My research is about youth sports like hockey and football and how athletes get concussions because they play with contact at a younger age. My research exigence is, how does the age that youth sports like hockey and football start allowing contact affect an athlete's proneness to getting a concussion? I am interested in this topic because I was once a kid who played hockey and football. I have gotten injuries from playing these two sports as a kid, including two broken collar bones from hockey and 3 concussions total from both sports. I don't necessarily believe these sports should ban contact at a younger age, but rather teach the kids to play in a safer way, therefore, helping eliminate illegal hits and checks in both sports, while making the kids smarter and more understanding of the game. I have played hockey since I was 4 and football from 5th to 8th grade, so I know about the sports and how they are played. I also know the kinds of injuries you can get from these sports, whether it be from my own experience or from a teammate's experience. 

In an article by Laird Harrison called, "Study Fuels Controversy Over Football Concussions in Teens," a study about youth football concussions from 1997-2000 is explored and also somewhat discredited by another, more recent study. The first study claims that football players to better on mental ability tests the longer they are on the field, even if they suffer from concussions. They studied 1,289 players and 4% suffered from concussions and were back in school within seven days. However, there is a lack of evidence and even missing school for seven days is bad. One expert on brain injuries completely rejected this study and said it was out of date. Two recent studies show how concussions do affect the brains of athletes in contact sports. Some major values and interests that are at stake here are safety among kids in football and how out dated research may not be credible in our times today. I find the whole article to be pretty credible, with an exception of the first study that lacks evidence and background information on the doctor who did it. The article may seem unbiased because it presents both sides of the argument, but I think the bias leans toward the side of how concussions do affect youth athletes because the two studies prove it does, and the first study may show it doesn't, but some rejected it, which causes bias toward the other side.

An article titled, "Youth Hockey Concussions Similar to Other Contact Sports," by Lisa Rapaport shows a study that draws a correlation between minutes on the ice in practice and games and how many concussions are diagnosed. She found that younger players, mainly ages 12-14, had almost twice the likelihood of getting a concussion in a contact hockey game or practice when looking at roughly 400 players in Pennsylvania, Boston, and Alabama for two seasons in 2012-2014. Another study showed that of all sports related injuries that sent kids younger than 18 to the ER, 10% of concussions among those injuries were from hockey. They don't want kids to stop playing the sport, they just want kids to be educated on how to be safe and play legally. Some major interests and values at stake are again safety for these youth players, but also there may be a concern for the leagues the kids play in because parents may stop letting their kids play because it can be so violent. The article is pretty unbiased because it explains how kids can get these concussions, but its not trying to get kids to stop playing, but rather be more cautious and tell coaches, parents, and referees that they need to pay attention and teach the kids how to play the game right.

In a newspaper article by Nathan Seppa title, "A Check on Youth Hockey Injuries," explains how checking in hockey is synonymous with blocking in football. A study from 2010 measured the injuries recorded by two separate leagues in Canada that contained 11 and 12 year olds. One league in Alberta allowed checking at this age, while the other, in Quebec, did not allow checking at this age. In Alberta 73 concussions were reported in one season among the 74 teams. In Quebec 20 concussions were reported by the 76 teams in the same season. When younger kids are allowed to check there are huge size differences between them sometimes and their experience with the game is also much lower than a high school player's, so concussions are more prone to happen when checking is allowed. Major interests at stake are whether or not checking should be allowed for kids at this age. This research was done almost 6 years ago, when I was just past that age. This I believe is credible because I was allowed to check when I was 11 and 12, but now you are not where I'm from, so it makes me wonder if this research had something to do with it.

My research exigence is arguable because there are many people that don't believe there is a correlation between the contact and getting concussions, they say it's just part of the game. People have banned contact in youth hockey, while others have kept it. Some have found research that proves there is no affect on the brain, while others have found research saying contact does affect the brain. These perspectives don't really influence me because I have already gone through the youth hockey and football phases, but I do believe research needs to be done and a firm conclusion should be made in order to help kids in the future. I may need to make my exigence a bit broader and focus on high school, college, and even the professional leagues of these two sports and how concussions may affect the brain at different ages and what long term affects concussions have on the brain at different ages.

