MaddyL Current Event Post

Soccer: Watch out for collisions!

Writen by: Alison Pearce Stevens

Source: Student Science

URL: https://student.societyforscience.org/article/soccer-watch-out-collisions?mode=topic&context=11  

July 13, 2015

Although many people recognize that heading a soccer ball can lead to a concussion, new research indicates that heading is not the primary cause of soccer-related concussions. Concussions in soccer appear to be primarily caused by player-to-player contact. The epidemiologist (they investigate causes of disease and injury and try to reduce the risk of it happening again) Dawn Comstock lead the study. Dawn and her team analyzed data from the High School RIO (an acronym for Reporting Information Online). The website she used tracks injuries suffered by athletes in sporting events held at U.S high schools. Between 2005 and 2014 more than 600,000 soccer-related concussions have been reported by athletic trainers. Many sports organizations support banning headers from youth soccer games (those not in high school yet). Researchers at the University of Colorado in Denver are now reporting that headers are actually not the main problem. They are claiming that most concussions that happen durring soccer are caused by aggressive play. For example, bodies colliding. This may come as a shock to some of these sports organizations, but it really shouldn’t be. During soccer games it is not uncommon to see players going off the field injured after colliding with another player. Only 17 percent of injuries in boys, and 29 percent of injuries in girls were caused by contact with the ball or another piece of equipment. Only 13.3 percent of boys and 19.2 percent of girls get injured by taking a hit to the ground. That means 68.6 percent of brain injuries in boys and 51.3 percent of brain injuries in girls are caused by collisions between two players. That is over half of the total injuries that are accounted for. You can be sure that there are many more injuries not reported. Researchers also looked at the 30.6 percent of boys and the 25.3 percent of girls that got a concussion due to heading the ball. Only a small percentage of the injuries caused by headers actually were caused by the ball making contact with the head. Over half of those injuries were caused by the collision of two players attempting to head the ball at the same time. These injuries have been occurring for a long time and will continue to occur, but there will soon be changes that can be made to ensure the safety of all youth soccer players everywhere that are at risk of a concussion. Epidemiologist, Andrew Lincoln states, “As we’re seeing in other sports, such changes can be made to improve player health and safety and still maintain the essence of the game.”

I chose this article because it had to do with soccer, my favorite sport. Another reason I chose this article was because I didn’t know that the main cause of soccer-related concussions was collisions. I always thought headers, like many other people, were mainly responsible for most concussions. This article really grabbed my attention when I read that 68.6 percent of brain injuries in boys and 51.3 percent of brain injuries in girls are caused by collisions between two players. It really surprised me that over half of total injuries that are accounted for were due to collisions. I found this article on Student Science website. I had never heard of this website so I wanted to try it. I learned so much from this article. I learned soccer collisions affect more boys than they do girls, and that headers are not the main cause of soccer-related concussions. I agree with the author of this article that soccer officials need to improve safety of the players due to these new findings. Some pros of this article are, it is great that people took the time to research concussions in youth soccer players. I think it will help prevent a lot of concussions and collisions greatly. Some cons of this article are, researchers should have taken the time to look into this sooner. It would have probably prevented many concussions and collisions in many athletes on the soccer field. This article connects to what we are studying in class because we are doing a unit on cells, and getting a concussion has to do with cells because when somebody gets a concussion some cells in their heads die. As I was trying to answer the question about how this article relates to what we are studying, I had an inquiry about that, I was thinking that when somebody gets a concussion cells in their head die, so I looked into it and found out that it was true. This news is helping to solve the problems of youth soccer concussions. It affects society because our society has to become more aware of the health of children in general. It is society's role to protect the health and well being of youth athletes. This information didn’t really change my understanding on this topic, but I was surprised that heading a soccer ball wasn’t the most common way to get a concussion in kids soccer. I’m going to guess that everybody that supports this topic is working on new ways to prevent themselves or others from these collision-related concussions. I don’t think anybody could possibly be against this topic, because it is helping keep kids that play soccer safer and more aware of how to prevent collisions on the soccer field.

Works Cited

“Soccer: Watch out for collisions!” Student Science. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2016. <https://student.societyforscience.org/article/soccer-watch-out-collisions?mode=topic&context=11>.

“Watch Morgan Brian’s collision against Germany in World Cup semifinal.” FTW Soccer. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Jan. 2016. <http://ftw.usatoday.com/2015/06/morgan-brian-alexandra-popp-bloody-collision-uswnt-germany-world-cup-semifinal >.