Football Concussions

Some view football as entertainment, some view football as overly sized men/boys grabbing each other, but for others football is life and for some the cause of their death. In 2014 CNS News found that the amount of high school boys playing football exceeded the number of boys and girls combined who participated in any other sport with a number of 1,086,627 players with nine of those players dying from head related injuries or concussions. Tyrell Cameron, Ben Hamm, Kenney Bui, Andre Smith, Evan Murray, Cam’Ron Matthews and Rod Williams are 7 high school football players to die in this year alone, high school players dying, young men that had their whole life in front of them, recently I conducted four interviews, with two players who play high school football and two players that play division 1 football and asked them a series of questions about concussions,

I began with high school and my first question was if they had sustained a concussion during their hs careers and 1 out of the 2 players said that he sustained a concussion by taking a huge hit in the first quarter, felt bad but continued to play and wasn’t diagnosed until the next day, after that I asked if there was team meetings held at the beginning of the season to inform players on what concussions are, the symptoms, and protocol to ensure safety of players, and they said no, no information like that is given to them, they learn if they sustain one, after that, I asked collegiate players the same questions and they said that their colleges

Florida State and Notre Dame bring people in to educate them on concussions, head injuries, how to protect themselves and 1 out of the 2 players said they don’t listen or care then it hit me, if on average 12 high school football players die from sustaining concussions then WHY aren’t schools putting an EMPHASIS on their players understanding and learning the risks and educating their players on what can happen to them because anytime they step out on that field it could be their last, the fact that parents are burying babies before their life begins should be enough reason to but if not, here are some more.

1. According to the NCAA 7.4% of injuries sustained by players are concussions but somehow players are unaware of the risk or don’t care enough to listen to what they’re told about concussions. I believe that before every season, collegiate players should be forced to learn about concussions, the risks, the symptom and even bring in former players who suffer from the long term effects such as dementia, als, and CTE to name a few, after that write summaries and make them run if they don’t listen.

2. Concussions can have long lasting affects , and eventually kill players after their football careers which is one of the reasons why 4,500 players and their estates sued the NFL because head injuries can cause dementia, als, alzheimers and the NFL’s dark horse CTE- chronic trauma encephalopathy a disease of the brain caused by repetitive head trauma. Individuals with CTE may show symptoms of dementia, such as memory loss, aggression, confusion and depression, one example of these effects is Javon Belcher who suffered from CTE killed his girlfriend after a heated argument then drive to the Washinton Redskins practice facility and killed himself. Junior Seau, Terry Long, Andre Watters are among some players who were diagnosed with CTE post-mortem.