American+Football;+Favorite+Pastime+or+Fatal+Playground

Football: Favorite Pastime or Fatal Playground? =Intro =  Professional Football, considered as an American sport, tradition, and pastime. Crowds of fans gather as the sport season approach and celebrate this Sunday ritual. Professionals are compensated for their skill that many observe, but is there worth to physical injury and lifelong mental defects? Football players risk their lives, and their personal safety, to what the world labels as a "game." The importance is the prevention and care of these detrimental forces that players face during a game.

=Why So Dangerous? = FOOTBALL IS A COLLISION SPORT TO THE BODY!

 American football carries a considerable danger of severe damage or "injury due to the high degree of physicality of the sport combined with the size and speed of the athletes. ( Clark, Michael). This statement is supported "with American football [being] the sport associated with the highest incidence of concussions."( Heinze, Kathryn) .

WHATS FOOTBALL WITHOUT TACKLING?

American Football is such a widely favored sport, therefore such a rule change like the banning of tackling, would change the simple essence of the sport. This change would be seen so dramatically, and is most likely bound to flop. The game requires excitement to attract the paying customers. The players and coaches develop game plan options and use those plays to avoid a predictable event. The ability to perform those plays is what brings the fun competitive disposition to the game. 

=Youth Football =

This past time is enjoyed from a young age, as it is offered at a recreational level. To advance in skill one practices their sport for years by the time they have reached professional or college level football. The continuation of trauma and collision on a child's body and cranial structure is placed at high risk. Despite one's desire or love for game," no human body is built for a sport where torn hamstrings, broken collarbones and concussed brains are accepted as occupational hazards."(Bishop, Greg 137). The continuation of collisions can induce these players with long term mental impairments including Alzheimer's, dementia, and PTSD. ( DeKosky , Steven 211).

YOU CAN BE AFFECTED WITHOUT A FORMAL CONCUSSION!

<span class="NormalTextRun SCXW3032604" style="background-color: inherit; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','Times New Roman_MSFontService',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The more forceful contact a child endures, the more alterations in brain tissue can be seen. This event can be observed amongst young football players who did not even have a concussion. This is where major injuries to the head can occur. Impact syndrome can appear when a child has sustained a head injury, on a more serious scale, that has caused prior brain. Brain tissue will continue swelling, this process in the brain leading to additional detrimental harm.

= = =<span style="color: #d6038e; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif;">Can We Make Football Safer? = <span class="NormalTextRun SCXW262078485" style="background-color: inherit; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','Times New Roman_MSFontService',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Location and quantity of forces inflicted on the body are to be held to the same urgency as major trauma hits. These forces are supposed to be combated by the players gear, with a lot of reliance on the football helmet to prevent these detrimental head injuries. Helmets act as a shock absorber for the impact of a force. The more shock a helmet can absorb, the less shock is absorbed by the brain as it is shaken or slammed against the skull. The inner padding and hard outer shell of the helmet combat straight on impact, but does not nearly prevent the head of a player from rotating upon contact. Without a concussion proof helmet, the efforts to make football safer continues.



=<span style="color: #e3ce0f; font-family: Impact,Charcoal,sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;">New And Improved Technology = <span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135706168" style="background-color: inherit; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','Times New Roman_MSFontService',serif; font-size: 12pt;">The NFL has taken initiative to fund the research and design of new helmets for their players. This includes the latest model introduced to the NFL being the Vicis Zero1. This helmet is compared to a car bumper, as it covers a larger surface area paired with <span class="ContextualSpellingAndGrammarError SCXW135706168" style="background-color: inherit; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','Times New Roman_MSFontService',serif; font-size: 12pt;">a <span class="NormalTextRun SCXW135706168" style="background-color: inherit; color: windowtext; font-family: 'Times New Roman','Times New Roman_MSFontService',serif; font-size: 12pt;"> outer layer that is flexible. This Vicis helmet ditches traditional helmet padding instead, the helmet's interior is made of flexible columns. This technology can twist and buckle to absorb rotational forces. With this being the best preforming helmet based on the NFL's 2017 laboratory testing, Vicis is continuing to improve the technology of the helmet.