         In 2015, NFL linebacker Junior Seau was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. His daughter tearfully accepted the award on his behalf and spoke to the bittersweet audience about her father as a man and a player. Seau was unable to accept the award in person, and embrace the applause warranted after the culmination of years of hard work and sacrifices, because he tragically took his own life years before. On the surface, Seau was an affable and charismatic person who was active in the San Diego community and the face of the San Diego Chargers. Behind closed doors, Seau suffered silently with depression and debilitating headaches that would torture him daily, so much so that divide was the only alternative. What would cause such a warrior, a husband and father, and a wealthy and famous individual to commit suicide when he seemingly had the world in his palms? Former first round pick Chris Borland released this statement after leaving the NFL in 2014  after his rookie season "I just honestly want to do what's best for my health. From what I've researched and what I've experienced, I don't think it is worth the risk.". The game isn't safe and it never will be but there are things we can do to make it safer

         Unfortunately, Seau is not the only football player to have resorted to suicide because of lingering and chronic difficulties revolving around depression and other mental and cognitive areas. Recently, the feature film Concussion revealed to the American, mainstream audience that many ex-NFL players took their own lives as well. The suicides were a result of what is now commonly recognized as medical issues caused by recurring concussions or repetitive hits to the head during football games and practices. 

          As such, Concussions have become a huge problem in football and many other sports, but when the issue is brought up, most people's minds are directed towards the National Football League (NFL). NFL players are professionals and are lucky enough to be able to play the game of football for a living, many making millions of dollars playing a game these players love. The issue of injuries, including concussions, are assumed by the players when they join the league, and the pressure to play through a head injury is not as extreme because teams have a financial investment in players. As a result, teams must try to protect these million dollar investments, but in youth, high school, and college football there is the same or more pressure. The players on the field are not just teammates but friends and people players do not want to let down. Missing a game, series, or even one play can mean an entire season for a youth or college team playing for pride and camaraderie. 

        Despite the age of players or the level of competition, Football is a dangerous game, and there is nothing that will ever fully eliminate the injuries, risks, and dangers, but there are ways that it can be safer. Therefore, there must be greater emphasis placed on the understanding and diagnosis of concussions, more research and development of better equipment, and players from youth football to the NFL must be taught and utilize better technique so that concussions can be avoided during practice and games. 

       In order to better understand the concussion issue in youth football, it is important to analyze the problem from a broader perspective and specifically the NFL. The bulk of blame for the concussion issue in the NFL has been directed at the head of the NFL, and in particular Commissioner Roger Goodell. Goodell is headed in the right direction with the problem, implementing new concussion testing that takes place on the sidelines after any player takes a reasonable sized hit to the head. Even these tests are often manipulated by the players and coaches in the NFL making it a flawed system that needs to be monitored more. Many players return to the game only a few minutes after being hit, even though the sideline concussion test is supposed to take up to 15 minutes. players or coaches who disregard these rules should be fined for breaking these rules, even if the player is fine after being hit because the proper steps must be taken to ensure the athlete's safety.

       In 2013 a group of former NFL players sued the NFL for $765 million because these players were suffering from the long-term effects of concussions. The lawsuit was a win for former players, but it also raised awareness for current players who want to avoid permanent, cognitive damage. Concussions can lead to a handful of health issues including CTE, Depression, Dementia and Amnesia these were seen in former Steelers Center Mike Webster, who died at the age of 50 after suffering with all of these diseases. After Doctors did an autopsy on Webster, they blatantly notices that he had the brain of a 90 year old man. You would think that this would be enough to stop anyone from playing football, but players continue to play and continue to ignore the issue; yet there are some exceptions. For instance, San Francisco 49rs players Anthony Davis and Chris Borland both decided to leave the league after suffering a major concussions. Chris Borland released this statement after leaving the NFL in 2014 saying, "I just honestly want to do what's best for my health. From what I've researched and what I've experienced, I don't think it is worth the risk." This is the scary truth that most NFL players are too afraid to face during their career as players still hide their concussions from the medical staff and coaches in order to play and make money. Today, the NFL really is the safest it has ever been, but with the new rules and regulations it is harder than ever to get around this issue, but with global brand of the NFL and youth players looking up to players as role models, more needs to be done. 

       Concussions in youth football is an issue that is not being addressed enough in these leagues as the bodies and minds of youth football players are much more fragile, thus making the game greatly more dangerous for the player himself. The president of a youth football league was quoted as saying, "Honestly, I don't think we had a single one last year" (Schmoldt). Although this may be true when it comes to a "Diagnosed" concussion, there is no way this could be true and that the league is obviously not doing enough to monitor their players. Youth football players are too young to know what's best for themselves, and it should be on the coaches and parents of the players to monitor what goes on during the game. For example, if a player suffers significant-sized hit to the head or upper body, the Coaches should remove that player from the game for the remainder of that game. Children's heads are undeveloped, and when head to head contact occurs, the damage would be much greater than if it were a college or even high school athlete.

