Football is by far the most popular sport in the United States today. For many years baseball was considered "America's pastime" but many argue that American football now currently holds that title. As footballs popularity has increased over the years it has also led to a massive increase in participation from players of all ages. Some football leagues are even made for children as young as young as five years old. It is well known that the game of football is a full contact sport and inherently carries some risk on injury. The risk of injury in any contact sport brings thoughts of injuries such as broken bones, torn or pulled muscles, dislocated joints, sprains, and strains. But often an injury that is not thought about, or forgotten about, is a head injury such as a concussion. A concussion is not actually an injury to the head but instead an injury to the brain itself. The concussion injury occurs mostly due to the sudden or violent stopping of the head typically after being impacted with great force. This is because when a player's head comes to a sudden stop due to a collision their brain inside of the skull continues to move with the momentum and sometimes impacts the inner side of the skull. Just striking the skull once can cause serious injury but often times it may happen more than once during the injury. Serious injuries such as concussions due to head trauma can also lead to complications later in life making them one of the more dangerous injuries overall. Although some believe that since football is an inherently dangerous game that safety does not need to be improved, I believe that we must, and can, find a way to make the game of football safer for all ages through the improvement of rules, training, and equipment.

Concussions can have a major effect on a player's brain and results in several symptoms that for many years players were told to just ignore and get back out on the field. Concussions occur when a person, or a player's brain strikes the inside of their skull typically after an impact. This can lead to immediate issues such as being "confused, blurriness of vision, [and] headache" (Concussion Hazards). These symptoms for many years were just considered having "your bell rung" to try and downplay the seriousness of the injury and often times shrugged off and the injury was never thought to be a big deal after the symptoms went away. This is especially prevalent in high school football where often time's players do not want to be removed from the game. It has also been reported that "1 in 10 high school football players get a concussion" (Concussion Hazards) in their career. This shows that the issues of brain injuries, such as concussions and not just a problem of the NFL professionals but even of children and young adults who's brains are still developing. Having played high school football myself I can also agree that the occurrence of concussions among players is much higher than one may think, as I have seen multiple players and teammates suffer from a concussion even long after the actual injury, throughout my high school career. In a report it is also said that "40% of football players continue to play despite having a concussion" (Concussion Hazards). This is astonishing in that either coaches or officials are not pulling players out of the game when these injuries occur, or the players themselves are attempting to hide the injury so that they are allowed to continue to play in the game. The only way to properly solve this issue would be to better educate coaches, team staff, and players on what can result from concussions in the future if left untreated, or how the issue may become worse if said player continues in the game or on the field.

Often times when a player experiences a concussion they may not even be aware that the injury has occurred. Many times they just believe that they have had "their bell rung" and they just need to walk it off. And while this is in no way whatsoever the correct way to handle the issue the biggest problems for players who experience a concussion comes not when they are playing the game but later in their life. Traumatic head injuries have been found to be linked to a brain disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE). Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy is a progressive degenerative disease that can affect players throughout their lives long after their career is over. A recent study found that "87 out of 91 former NFL players have tested positive for the brain disease" (Breslow). That is an astonishing number that shows how serious of an issue of concussions and traumatic brain injuries really is. The same study also found that "in total, the lab has found CTE in the brain tissue in 131 out of 165 individuals who, before their deaths, played football either professionally, semi-professionally, in college or in high school" (Breslow). This brings up the fact that it is not only those who played professionally in the NFL can suffer from CTE, but anyone who has ever played football throughout their lives. The figures have been known to be even higher for certain on field positions such as offense and defensive linemen. These players, unlike the players in "skill" positions, make contact with other players on ever play and more often than not that included contact to the head.  Already today there are resources available for coaches, staff, and players to learn more about how to be safer in the game of football. One of these sources is an educational video posted by the National Academy of Neuropsychology called "Concussions in Sport" which helps to tech young players and team staff how hit safely and how to avoid the injuries all together. And while this is a good step in educating participants more information needs to be collected and more people need to be informed on how to be safer while playing the game.

Another possible way to make the game of football safer and reduce the risk of concussions is equipment improvement. There are several products currently on the market that have only recently been created to cater to the needs of players when it comes to safety, especially that of the head. One of these such products is the "Guardian Cap". It is basically a padded covering that is worn on the outside of a player's regular football helmet to help reduce the physical impact and  "manage that force at the point of impact" (Farrey). In theory this sounds like a good idea, and it is a step in the right direction but it is not the fix that is needed. While this outer helmet padding can reduce the physical impact it cannot reduce the chances or receiving a concussion as I cannot prevent, or reduce the risk of one's brain impacting the skull. In actuality today's football helmets already are well designed for reducing physical impact to the skull and preventing actual head or skull injury, but not brain injury. So these caps do little to reduce the risk any further. It was also said that because of the cap's soft shell, that instead of some glancing blows that are possible with today's hard slick helmets, they may "stick to the caps soft padding" (Farrey) thus increasing the chance of head injury. While this product idea is a step in the right direction it is obvious that more can be done. Another product that has become popular are helmet inserts created by Unequal Technologies. They are padded inserts that literally stick to the padding already present in a helmet. Similar to the Guardian Cap the product can help reduce the physical impact of a blow to the head itself. But when Rob Vito, the CEO of Unequal Technologies, was asked "Does this product reduce the risk of concussion?" (Football) he answered simply "no" (Football). This proves that we need to find new technologies that do make the game safer, but not just for the body on the outside but for the brain itself too.  

