Should High Schools Drop Football Because Too Many Players Are Getting Hurt? Friday night lights is something to look forward to for many high school students and community members. Being a varsity football cheerleader, I myself look forward to those nights, but, is playing for only one night a week and 10 weeks out of the year, worth risking your life for? Some think of football as one of the most harmful sports, considering all of the contact that is involved. With all of the things like blockings, holdings, sacks, and tackles, it would be hard for one to deny that. Since many have started to take these dangerous impacts that football may have on those who play into consideration, school administrators began asking, “Should high schools drop football because too many players are getting hurt?” Attempts to make changes to the roughness that comes along with playing football, trace all the way back to the 1900’s. Before that time, football was considered rugby, which was even more dangerous. In rugby, “The results were predictable: smashed noses, dislocated shoulders, broken necks and fractured skulls. Dozens of young men died, mostly from cerebral hemorrhage” (Zimmerman 2), which terrified many. Over time, the name “rugby,” eventually died out and later became known as football. Years later, when president Roosevelt got into office and noticed nearly 20 deaths that happened that fall from football, he called for a meeting with coaches from different colleges. “The 1905
This article “When Theodore Roosevelt Saved Football” by Bruce Watson is mainly to inform readers about how Theodore Roosevelt influenced and saved the once-endangered sport American football by making it safer. The author begins by comparing American football today to football in the past as deadly. The author states that in today’s American football it is known for causing fewer injuries and least lethal, however, during Roosevelt’s time the players sustained more injuries and deaths due to minimal protective equipment and momentum plays. Watson mentions Roosevelt’s proposal about the pros and cons of football at meetings with college coaches and athletic directors. The meetings were postponed due to football’s scrutiny of violence.
Bruce Watson, author of “When Theodore Roosevelt Saved Football,” writes in chronological order the events in which he describes how football was saved from the notorious brutality the sport was once known for. The intervention and involvement by President Theodore Roosevelt would become a key element in the restructuring of football. While Roosevelt had never taken an interest to playing football during his time at Harvard, he had great respect for the game. Furthermore, Roosevelt believed the roughness nature of the game was necessary. Because of this, injuries ranging from severe to fatal became standard. However, as stated in the reading by Watson, pressure on Roosevelt built rapidly to take action as death tolls among players continued
In his historical article “When Theodore Roosevelt Saved Football”, Bruce Watson evaluates the brutality that often occurred in 20th century football and how Theodore Roosevelt influenced the safety procedures currently enforced in modem day competition. Although being respected by the 26th president, Roosevelt himself was never an active football player; however, he was influenced by his respect for the game and his own son’s lethal experiences who was knocked unconscious. At the time, Injuries had been occurring at alarming rates with a total of 45 men dying at the hands of fans entertained by foul play. Major institutions including Harvard, Yale, and Princeton were split between pro and anti-factions against the sport. Consequently, Roosevelt
In the article “When Theodore Roosevelt Saved Football” Bruce Watson tells how football used to be a deadly sport. Theodore Roosevelt did not play football himself but was a big fan of the sport. Injuries were happening at alarming rates yet no one was doing anything about it. Roosevelt did not get involved until his son was injured in a game. By this point many people had died and people were trying to ban the sport all together. Now the press was getting involved and colleges were splitting into pro- and anti- football committees. Roosevelt called for a meeting at the white house with the coaches from the major universities. The meeting came to no true agreement or resolution and people continued to get hurt. After
Is tackle football too dangerous for kids who aren’t even fully developed? Back then, when it came to sports, safety was never one of the main concerns. For example, baseball was played for over half a century without requiring helmets. Recently, society has started to worry about future generations and whether some activities will have long-lasting effects on them, such as football. Although many are advocates for safety, others are arguing that kids should be able to play what they want. While tackle football has been proven to be detrimental to the youth’s health, especially for children under the age of 13, critics have questioned and discussed whether other sports are going to be next and how they can possibly prevent football’s future modifications.
