I’m interested in this research question because I have thought about, researched, and played both football and rugby at different periods of my life. After watching and playing football I understood how the injuries and concussions happen so easily. Players will often throw their body at the opposing player with the ball. However, rugby has a more understood tackling strategy, wrapping up and driving with the legs. What’s interesting is the fact that rugby is safer and more effective than football, with little to no padding involved. This research has effect on my values because I value both football and rugby greatly. I have love for both sports because I’ve been on each side of them. I played football when I was younger, however I still watch it often. I played a season of rugby after high school hockey ended when I happened to be more mature. I want both sports to reach their full potential while having less injuries and concussions. The athletes that participate in both football and rugby may think this information is useful, along with serious rugby coaches and football coaches in the NFL and college. 

From SBNation- The central claim from this article is that parents are considering if they should take their kids out of football due to the unfortunate amount of injuries they experience on the football field. Another is that Heads-Up tackling hasn’t resulted in less concussions, so it should be time for the NFL to consider a different approach. Head trauma happens to much in youth contact even with this Heads-Up technique. From cbssports.com- The central claim for this article is that there is a new form of tackling in college football called the rugby style Hawk tackle. It is exceptional at Ohio State, and could spread cross country to other colleges. Across college football, there’s a major shift occurring over how to tackle, Rugby-style tackling has gained momentum, so much so that a company in Seattle devoted to promoting rugby is now trying to enter the marketplace to analyze college football tackles. From bigstory.ap.org- In football with the big concussion concerns, rugby-style tackling has been pushed as a safer way to perform. Atavus is a Seattle based company designed to promote the growth and help rugby develop. The organization added a football division in 2015 to partner with college, high school and youths to teach rugby style hitting.

With the article from SBNation, if rugby players were to read it, I believe they would agree all around. However, from the football side reading this article, I think the NFL would disagree with the fact that the Heads Up strategy doesn’t reduce injuries and concussions. I assume they are lying in this “independent study” to play it off that football has gotten safer with certain strategies. Readers that put their time into reading the article from cbssports will conclude that Ohio State has put in the effort to become the better team they desired. Readers from Ohio State, especially ones from the football squad, would agree with this article and the praise Ohio State receives. Coaches may agree with the article as well, looking at what Chris Ash did for Ohio State. I hope coaches continue to read this article, agree with what had been done for Ohio State, and pursue it to make the game safer. The article from bigstory.ap talks about Nebraska inheriting the tackling strategy as well as other colleges. Readers from Nebraska and the other colleges will likely agree and go along with what their colleges have been moving forward with. Atavus, the organization from Seattle will also agree with this article which talks about how they have been striving to make football safer by promoting rugby tackling and teach how to do it the correct way.

Jeanna Thomas, the author of the SBNation article is the Atlanta Falcons reporter. She has credible sources and her links throughout the article work quickly and link to other SBNation articles. They are placed throughout when needed to be. The other works of the article are interesting, but focus on different topics. The author of the CBS article, Jon Soloman, is a college football reporter for CBSsports. He has a solid video and good pictures to go along with his informative article on the changing of college football. Eric Olson is the author of the bigstory article which has correctly linked info and videos. I clicked the link of his name to bring me to his other articles, and it looks like he focuses more of basketball than anything else. However, this doesn’t diminish the information and research this article gives off.

Reflect: My research question is arguable because you can take the side that falsely explains how much safer football is now since the Heads Up technique. Or you can agree that rugby tackling is more effective in getting a ball carrier down, and is safer all around. The different perspectives of the sources affect my own only in a more helpful way. Each article I used and read talked about how much safer the rugby strategy is vs hitting in football with the Heads Up strategy. I agree with this statement considering the G force related in hitting during both sports, especially football with the helmets adding on weight.
