Many people enjoy watching and being a part of American football. They love the competitiveness, the struggle to get a touchdown, and the aggressiveness, but many people don’t realize the dangers of concussions and how easily you can get them and not realize it in a game of football. Concussions can cause many things such as headaches, trouble concentrating on tasks, and having a lot of problems with memory loss. This needs to change so every athlete and person who loves watching football can enjoy watching and playing without the players getting severe damage to the brain.

Concussions are when a person is moving fast, and then all of the sudden, they get hit or stopped, which makes their brain hit the walls of the skull enough to injure the brain. This sudden slam leads to brain damage and hinders performance in everyday activities and could lead to long term brain damage. Many athletes get more than one concussion in their time playing football which allows for many opportunities for the brain to be injured. Scientists believe that repeated head trauma can cause a progressive degenerative brain disease known as CTE, which can lead to depression, aggression and disorientation. Even though football helmets do a proficient job at keeping athletes heads safe, there is not a lot of equipment that could help athletes prevent concussions since the injury is happening within the skull.

Instead of trying to fix the equipment, the best solution to fixing the problem of concussions is to have the option of professional flag football. This would dramatically change the amount of concussions in football, while also allowing people who don’t want to get super physical to have fun playing football. By eliminating contact, and having consequences when contact is used, more people can enjoy the sport without injury, while the people watching have a great time seeing the difficulty that the athletes have pulling and keeping other players from pulling their flag.

In the game of American football itself, between 2012 and 2015, there were an estimated 967 reported concussions during pre-season and regular season practices and games. The biggest reasons for concussions are the severe hits to the head to a player during a tackle or after a tackle when the players head hits the ground. Changing the high impact tackle into a harmless flag pull can greatly change the amount of concussions and the fun that can be had playing the sport. Concussions hinder the ability of the player by keeping them from playing the sport they enjoy and dulling their reaction, agility, and their ability to problem solve.

Many people love the game of American football, but the problem of concussions is clear and unchanging. The sport needs a professional flag football program in order for more people to enjoy the sport and less people to get hurt. The numbers are alarmingly high and something needs to change.