Every year there are more and more reported injuries in football, including concussions. There are many of these injuries that can cause long term effects. Players continue to get bigger, stronger, and faster every year and football equipment technology has not kept up. Football is such a dangerous sport that there should be age limits to be able to play.
There are more and more kids playing sports in general. This has made sports become much more competitive and physically demanding. According to the website wndu.com, “About 35 million kids ages 5 to 18 play an organized sport each year. Kids begin playing sports so young now and even start playing competitively as early as age 7. Because so many children are playing sports, it is making …show more content…
Different companies that make football equipment say that their equipment is the safest out there. If their equipment is so safe, why are there so many injuries for kids? According to Taylor Kubota from http://www.livescience.com/54239-how-to-make-football-safer.html, “a study of more than 2,000 high school football players found that custom-fitted mouth guards increased sport-related concussion risk by 60 percent, compared generic guards.” This shows that equipment that is being sold isn’t helping and needs to be fixed. There have been many improvements in helmet technology over the past 5-7 years. One of the leading companies is a newer company called Xenith. They are developing helmet technology that has an inner shell that collapses like a car bumper upon impact. This allows for the helmet liner to absorb the impact from the hit, as opposed to the head and neck. These helmets are expensive, as their custom youth helmets can run near $235. Riddell is another company that makes helmets. Their new technology is similar to that of Xenith, except that portions of the outer shell of the helmet flex to absorb impact. These helmets are also expensive, as they run in the $275 range. These high costs can make it prohibitive for youth leagues to purchase top of the line equipment for their players. There are pro and college teams that are using robot tackling dummies to help limit the amount of hits their …show more content…
There are great chances of being injured while playing this sport. We need to figure out equipment and age limits to help solve this problem. There are a limited amount of studies that show that there could be long term cognitive damage due to the repetitive hits in football that begin at a young age. Until there can be more research done on how football impacts the brains of young people, there needs to be serious consideration given to limiting the age that young people can begin to play football. Concussions are becoming more prominent because of how humans are developing and becoming stronger every day. Concussions need to be made a top priority in football because it is becoming worse and worse as every season keeps
There are more and more kids playing sports in general. This has made sports become much more competitive and physically demanding. According to the website wndu.com, “About 35 million kids ages 5 to 18 play an organized sport each year. Kids begin playing sports so young now and even start playing competitively as early as age 7. Because so many children are playing sports, it is making …show more content…
Different companies that make football equipment say that their equipment is the safest out there. If their equipment is so safe, why are there so many injuries for kids? According to Taylor Kubota from http://www.livescience.com/54239-how-to-make-football-safer.html, “a study of more than 2,000 high school football players found that custom-fitted mouth guards increased sport-related concussion risk by 60 percent, compared generic guards.” This shows that equipment that is being sold isn’t helping and needs to be fixed. There have been many improvements in helmet technology over the past 5-7 years. One of the leading companies is a newer company called Xenith. They are developing helmet technology that has an inner shell that collapses like a car bumper upon impact. This allows for the helmet liner to absorb the impact from the hit, as opposed to the head and neck. These helmets are expensive, as their custom youth helmets can run near $235. Riddell is another company that makes helmets. Their new technology is similar to that of Xenith, except that portions of the outer shell of the helmet flex to absorb impact. These helmets are also expensive, as they run in the $275 range. These high costs can make it prohibitive for youth leagues to purchase top of the line equipment for their players. There are pro and college teams that are using robot tackling dummies to help limit the amount of hits their …show more content…
There are great chances of being injured while playing this sport. We need to figure out equipment and age limits to help solve this problem. There are a limited amount of studies that show that there could be long term cognitive damage due to the repetitive hits in football that begin at a young age. Until there can be more research done on how football impacts the brains of young people, there needs to be serious consideration given to limiting the age that young people can begin to play football. Concussions are becoming more prominent because of how humans are developing and becoming stronger every day. Concussions need to be made a top priority in football because it is becoming worse and worse as every season keeps