Archived Abstracts
Youth Tackle Football: A Parent's Decision
Location
Sydnor Performance Hall, Schewel Hall
Access Type
Open Access
Entry Number
1
Start Date
4-8-2020 8:30 AM
End Date
4-8-2020 8:45 AM
Department
Sports Management
Abstract
In this paper I will look at the statistics and likelihood of brain damage occurring in children who participate in full contact football, using a 2017 study done by Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center, where 214 former football players were tested for the effects of sustained trauma they first received from playing tackle football at a young age. This paper seeks to explain why participation in youth tackle football is still so high despite studies from Boston University and others like it. This paper will incorporate interviews from coaches and directors of youth football elaborating on their opinions of young children’s participation in full contact youth football. These arguments will be supplemented by secondary sources from medical professionals and former players to get their perspectives on their perceived dangers of contact football and the precautions they take to reduce these risks. Primary data comes from phone and email interviews of ten current coaches and directors involved with youth football. The respondents were asked about what benefits they believe youth tackle football provides as well as their concussion knowledge and injury concern. Key themes will be taken from the interviews and will be combined with secondary data to understand what benefits are believed to be associated with youth tackle football. Using these themes I will attempt to explain why participation in youth tackle football is encouraged by some despite rising concerns about concussions and traumatic head injuries.
Faculty Mentor(s)
Dr. Lindsay PieperDr. Daniel HedrickDr. Beth Savage
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Youth Tackle Football: A Parent's Decision
Sydnor Performance Hall, Schewel Hall
In this paper I will look at the statistics and likelihood of brain damage occurring in children who participate in full contact football, using a 2017 study done by Boston University’s Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy Center, where 214 former football players were tested for the effects of sustained trauma they first received from playing tackle football at a young age. This paper seeks to explain why participation in youth tackle football is still so high despite studies from Boston University and others like it. This paper will incorporate interviews from coaches and directors of youth football elaborating on their opinions of young children’s participation in full contact youth football. These arguments will be supplemented by secondary sources from medical professionals and former players to get their perspectives on their perceived dangers of contact football and the precautions they take to reduce these risks. Primary data comes from phone and email interviews of ten current coaches and directors involved with youth football. The respondents were asked about what benefits they believe youth tackle football provides as well as their concussion knowledge and injury concern. Key themes will be taken from the interviews and will be combined with secondary data to understand what benefits are believed to be associated with youth tackle football. Using these themes I will attempt to explain why participation in youth tackle football is encouraged by some despite rising concerns about concussions and traumatic head injuries.