Unnecessary Roughness In High School Football

There are over 1.3 million athletes throughout the nation that participate in high school football, but less than 10% of those 1.3 million players even get a concussion throughout their high school career (Weber). The main problems that cause high school football injuries is from the improper teaching of technique on how to tackle, block, and even run the ball correctly (Weber). Even though It can cause injuries, kids should be allowed to play football because when the sport is taught correctly, it’s less likely to get injured and it teaches significant life lessons like teamwork, cooperation, etc. Concussions and injuries in football haven’t been a huge deal until recently, when multiple NFL (National Football League) players sued the association

Targeting is called when a defensive play makes a hit on the ball carrier and solely aimed for their head while tackling. If called, the offense gets fifteen yards, an automatic first down, and the player that made the dirty hit gets ejected out of the game. Another one of the rules that they’ve created is known as Unnecessary Roughness. In the the football rulebook, Unnecessary Roughness is defined as “an illegal action in football where a player uses methods beyond what is necessary to block or tackle another player” (Sporting Charts 1). This prohibits players from intentionally harming the other players on the opposing team. It’s beneficial to have these rules to keep everyone on the football field safe while trying to enjoy the game in which they love. There is also a penalty that is called Spearing, a penalty flag for Spearing will be thrown when a defensive player attempts to tackle the ball carrier whilst leading with their head. The penalty is a fifteen yard penalty and automatic first down both for the offense. The major complaint that everyone says about high school football is that they get injured to often and those injuries are very serious. But for majority of the time, players do not get injuries that restrict them from practices or games. Erik Weber stated in an article that "Fewer than 10 percent of players incurred an injury, and of those injuries, 64 percent were minor

However, an article written by the Chicago Tribune stated that “the American Academy of Pediatrics released a policy statement calling for more non tackling leagues for youth players, more instruction in proper tackling techniques and zero tolerance for illegal hits to the head” (Chicago Tribune 17). They want to educate football coaches on how to properly tackle how you’re supposed to, they also want them to seriously crack down on all of the illegal or dirty hits that kids might commit during the course of a game or even during one of their team practices. In the same Article written by the Chicago Tribune it stated, “In Illinois, state law requires high schools to follow the concussion protocols spelled out by the Illinois High School Association. This year, the General Assembly added rules for when kids can return to school and sports after a concussion” (Chicago Tribune 19). These rules were made and added so that when football players get injured they do not try to come back earlier than they were supposed to and end up injuring themselves even worse than before. As shown above, there’s many reasons as to why he should keep high school football. Football brings the players together as a family. Statistics have also shown that there aren’t serious injuries that are common. Also, the state has made rules to protect