Article by Turlough Mac Gowan

Trouble on the Gridiron The decline of youth football

Football: America’s most popular sport. With over one million players annually in high school alone, there is by no means a shortage of kids wanting to play. However, even with these large numbers, participation is in decline, and concussions are the cause.

Before we can understand why concussions are causing kids to stop playing football we must understand what a concussion is. According to the Center of Disease Control and Prevention: “A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury—or TBI— caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, creating chemical changes in the brain and sometimes stretching and damaging brain cells”.

Initially, most concussions don’t seem that bad; your head hurts for a few days, and it’s a little hard to focus. Indeed, it’s not fun, but if you take a break and allow yourself to recover, it doesn’t seem that special from any other injury. Unfortunately, it’s what we can’t see that damages the most.

Recently, concussions have been linked to a serious brain disease called CTE, or Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, a brain disease associated with the development of dementia, Alzheimer’s, Depression, and a plethora of other mental ailments. CTE is not a genetic disorder or something that can be caught; rather, it is the product of sustaining multiple hits to the head throughout one’s lifetime. Above is a picture of a healthy brain side by side with pictures of advanced CTE. So why is this worrying, and why is football to blame?

Obviously, football is a rough sport. Every tackle carries some level of impact.

Every block is a type of hit. Every play, there’s likely to be a hit. And a lot of these hits are head-to-head.

“Football players were struck in the head 30 to 50 times per game and regularly endured blows similar to those experienced in car crashes...The helmets measure hits in multiples of the force of gravity. Half of the hits recorded this season were greater than 30 Gs, Duma said. The hardest hits measured more than 130 Gs. ‘An impact of 120 Gs would be like a severe car accident, which you could survive if you were wearing a seat belt,’ Duma said”.

Even some NFL players at the highest level, players who were getting paid millions of dollars didn’t think that the risk was worth it. One such player is former 49ers linebacker Chris Borland. After playing throughout high school and college as well as working his way to his dream of playing in the NFL and having a stellar rookie year, Borland retired. He linked his decision to research data about concussions: “I couldn’t really justify playing for money and I think what I wanted to achieve put me at too great a risk so I had to choose another profession,” Borland said. “I don’t really watch football anymore.” And for the players who stick with the game, many develop severe mental health issues, such as the late Mike Webster. “Iron” Mike, as he was affectionately known, was one of the greatest center players in the NFL. A position known for being deep in the trenches of the offensive line, hitting their heads and sacrificing their bodies every play to keep the quarterback safe. He died at just 50 years old, and when doctors studied his brain as to why he died so early, the results were troubling.

He had advanced dementia, advanced Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and a thick layer of skin that molded his skull to his forehead, where the brunt of most head impacts were taken during his time in the league.

In a study posted by the New York Times, 111 NFL players’ brains were examined for CTE. All but one showed signs of it. And with such information readily available to the public- youth football began to decline.

The link is simple. Parents do not want their children’s brains being sacrificed for the rest of their lives just to play football. In addition, players themselves often take themselves out of the sport. One such player is Jason Garcia, the center for the Los Altos High School football team.

“When I first got my concussion, I was unconscious for about a minute… I went to the trainer and he made me run a few tests and well…(he shrugs). I couldn’t concentrate, my grades dropped, and to this day sometimes when I walk outside, I still get headaches from time to time” he says. There are also concerns about the interest coaches have in keeping their players safe. “Players have sort of been brainwashed. The coaches tell them that life is hard, but you gotta get up, no matter what, and if you can walk, you can still play. When I got my concussion, the coaches basically told me to get up, quit whining and keep hitting. It was up to me whether I wanted to see the trainer or not.”

Fortunately, there are systems in place to prevent further injury after a concussion is sustained. Lucas Okuma, Los Altos High School’s athletic trainer, poses the question, “When does a concussion become pullout worthy? I mean they’d have to be displaying obvious signs, and you watch the hit. If you see the hit happen, and it looks pretty rough, and you see them getting up slowly, you would expect something for that. You see the hit, you see them dazed, or if they are starting to act weird, like unable to follow plays, that’s reasonable suspicion to pull them out”. However with these systems in place, he also goes on to say that “People who only play football in high school and never have a career after that, are showing signs of CTE. Dementia, Alzheimer’s, early onsets of Parkinson’s, but that’s kind of still theory.” When asked if he ever knew players that played football without getting a concussion he said he did, however “[many] never reported it... And that’s the scariest thing to me”.

I believe football will always be popular among America’s youth. But at what cost does playing football have on one’s health even if they only play in high school?

On a closing note, I asked Lucas what he thought of playing football before and during high school, and whether or not kids should be allowed to play it and if so, should they.

Here’s what he had to say:

“That’s a big question. Again I’m really torn. Under 12- it’s not worth the risk. Pop Warner is a little too intense for kids that young. High School is harder to say no to, but in terms of safety for the kids which is my biggest concern, it’s hard to justify playing football. Should high schoolers be allowed to play football; it’s hard to imagine high school without football… no, I gotta think about this answer… Your question is should they be allowed to versus should they in general? I wouldn’t, looking at it as if I had to do high school again, I wouldn’t play football, personally. On the other hand- I don’t ever fault a family or parent for allowing their kids to play football and vice versa for not playing football.” He sighs, exasperated, as he contemplates the question. “Should high schoolers play football? I don’t know. I think this is an answer I will have to wrestle with for a while”.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Turlough Mac Gowan is a young high school Junior attending freestyle academy. He loves playing sports, most especially football, boxing, and rugby. All of which have major concussion issues.

When playing a sport it is important to understand the physical consequences it has on the athlete’s body, so this documentary was a learning experience for him, and it helped him understand the dangers of CTE, and the consequence of every hit he takes.