Satire Essay On Concussions

Background- Lucas is on the starting football team. His first week into practice he goes to catch a bad pass and gets a concussion. His doctor told him he was going to have to sit out for a two weeks but his mom disagreed. She took him to a doctor that specialist in concussion injury’s. The doctor told him that he needed to quit football or he could die.

Head injuries, including concussions, particularly in the game of American football, have become a subject of deep concern, much study and even Congressional hearings in the United States.

Whether rooted deeply through generations of a family or formed through an experience, passions and fascinations are what drives us, humans, to be who we truly are. At this point in my life, I do not want to reach comfort or perfection, but rather feel composed and confident in what I chose to merge my ballet skills with. When I dance, I escape reality and feel a pure exhilaration.This sensation shapes my curiosity and interest in the human anatomy. From the elements that make it up to ways in which people individually move their bodies, the human body is absolutely fascinating. Specifically, I am passionate about teaching ballet to younger students. By introducing ballet to kids early on, they will experience the same joy almost all dancers feel for a longer period of time. When I’m dancing I’m challenging your mind, releasing endorphins, and working hard. I am also eager to own my own business linked with teaching that will provide people with affordable dance equipment, and even more crucial, advice on what suits each person's personal needs. I know as I grow old my body will not be as capable as it once was, but I’m dedicated to spreading my appreciation of ballet to others. Overall, my passion for ballet and how I can utilize it to positively impact society as an entrepreneur has developed through the inspiration of my grandparents, the creativity of my former dance teachers, and my interest in the human bodies relation to ballet.

I had left to my room to think about what he had told me and I just remembered how while still in middle school I was talking about being a football player all 4 years and try to get scouted by college senior year. I went back to his room and told him my decision which was to continue on with playing football. I'm glad I made that decision because I had fun during the season blowing out other schools, there were losses along the way but it didn’t matter because memories were made out of one little decision which was get up and continue hitting practice or stand down you’re not cut out for this.

Many memories are made in football, but sadly some of the greatest players cannot recall them. The National Football League has been associated with concussions and brain traumas throughout the years, but lately it has been exposed by media and NFL veterans. The league recently “reached a $765 million preliminary settlement with thousands of former players who were suing the league over its treatment of concussions…” (Waldron). Many former players are experiencing the effects of taking hard hits over and over again; they were not properly treated, which makes the injury worse and long term. The concussion issue in the NFL is more prevalent today, because it affects not only the players, but the league as a whole.

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.

But alas, Miss Sifferlin's goal wasn't to be logical or analytical. The goal of her paper is to appeal to parents and coaches about the ramifications of letting kids “play through pain”. Sadness wells up for the amount of children affected by concussions, worry for their safety, and hope that more precautions will be taken. It's not the most delicate of subjects to talk about, but it is one that she broaches with the same type of seriousness and finesse that most will find refreshing.

Concussions have a huge impact on athletics and student athletes in our generation today. They effect people's lives for the worse and cause setbacks in education and athletic opportunities. Many students who get concussions from athletic activities return to play their sport too soon after getting the concussion, which can cause even more serious issues. Considering 300,000 sports related concussions occur each year, they are very relevant to our everyday lives. Returning to play a sport too soon after suffering from a concussion can result in the risk for a further injury or worse concussion, severe symptoms and healing, and the very likely chance for another concussion to occur.

In the sports world today, there are many different injuries that athletes experience and one of the most devastating injury is a concussion. Concussions can happen to anyone, in any sport, but we tend to see most concussions in contact sports (Świerzewski 1). While having an informal conversation with my dad about football, he told me it was common for athletes to receive a head injury in a game and continue to play as if nothing was wrong. While watching SportsCenter, I found that some of the greatest retired athletes don’t remember the best moments of their careers due to the lack of treatment. The worst aspect of concussions is that the symptoms can be delayed; in some cases, it’s only a headache so athletes don’t seek medical treatment. Multiple concussions over time can lead to life-threatening complications due to the damage they cause to the brain. Concussions can happen to anybody at anytime, but there is more to concussions than meets the eye.