In essence, concussions that take place in youth to High School football can sometimes be overshadowed by the NFL despite being much more detrimental to the player's health and specifically to their brain with short term effects like seizures and many long term effects such as amnesia, dementia and depression. The average human brain isn't fully developed until the age of 25 and concussions are being received by kids who age from 7 to 16 it has a much larger impact on the health of the player's brain and can have large effects in the area of learning disabilities. These players are Student Athletes meaning tha s come 

         During the past five years, there have been many rules implemented in youth football to make it safer for the players, such as getting rid of Kickoffs or punts, where many big hits take place and injuries often occur. Even in the NFL now there is a rule that requires running back to run with their head up the prevents players from spearing other player with the top of their head which was and still is a cause for a lot of concussions. In youth football leagues some experts claim that coaches should not let their players hit during practice, but this could have the opposite effect on safety during games. For example, if a young player who doesn't know how to properly tackle or be tackled is placed into a game, then not only is it a huge danger to the player himself but also to every other player on the field. People who have not been properly taught to tackle tend to lead with there head, putting them in a situation where a concussion is a high possibility; if they tackle standing up, more than not the two players helmets will collide also leading to a high risk of both players receiving a concussion. This is why all Youth Football coaches are required to be certified by the "Heads-Up" football organization. This group does not discourage contact, but they educate the coaches on the proper ways a players should hit, block, take on blocks, and even how to receive a hit. Although football isn't the safest sport the biggest issue when it comes to concussions, there's a right way and a wrong way to play football and too many youth leagues and coaches are not teaching the correct way to play football. 

As more and more parents begin to take notice of the dangers of concussion and the hundreds of other injuries that take place while playing football, we begin to see a shift in the popularity of the sport. More parents are urging their sons to play other sports like baseball, lacrosse, soccer or hockey. Although in the long run it is the athletes choice of what sport they chose to play parents of youth athletes hold a great amount of responsibility in introducing their children to these other sports and despite the long history of football in a lot of families across America.

          Another way to try and make youth football safer is through better and safer equipment. One example is the use of the Guardian, an extra piece of padding that goes on the outside of the helmet greatly reducing the impact level of a hit. After parents of a local leagues all over the world were introduced to this idea an extremely small number of youth athletes wore the Guardian and still don't, not even during practice. Even college and pro teams all use the guardian during practice but why not in the games, they don't look cool? Kids all the way up to high school are very impressionable and are reluctant to wear the Guardian simply because they don't see their favorite player wearing them on Sunday, but if it makes the game safer and it can keep the sport of football alive then why not. Football is not the same game it was 10 years ago and my fear is that one day these changes will go too far and the sport will be lost. Many football coaches say "their sport is unfairly singled out on the concussion issue, saying head injuries are a concern in almost every sport" ( Sotonoff). And say football has never been safer which is a true statement. Many people on this side of the argument would bring up the past World Cup where a player who was clearly concussed continued to play and no one even batted an eye. 

          Furthermore, Researchers at Virginia Tech have been studying the effects of concussions and the effectiveness (or lack of) of helmets currently used in youth, college, and the NFL. The researchers put helmets through a series of tests that mimicked the contact made during a football game and found serious flaws in the current equipment. Specifically, the study revealed "two helmets were not recommended for use. One of them, the Riddell VSR4, is still commonly found in the the NFL. It also has NOCSAE's approval. And NOCSAE isn't changing its stance because Virginia Tech has yet to finish real-world testing to prove that concussion rates match up with the star ratings" (Lammers). The researchers concluded that better helmets need to be developed and found that "the shape of the head is important, which could mean a three-star helmet is safer for you than a four or five-star helmet" (Lammers). Along with this each player has a different size and shape of their head, there are extra padding that one can put in their helmet to allow it to be more molded to their head. Me having a big head I had to replace the inner padding of the helmet to allow the helmet to fit on my head better, but there is a down size to this. This left me more vulnerable to receiving a concussion then other players on the field. Bigger helmets or special individual molded helmets made specially for each player would greatly help the concussion problem in football. 

      , there must be greater emphasis placed on the understanding and diagnosis of concussions, more research and development of better equipment, and players from youth football to the NFL must be taught and utilize better technique so that concussions can be avoided during practice and games.  With all the danger of concussions, professional and now youth football leagues have begun to take notice and take action but there is still so much that they could be doing to make the sport safer. The leagues ignore how easy it is to receive a concussion and how much damage any hard hit in a football can have on the brain, something that happens almost every play whether it is the ball carrier or one of the other 22 players on the field. Children need to learn the proper ways to play football before they should ever step on a field and this all starts with the coaches and the managers of the youth football leagues. Concussions are going to be around football forever but that is no reason to end the sport, there are a lot of organizations that have been put together in the past couple years to help lessen the numbers of concussions and other injuries that may happen in football. The sport of football has never been safer and it is only getting safer 

