals are scored. It has been more common to see goals scored off bicycle kicks and headers leading to an increase of injuries such as concussions due to heading. As these types of injuries are becoming more common, and has recently been seen in younger players as well, the question has become whether or not heading should be removed from youth soccer. In Stanley Kay’s article “With concussion reform at forefront, should youth headers be nixed?” from Sports Illustrated featured on September 10, 2014 he uses pathos along with logos to

New rules that are implemented resulting in less penalty minutes for aggressive play (Mick). These rules are extremely important in youth hockey, bantams especially. The bantam age group is the age most boys start growing and get more muscular and more prone to aggressive play. This can cause tremendous injury to a player if one does not think before he hits another player. Many of the players do not understand how dangerous these acts really can be. The human body is not invincible, although many think they are. The increase of body checking rules has decreased the injuries that usually come from these hits about three to twelve times lower. Fifteen percent of the injuries resulting from a body check are concussions (Mick). Concussions are

When a parent's child have a concussion due after a hit that occur in the head or was hit with any kind of object you should Tell your child what to expect as he gets better. Encourage your child to talk with you about any symptoms he or she is having, and to come to you with any questions or concerns. Children who are given information about their concussion and reassured that they will get better tend to recover more quickly. Sharing information about the concussion with the other important people in your child’s life is also recommended so they can understand what has happened and how to help. This includes your child’s siblings, teachers and other school staff, coaches, and babysitters.

when it comes to sport injuries, young athletes are the most vulnerable to withstanding a concussion or a knee injury. While football players wear helmets, they don’t stop concussions. As a player goes to make a tackle without using proper technique or lowering head; trauma of the head to head contact to the brain, causes a concussion to occur. Since young players brains are still developing, the athlete is at higher rise of receiving a head injury.