What is Football? Football is a brutal sport that can have lifelong consequences. It’s dangerous and overrated. It has become a business that is only concerned about winning at the cost of maiming players, but people love it. Football players suffer more concussions than athletes in any other high school sport. Is this beloved game worth the risks, or should schools do away with it? We shouldn’t let teens ruin their lungs with cigarettes, so why would we allow them to damage their brains in the name of football? I have never played the sport, but I have friends that play and they’re always injured in some way. It’s just pointless. High school football players can undergo significant brain changes after just one season, even if they don’t get
In the 1900s some people felt the game of football was too rough. So they thought that the game of football should be banned. But over time people realized that the game was dangerous because of maybe what they wear. People decided that the equipment should be better so that the game is not so dangerous, so they made the safety of the game better and saw that injuries went down over
American football is very popular in American culture today. Professional football games bring a lot of people together and are something little kids dream to play when they are older. When it comes to the topic of Professional football, most will agree that it is a violent sport. Where this agreement usually ends, however, is on the question of is it worth playing or not. Some are convinced that it is and others feel that the sport is too dangerous. However people feel they usually still watch NFL football in person or on television. Even though the NFL is exciting to watch and America’s favorite past time, it comes with a physical cost to the players.
I believe that flag football should be added to schools for physical education and here is why. It is proven that 35.7 percent of people considered to be obese. One in twenty are considered to be extremely obese. Seventy-four percent of men are considered to be obese. Thirty-six percent of women are obese. So, I believe flag football should be added to schools, so kids can get to know the sport, so they can teach it to adults because flag football is proven to be fun for all ages.
Danger comes with any sport no matter how rough or mild. Every person knows the risks involving sports. Concussions are a problem but, they are not a large enough danger to shut high school football down. Critics are saying that high school football is to dangerous, but what is dangerous? Everyday, people do things like driving or walking across the street, yet everyone does these things everyday. Driving has regulations to ensure the safety of everyone involved, as does footbal. Precautions are made in order to keep the people safe. These regulations and rules help teens grow not only as athletes but as better people. These sports give teens a mean of escape from everyday life. These sports also help kids strategize the next game plan. These teens who are strategizing now, could be making the new breakthroughs in football regulations in the future.
The beloved American sport that consists of tackling others to the ground and trying to make a touchdown to lead the team to victory has become too dangerous to play. We let our children play the risky sport at a young age and think it is just for fun. Meanwhile, they are falling in love with the game and soon will develop dreams of playing in the big league. At that point it is too late, just as some families were too late when their football player get a concussion on the field, grow old with Alzheimer's disease, or even CTE, the chronic traumatic encephalopathy. Although America is aware of the issue, the sport is continuing to ruin lives.
College football must not be banned because it a part of America and our history. Football has a great history in America and has left so many memories for people all over the nation. The game is a dangerous sport, but the people who play it know the risk. People play the game because they love everything about the game. There are many things that should be fixed with outside the sport, but I think the game should stay the same. If we look at the reasons people want to ban college football there are really two main reasons. Mainly because of all of the concussions and because of the amount of money College football makes the school. However although the team brings in that much money for the school they still receive no money whatsoever.
In order to truly appreciate the overall beneficial influence football has had on American culture between the 1890’s and 1930’s, we cannot turn a blind eye to the negative obstacles football has overcome. In the early years of development, football was played similarly to rugby and universities played by different rules, making standardization within the sport a difficult task to accomplish. One of the major problems observed during the infancy of football was the sheer violence witnessed on the field. Mass play was the common play style during the first years of football in which the entire offensive force would focus on one spot of the defense; the offense was determined to go through the defense rather than go around them. The raw power behind these plays lead to serious injuries as well as the death of a player in the early 1900’s. This disastrous event deterred numerous universities from playing football out of fear of a repeat of events. Following more serious injuries
Football is a rough sport. Many fans of the game watch it for the hard hits. These hard hits and the potential for injury is part of what makes the game so exciting. Some people say that football is too brutal and should be banned. Parents all over the United States don’t allow their children to play because of the risk of head injuries. Others allow their sons, and every now and then their daughters, to play and risk injury for a chance to earn a college scholarship and for a small percentage of players, the chance to play in the National Football League (NFL).
This paper explores published articles that report on results from research conducted on this disadvantages of high school football. The articles vary in information and research conducted and have different argumentative points of discussion. This paper examines and states that high school football should be banned. Reasons are shown through different points of argument. Football causes continuous concussions, causes long term medical problems and causes different types of trauma to their body and affects their overall health.