“It didn’t cross my mind that I wouldn’t see him come of that field,” Amy Stover says while sitting on her living room couch (Gregory 34). Six months earlier her son, Chad Stover, made a tackle, got up and waddled off towards the sideline feeling a little woozy (Gregory 34). Two plays later he felt good enough to return to the game and did so (Gregory 34). His team huddled up, and that is when it happened (Gregory 34). Chad collapsed, and when the medical trainers got to him his eyes were closed and he was unresponsive (Gregory 34). They rushed him to the hospital where he was diagnosed with severe brain trauma (Gregory 34). Five days later Chad passed away from complications from severe brain trauma (Gregory 34).

Football is a game of passion, a time when nothing else matters and the only thing that matters is going out there having fun and fighting for the guy next to you. Football has always been something that I loved and had a wild passion for. I’ve made friendships and memories to last a life time and I can always be grateful that football did that for me. Now of course I’ve had some bad memories during football as well, I remember walking out of the film room on the last day of spring ball and having Coach Antle grab me and say “Gage, I think I want to try you at a new position, I want to put you at defensive end. We need you more there and we think you can really excel there.” I remember being so furious, I had played linebacker ever since I could remember and now the last day of spring ball my senior year everything was about to change.

In the beginning of 2005 a concussion scandal had rocked both the National Football League (NFL) and the sports world alike, resulting in news outlets from the medical journal Neurosurgery to The New York Times reporting on some aspect of the situation. By 2009, almost everything that was known about the concussion issue was published and made known to the public. However one story was left in obscurity, and that was the story of Dr. Bennet Omalu, told by author Jeanne Marie Laskas in the novel Concussion. Through Laskas’ narration in the novel and employment of strategies such as characterization, conflict, and point of view, she is able to present new information and different perspectives on an already well investigated subject.

My parents made a wise decision to secure my future as opposed to letting me waste it on a middle school football game. So far it has been 3 weeks and we have only gotten thru 2 games and we have had two players that have needed a cast because of a broken arm, another player with a strained back, a player who pulled his shoulder, and another player who had a dislocated shoulder. That goes to show how dangerous the 8th grade season has started off. Even NFL players have started to retire because Football is getting increasingly dangerous. Many NFL players are getting severely injured and several of these injuries are critical concussions from helmet to helmet contact which lead to body weakening symptoms after the retirement like memory loss, depression, and

Concussions happen throughout every sport and every level. Elise Legult, Programme Specialist (education finance) at UNESCO Institute for Statistics, stated, “Individuals age 19 and under sustaining concussion climbed from 153,375 to 248,414. It rose 65% from 2001-2009” (Legault, et al. 1) This statistic shows that although there are some ways of preventing concussions, it does not mean concussions are completely prevented. Zackery is a high school football player, he was hit hard on a play and he sustained a concussion. Coach then puts Zackery back in the game, which made his concussion worse; the continuous hit after he sustained a concussion made the situation life and death for Zack. With Lystedt family, Washington state passed a bill called The Zackery Lystedt Law. The law prohibits players from participating in a game if they are suspected, or actually sustaining a concussion during a game(Lucke 2). Zackery Lystedt Law focuses around three central provisions: Education of athletes, parents, and coaches; requirement of immediate removal of the player, and medical clearance in order to return (Harvey 4)

Most people do not realize how concussions can change lives in only just a couple of seconds. A concussion can occur when someone no matter what the age the person is can get a hard hit to the head, or hit to the Reticular Activating System part of the brain and that causes it to be moved out of it’s regular position ("Concussion - Causes Share”). Concussions can also happen anytime but for the most of the time they happen in sports due to all of the impact. Take football for example, football is one of the most biggest sport that contains concussions because of the collison from tackling each other on the field. Most concussions happen from some type of collision small or big, Kyle Turley said, “ you start on your own five-yard line, eighteen plays in a row sometimes. Every play: collision, collision, collision” (Gladwell). There will be reasons why concussions need to be reduced by changing little league football, and why concussions are dangerous for everyone. The programs for younger football leagues should be changed to reduce concussions in athletes because it is a risk to their life and can cause extreme damage physically and mentally later on.