By Addyson Porter, Sarah Kate Wilson and Ellie McReynolds
Russellville Middle School Students
Reprinted with Permission from the Tiger Times, Oct. 3, 2022
Football isn’t just a contact sport--it’s a dangerous game of people smashing into one another.
It may seem obvious that this sport can do unfortunate damage to brains and bodies, but it has taken extremely long for the National Football League, the medical field, and football fans to fully agree with this.
Football is an amazing sport but with all the evidence we now have about the very serious risk of brain injuries, this could affect the sport's future. There are roughly 0.41 concussions per football game of American football. 67.7% of concussions involve a hit by another player's helmet, 20.9% involve being smashed by other body regions, and 11.4% involve impact on the ground.
The league has seen a large amount of concussions and chronic traumatic encephalitis (CTE), a degenerative brain condition believed to be caused by constant hits to the head, since the first NFL player was diagnosed with CTE in the early 2000s.
Concern around the issue has only grown now that more than 100 former NFL players have received a postmortem diagnosis of CTE, and new research is finding that youth football may be a risk factor for CTE down the line.
Miami Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa got sacked on Sunday, September 25 in a game against the Buffalo Bills. He endured a hard hit that could have led to a concussion. He was cleared to play after only four days because he had passed the concussion protocol. It was believed that the symptoms were from a back injury.
On Thursday, September 29, Tua was sidelined with another concussion in a game against the Bengals. All of this has shown the NFL that they need to be more strict with their protocols and pay closer attention to player care. The doctor responsible for clearing Tua has been dismissed.
Russellville Middle School football coach Corey Flanagan said his program takes a number of precautions to ensure safe game-play for players who show any signs of a possible concussion.
"Russellville athletics must follow a multi-step process to ensure the safety of their players. Players must get a list of boxes checked off in order to be cleared to play again,” Flanagan said.
Commenting on this story has been disabled.