Some propose that one way to make the game safer can be for the lower levels of football, such as high school and college, adopt many of the safety policies that the NFL has adopted in recent years. With increased scrutiny recently over the issue of concussions in football the National Football League has been forced to adopt new policies in recent years on how to prevent, respond to, and treat head injuries such as these. But without one large governing body for all of football, or different groups of football, many of the lower levels have yet to adopt any of the NFL's policies or similar. Many lower levels of football such as high school and college have no rules or regulations of their own regarding brain injury, so often time's players are not removed from the game as they should be. Other times a player may be removed but are allowed to return to play when he is still injured. In the United States "universities should adopt the NFL's concussion policies regarding return-to-play, education, baseline testing, and the amount of contact during practices" (Hunsucker). This would help to reduce the chance of injury by new rules being implemented and also reduces the chance of re-injury by prevented players from re-entering the game to soon. In the United States there were "3,800,000 concussions reported in 2012" (Head) and of those concussions suffered "47% of  ...  concussions occur during high school football" (Head). That is a great deal more than any other sport. While concussions can happen in any sport this shows how much of a prevalent issue it is in just football alone, that almost half of all concussions suffered occur in football.

It would become obvious that especially the risk of re-injury would decrease by adopting new rules and regulations similar to the ones that the National Football League has adopted recently, but not is not apparent that you could reduce the risk of the initial injury. And being that concussions are linked to CTE, it is important to work on more ways to find a solution because CTE "is associated with early dementia, depression, suicide, disinhibition and erratic behavior, and motor neuron disease" (Johnson). The NFL has taken steps of reducing this by putting in return to play guidelines to prevent injured players from re-entering the game but this still does not stop the concussion from occurring in the first place. "Concussions can never be completely eliminated from sports, and RTPs play an important role in the post-concussion management of athletes" (Johnson). The only way to take concussions almost 100% out of the game would be to eliminate the contact of the sport. But I believe, as do many others that would decrease the sport's popularity for both players and fans. But putting in regulations on how to react to such injuries is a great step to fight the issue. 

Some would rather just take hitting out of the sport all together as I said before. Many believe that the only way that you can make the game of football safe is to take out the physical contact of the sport, one of the main reasons it is so popular to begin with. While some argue that tackle football should be done away with others argue that "We should eliminate tackle football before age 18" (Robbins). And in fact this would work to greatly reduce the risk of concussion for children under the age of 18 I do not believe this is the solution. While it is argued that since "High school players have stronger neck and shoulder muscles that can absorb some of the force" (Robbins) that could possibly not be as much the case if contact football is eliminated for children under 18. It can also be argued that if a player is not exposed to the physicality of the sport until he is 18 years old then he would not develop the strength, skill, and knowledge needed to be safe in the game. If he is not exposed to those things he can be put at a severe disadvantage when he is allowed to enter the game because he could be weaker and not have the knowledge of how to give and receive a hit more safely, thus resulting in still more injuries. I believe football needs to remain a full contact sport and that through new technology and learning programs the game could make strides to be safer.

Some even compare what is happening in football today to what happened to boxing years ago. Boxing, like baseball, used to be hugely more popular. But due to the very obvious dangers involved in the sport of boxing it lost its popularity as more players were seen to develop what we now know as CTE. "Scientists do not yet have a way of diagnosing CTE for sure besides performing and autopsy" (The NFLs). This means that we can only guess how many players and former football players have developed the disease today. And because of the relation between how boxing lost a vast amount of its popularity many believe that football may be on track to be doing the same thing. That if we do not do something to make the game safer Americas now current pastime will die off just as boxing did, because many parents stopped letting their kids participate. And if kids aren't playing there won't be any future players for the game.

It is known that football is the most popular sport in the United States but it may not be that way in the years to come due to safety concerns involving brain injuries. All players who play football on any level ranging from five years old all the way through college and professional are at risk for concussion. Although the NFL has taken huge steps in trying to make the game of football safer through things such as new rules and regulations regarding the issue they have not done enough. We must continue to work to find new and better ways to provide a safe game for the players, especially in the lower levels. But the only way to do this is to find advances in new technology and also better regulations and treatment. Technology for equipment not only to reduce actual head impact but reduce the likelihood of brain injury as well. And new regulations and treatment as well, the NFL has come up great ideas but it's only the first step. The NFL and other organizations need to get together along with consulting brain experts on different ways to reduce risk along with stronger penalties for players who ignore these safety rules. Then lastly treatment needs to improve. You cannot ever 100% prevent a concussion but if a player was to suffer from it team doctors and staff need to know how to react and treat said player accordingly. The game of football can be made safer without eliminating its most popular element, hitting but it will require more work in the future to do so.

