In Football High, there were many different problems that the documentary had covered. But there were two that had really stuck out to me. One being the inclination of CTE in high schoolers and two being the rise of heatstroke of high schoolers with the rising heat index. These are two different scenarios of high school football athletes, and I think something needs to be acknowledged. Highschool Football is getting to be more aggressive, which can lead to others being hurt, some being killed over time due to trauma.
Trauma in Football is caused by the brain progressively and repeatedly getting concussion after concussion. CTE also known as Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy, has become more common in High schoolers due to the more force that they take and endure compared to college students. And those smaller athletes have been said to hit with their head, and by that, their actual heads, causing more trauma to their brains. You would think that a high school student wouldn’t have something like CTE. But in recent years, it's been becoming more common among younger students.
As you’ve noticed our summers have been relatively hotter as the years go by, and that is due to the possibility of climate change. This problem of the heat index rising has caused many high school students to pass out from the heat possibly having a heat stroke. Which can be deadly if not dealt with properly and as quickly as possible. In the Documentary, it covered two different students from two different schools. Will James and Tyler Davenport were two students who had both collapsed from heat stroke the same Month of August 2010. Yet the only one to come out of the coma was Will. Why was this? Well, Will had an athletic trainer on field, at all practices, while Tyler in fact, did not. So in that case, Tyler was left to the hands of his coach and his teammates to do something, when they didn’t know what they were supposed to do. Which led to his body being above the regulating body heat it was supposed to be at, which then caused his body to be more damaged.
Some types of possibilities that can decline the inclination of CTE and Heat strokes in high schoolers/college students are listed.
For CTE: immediately take a player off the field if they are having symptoms of a concussion. Possibly get better helmets for the players or better protective gear in general. Remind your players it's never good to use your head in a situation, even if the other team is stronger. These are only some ideas that I thought of for preventing CTE.
For Heat Stroke: Some ideas may be to possibly get an athletic trainer to be on your field, or someone who knows what to do in a bad situation. Make sure to watch your players closely, if any sight of weakness or struggles, don't overload them especially on a very hot day. Make sure water is on the field, at all times, make sure there are many breaks given to any athletes, even the non-fit ones.
CTE is a startling reality for many football players, but the fact that it can happen at such a young age is concerning. The solutions you mention can be highly beneficial in reducing the chances of CTE. Suppose coaches actually remove players from the field when they are experiencing head trauma, regardless of their talent on the field, and players refrain from using their heads for tackling. In that case, we could see a potential decrease in the long-term implications of CTE. In your post, you mention the use of athletic trainers to help provide knowledgeable insight in situations of potential heat strokes. My question is, do you think if there was a national football standard to have athletic trainers present at all instances of gameplay, whether it’s practices or games, we would see a decline in both CTE and life-threatening heat strokes?
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