Persuasive Essay On Contact Sports

Have you ever heard of the term “dumb jocks”? There may be a reason behind the term and they are not beginning as “dumb jocks” (Almond 120). For this very reason, contact sports should narrow in on older players and be banned from children who are still growing. Until the age of 26, a person’s frontal lobe, which helps make decisions, is still developing. If a person were to damage their frontal lobe, they could have major issues in the future.

“ A concussion is a type of traumatic brain injury—or TBI [traumatic brain injury]—caused by a bump, blow, or jolt to the head or by a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move rapidly back and forth. This sudden movement can cause the brain to bounce around or twist in the skull, stretching and damaging the brain cells and creating chemical changes in the brain” (Centers). Concussions can cause major issues for the person, who was injured, later on in life. Most people believe that concussions only happen after consciousness is lost, this is not true; in most cases the person having a concussion is fully aware of everything happening, other than them having a concussion (American).

Even though contact sports can teach life skills, the age limit for them should still be raised. “There’s
“Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE) is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain found in athletes (and others) with a history of repetitive brain trauma, including symptomatic concussions as well as asymptomatic subconcussive hits to the head” (What). Since the frontal lobe is still developing until the age of 26, it cannot take blows to the head like this, it may ruin the person, who is injured, forever. CTE forms around blood vessels in the brain, then later kills nerve cells (Gaines). Once again, why would someone put their children in danger of all of this? No one in their right mind, that has thought about this,