AbbyW's Current Event

July 13, 2015

http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2015/07/13/banning-soccer-headers-wont-solve-concussion-problem-study

Banning Soccer ‘Headers’ Won’t Solve Concussion Problem: Study

Written by: Alan Mozes

Before I read this article, I knew that soccer was the leading sport for concussions because of all the time heading the ball. What I didn’t know was that there was a study showing that might not be the true cause of them. In the department of epidemiology, at the Colorado School of Public Health at the University of Colorado, study author and faculty member R. Dawn Comstock says, “it's not generally the impact of the ball to the head that leads to concussion. The vast majority of the time it's the athlete-to-athlete contact that happens during heading that causes the concussion. One player's head hitting another player's head, or a shoulder-to-head collision. That's the problem. Not the ball.” The study saying that heading isn’t the primary cause of concussion, spanned over about 9 years. Some data found also over that time period is that for every 10,000 practice or game experiences, girls will get 4.5 concussions while boys will get 2.8. Much to people’s dismay, banning heading might not solve the concussion problem if the body-to-body contact is what’s really causing them.

I chose this article because, one, I’ve recently watched a movie called Concussion which is about football players, but it still made me think about what they can really do and what can really happen to your brain because of them. Second is, I play soccer.  This article grabbed my attention because of the fact that I play soccer. It’s talking about a sport that I love and I’ve heard a bunch of controversy about this aspect of the game and it’s good to hear more than one point of view. Any soccer players or parents of soccer players will probably feel the impact of this article. Concussions aren’t something you want to have. They have nasty effects and can result in long-term brain damage. A study showing that you are more likely than you think to get a concussion in the sport that you love is not something you want to hear. I found this article by looking for articles related to sports, soccer in particular. This article kind of relates to what we’re studying in science because we are just starting a unit on cells and I know we will be looking more at diseases and concussions are kind of a disease. I think this article and this study could maybe limit the amount of concussion caused by soccer which would be better for all players in the long run. I think the information is reliable because the site I found it on was U.S. News & World Report which is a reliable source. I think this piece of information can definitely be helpful, but also kind of bad because, like I said, physical contact is a part of the game. It’s not something you can completely ban. Plus, so many more kids and teens play soccer than they did 45 years ago. Today, about 800,000 teens play soccer in the U.S., whereas 45 years ago, only 50,000 people did, and they were all male. Therefore, I have mixed feelings to this new information that people have found, and I’m sure many others will too.

Works Cited

“Banning Soccer ‘Headers’ Won’t Solve Concussion Problem: Study.” U.S. News & World Report. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2016. <http://health.usnews.com/health-news/articles/2015/07/13/banning-soccer-headers-wont-solve-concussion-problem-study>.

“Heading the Ball in Soccer.” Soccer Training Info. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2016. <http://www.soccer-training-info.com>.