The Pros And Cons Of High School Football Injuries

There are approximately 6 million sports related youth injuries per year in the United States alone. High school athletes consist of about 2.5 million of those injuries and an average of 6 high school football players die each year because of the sport they love (Stanford)(Gorman). It is well known that professional football players and even unpaid college football players risk their well being every day to put on a show for the many fans and spectators that enjoy watching people slam their heads into each other at high velocities. However, what is not as well known is the risk of injury and severity of injury is much higher for high school athletes and youth athletes all over America. This raises the question, is youth and high school
Even though football appears very beneficial to students, many researches and veteran scientists believe that football takes away more than it can ever give. One of the arguments against youth and high school football is that education should be priority instead of athletics. The superintendent of platteview high school who canceled the remainder of a football season due to excess injuries said “It’s a difficult decision because our players were out there battling hard, but we’re an educational institution, and with our students, safety comes first. These kids have long lives ahead of them, and we need to keep the brains in their heads intact.” Injuries, especially severe ones, have the capability to decimate a student’s academic career. The main goal of any educational institution, particularly high school and below, is to educate the students, not to make them athletic superstars. Too often do academic students waste time in the weight room or practicing football hooked on a fantasy of going big and playing college or even professional football. This fantasy takes up a great deal of the students time that could be spent studying for the next exam or improving themselves academically rather than pursuing a career that rarely comes true. There are currently more than 1 million high school football players, only 6.5 percent of them will play in college and of that, a meager 1.6 percent will be drafted into the NFL (NCAA). Statistically, this figure is not significant. Rather than chasing a dream, students could better use their time academically which generally provides a much more stable income and better livelihood than those who pursue