In the last decade, the number of athletes being diagnosed with a concussion has greatly increased. Due to this, many people believe that some of the most popular sports are too dangerous for children and teenagers to participate in.
Even with the new awareness, however, concussions are not a new discovery. Like every other injury, concussions have been a hazard since sports began.
This means that there were most likely many undiagnosed concussions throughout the past years. Kids and teenagers have been playing sports for more than a hundred years without fear of concussions.
Just because more people now know about concussions doesn’t mean that people should play in fear.
Playing a sport will not automatically give a student athlete a concussion. Contact sports are supposed to be aggressive. The point of sports is to take a break from the stress of the day and enjoy something, but athletes cannot do that if there are excessive regulations and new rules to “soften” the games.
Kids and teenagers can get concussions in everyday life as well, whether it be walking into a door or falling out of a chair. Playing in sports doesn’t mean that athletes are automatically going to get concussed. Accidents happen all the time.
Furthermore, people die in car crashes every day but that does not stop people from enjoying the benefits of driving or riding in a car. Just because there are small risks involved with an activity, that does not mean everyone should avoid it.
Teenagers should not be afraid to play sports because of concussions. A broken leg or torn ALC can be just as bad as a concussion, but people do not excessively fear those injuries. In order to really play a sport, athletes need to play with no fear.