Football is much more than just a sport here in America; it is a part of our culture.  Every weekend in the fall numerous Americans get there football fix at high school games on Friday, youth football leagues or college football on Saturdays and also professional football on Sundays.  I remember my first youth tackle football game like it was yesterday. It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon in sunny San Diego, California. I was nine years old and the most excited I've been in my life. In the third quarter on a kickoff play a kid on the opposing team took a huge hit. He lay there motion less for a while then started to shake uncontrollably. Later on that week we told by our coaches that the injured player had a seizure on the field. My teammates and I shrugged it off as any nine year old boys would do. I don't think we ever completely understood the danger we were in. This sport has grown tremendously over the years to the point that some NFL regular season games are actually played in foreign countries.  A huge issue has grown with the popularity of football and this issue has the ability to be life changing and possibly fatal. Sadly we have seen the latter of the consequences recently sky rocket in youth football.  This past football season there were thirteen deaths in high school football. (Kounang) The common factor in all thirteen deaths was players taking violent hits to the helmet. 

Concussions and head injuries have significantly risen in all levels of football. Today we are seeing more deaths in high school football. Some people believe we should do away with this sport for youths totally. Others believe that we should just modify the game to where players have more safety. Then there are other individuals who think that the sport and its safety precautions are fine just the way they are. They believe it is the players' lone fault if he is severely injured or killed

Individuals who believe that we should modify the game more for safety have a long list of possibilities. The topic they choose to shed light on is the safety of the players' heads. Due to this they propose to get rid of the helmets that are in current use and replace those with soft foam like head caps. These caps cannot prevent concussions all together but the foam pockets spread out the impact of a hit reducing the force of impact. Another modification these individuals suggested to increase head safety is to ban helmets period. (Gursh) These people believe that without a helmet players would not use it a way of tackling or blocking somebody. A sport they used to compare this idea with Rugby, which has much lower concussion rates than football.

Some people believe we should ban this sport completely for youths. If you put yourself in the shoes of the parents who lost their sons playing a game they loved then maybe you would understand where they're coming from.  The American Journal of Sports Medicine discovered that catastrophic head injuries are dramatically higher in high school than the college level. (Herbst) Dr. Robert Cantu, a medical doctor who conducted a study in 2007 on catastrophic head injuries in football concluded that the brains of high school kids are still developing unlike the adults' brains in the national football league. This is why some believe we should get rid of youth football. The only way to decrease the risk of a catastrophic head injury is time to let the brain fully develop.

Children have played football for years in America. But we have never seen the number of deaths that we see now in high school football. Many individuals ask why? What has changed so much to the point where the game is now more dangerous than ever? Football helmets and padding are safer now than they ever have been. Helmet companies like Riddell and Schutt have technology in helmets now that reduces impact like helmets never before. So why it is that high school kids are dying now more than ever? Some believe it is the players' sole fault if he gets paralyzed or killed in a football game. In high school and youth football there are helmet regulations that you must know and consent to before you are allowed to play. These forms require the athletes' signature and a signature of a parent or guardian. Also school districts have regulations that require that high schools have clinics on the correct way to use your helmet before you allowed to participation in contact. Due to this information some say the blame falls on the player if he suffers a catastrophic head injury. There were one million high school football players this past season. Out of those one million players only thirteen died from catastrophic head injuries. They believe that if the game is so unsafe for youth now how others claim it to be then there would be much more deaths than thirteen out of one million high school football players.

The deaths in high school football today are much more prominent than they ever have been. The thirteen deaths of this past season have all been due to catastrophic head injuries. Medical professionals say it is due to the still developing brain of high school boys. Due to this risk some people say ban the sports for youths but is that really feasible? High school football is not just a part of our American tradition but it also a vital piece in the farming system for the National Football League. With that being said it would be almost impossible to ban football due to how much revenue colleges and professional teams make off of football. Some request we change the helmets to foam like caps. This change would reduce the chance of catastrophic head injuries but players' faces would be more vulnerable than ever. Due to this it is very easy to assume that the players would not conform to that. Then there are the people that think the game is as safe as it has ever been from an equipment standpoint. They believe that players know the risks that they are taking playing football and if they suffer a catastrophic head injury they can only blame themselves because they have been taught not to lead with their helmet. Will the game change or is it rooted too deeply in America? One thing must change and that is the number of deaths in high school football.

