Football for Children: Good or Bad?

Winning or losing; Injured or healthy; Happy or sad; Insecure or confident; Good or bad? What can football do to the youth of America? Are the lessons that can be taught by football worth the risk of mental or physical harm that can be encountered through the sport? There are theories that have both opinions, but the decision is one that should be made by the parent.

The parent wanting to make the decision about their children’s participation in football is natural. The reason for this is that every mom or dad has a natural paternal instinct to protect his or her child (Ros-Lehtinen 1). The two concerns that parents have today are: physical injuries such as bumps, bruises, breaks, or anything of that nature, and things that could be detrimental to the mental state of a child, for example confidence problems, or obtaining too much fear of the sport at a young age.

The concerns that parents have about the physical aspect of the game are legitimate. Dr. York M. Briggs explains, that if children over work themselves at a young age, then it could lead to many physical problems (Briggs). SafeUSA have studies showing “…that 15 to 20 percent of players age 8 to 14 are injured during the f

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It is not definite that, by playing football, these skills would have been acquired, but many lessons learned on the football field can be turned around and used in society (Coakley 37). This attribute can be helpful in other facets of life; one example would be business. As important as a leader is to a team the word “leader” hold very little meaning if you do not understand what a team is, and every good team must have teamwork. 2 injuries every 1,000 hours, and during a low level intensity practice there were . If a family has no leadership skills, then parents will not be able to decide what their children should do, what they should eat, where they should live, or what school their children should attend.

Growing up I excelled in football, and because of that participated all the way through football. If a child can learn at a young age how to be a leader, then for the rest of that child’s life he or she will be recognized as a leader. Each year, more than 150,000 football players under age 15 seek treatment for injuries in hospital emergency rooms”(centers). The first is not allowing the child to practice and get better. As a good leader my father has also made a good living, and most leaders of companies around the world make more money then their employees.

It is equally important for a family to have a leader at the head of the household. There is absolutely no way that a child can be on the field with ten other players and not realize the importance of his and other people’s role. Henry Ford once said, “Coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and working together is success”(results).

Approximate Word count = 1263
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)

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