Week Five: Is Football Too Risky?

All high school sports give students a risk of injury, even with padded protection. In the article, High School Sports: Football Riskiest?, they say that "High school football players are more likely to get injured in practice or competition than high school athletes who wrestle or play soccer, basketball, volleyball, or softball." Their is an estimated number of 1.4 million injuries nationally by the sports named. Those injuries require medical attention from doctors or athletic trainers.

Here are the statistics for the number of injuries sustained during competition in the top three sports:
Football: 12.09 injuries per 1,000 games
Girls' soccer: 5.21 injuries per 1,000 games
Boys' soccer: 4.22 injuries per 1,000 games

Colleagues suggest to train high school studies on how to prevent the risk of those injuries. After all, 10% of the injuries ended the athletes' season or career. Students don't want injuries to end their chances of playing their sport again.

Also, in the article How dangerous a sport?, it explains about DeShawn Smith, a sophomore at Tyee High, caught a pass, and was hit helmet-to-helmet by a player on the opposite team. He slowing got up to his feet, walked to the sideline, sat down and collapsed on the floor. He died three days later of blood that went between the brain and its outer lining, which caused ruptured blood vessel to erupt. The tragic loss of Smith brought the number to 22 known deaths in the United States to have occurred as to a football injury.

People ask how dangerous football is. "It's probably safer than kids getting in a car and driving on the highway," said Dr. Frederick Mueller. People should help find ways to football a safer sport to play.

Lastly, in the article, How Dangerous Is High School Football?, it states that football is the leading cause of sports-related injuries. Also, "High school football players sustained more than half a million injuries nationally" says researchers.

"While football does have a high rate of injuries, injuries don't have to be just part of the game," said Christy Collins. Their are ways to prevent injuries by strengthening ankle or knee muscles and to do targeted stretching exercises to make sure players don't pull a muscle.

Dawn Comstock also suggests that "Additional instruction on appropriate tackling and blocking techniques as well as position-specific conditioning may help reduce the risk of injury during running plays." If football players are serious about their sport, they should really consider preventing their injuries because once their hurt, their out. If students have a dream of going professional, then they should make sure that injuries don't stop them.