Why Football won’t be a youth sport in 20 years
The game of football has long been an American favorite at every level, and that has been just as true in Fort Collins. From a young age many children fall in love with football and continue to pursue this passion oftentimes through the end of high school.
However, the game took a major hit in recent years with medical evidence showing its dangers.
Being a contact sport, football has always been known to come with occupational hazards, but the emergence of the brain disease of Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. CTE was first discovered by Dr. Bennet Omalu in the brain of former Pittsburgh Steelers offensive lineman Mike Webster.
The disease is known to cause seizures, depression, and memory loss. Since being found in Webster, CTE has been found in many other NFL players. According to a study by Dr. Anne McKee, 110 of 111 brains of deceased career NFL players had CTE.
Although McKee’s study only looked at NFL players, she also has conducted other studies finding that CTE can develop in children who have played tackle football before the age of 12.
“Youth exposure to repetitive head impacts in tackle football may reduce one’s resiliency to brain diseases later in life, including, but not limited to, CTE,” said McKee in an interview with USA Today.
Because of the dangers of CTE in football, many parents are no longer allowing their children to play and instead having them go different routes in youth sports or other areas of interest.
In Fort Collins over the past 10 years youth involvement in football has dropped by 73 percent, Fort Collins recreation supervisor Marc Rademacher told the Coloradoan in a recent interview.
These numbers are not surprising, and they are not exclusive to Fort Collins. All over the country youth participation in football has decreased drastically.
“I played football growing up, and back then no one new about the dangers of it,” said Sam Litvak, a local parent who recently just had his first son. “I won’t let my son play knowing what I know now. The game is too dangerous, even with the pads to possibly justify playing.”
With this sentiment resonating with parents nationwide, it’s becoming more and more apparent that football won’t have a sustainable influx of new players and the game will continue to shrink.
However, some argue that with increased safety measures, and new technology youth football is not going anywhere. A new set of rules was recently put into place in the NFL eliminating many types of hits players have been able to do in the past.
Along with the new rules, is also a new wave of equipment that is said to make playing football safer. These new technologies include a helmet that claims to make playing football safer.
The nationwide decrease of participation in youth football has effected the sport from the bottom up. Being “America’s Game,” football’s lack of growth has made the choice of wanting to keep playing and watching difficult for parents and children alike.
Despite the improvements in equipment and rules, youth football as a whole is still shrinking. As new technologies and adaptations for saftey are put into play participation could increase in the future, but right now parents do not want their children participating in youth football.
