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of impulsive behaviors, irritability, or dementia. The concussions that football players are
receiving could be causing permanent damage to the brain.
In a study at Boston University, researchers found a connection between repeated head
trauma and damage to the brain. The researchers at Boston to samples from eighty five dead
people ages seventeen to nighty eight who have received repeated head injury in their lives. Most
of the brains that they did their research on was taken from athletes or individuals in the military.
Eighty percent of the individuals have gradual degradation of the brain tissue. This study shows
the actual damage to the brains of these players. Their brains deteriorate from the repeated blows
to the head. The damage done to their brains are obvious in the pictures bellow where you see the
brains of normal people compared to the brains of people who have received many mild
concussions throughout their life. Why are we allowing players to have this type of damage to
their brain? We can all agree that your brain is what makes you the person that you are. Is the
game of football beneficial to these players? (source)
In the cases of Jaquan Waller and Damon W. Janes athletic trainers werent present at
these football players practices and this probably was the cause of their deaths. In any sport their
should be athletic trainers present to watch players for injuries. Fewer than half of high schools
in the United States have an athletic trainer (source). These athletic trainers are critical in contact
sports such as football and enough isnt being done to protect these players. When players are
dying because of not having the proper checks to make sure they are health enough to pay, we
should fix the problem. In Big Hits, Broken Dream, after Wallers death the school implemented
a whole team of athletic trainers who were in graduated school because they didnt require as
much pay as a veteran athletic trainer. This is how the school was able to fit athletic trainers into
the budget. One of the athletic trainers in the documentary suggested that all schools should have
athletic trainers and if that mean choosing an athletic trainer over new uniforms than your better
off choosing the athletic trainer (source). The health of the athletes should be number one
priority. There shouldnt be any players dying from something that can be prevented by receiving
the proper care. If every school in the United States was required to have athletic trainers for
these athletes than maybe these boys wouldnt have died. This shows that there is more than
needs to be done if we want to make football a safer sport.
References
Spina, Matthew W. "Why Did Damon Janes Lose His Life to a Game He Loved? - The
Buffalo News." Www.buffaloNews.com. N.p., 15 Nov. 2014. Web. 25 Mar. 2015.
http://www.brainfacts.org/Diseases-Disorders/Injury/Articles/2012/Hard-Knocks-TheScience-of-Concussions
http://www.npr.org/blogs/health/2012/12/03/166406662/evidence-mounts-linking-headhits-to-permanent-brain-injury
Documentary: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VH2KjItYXUY