Youth Football Sociology

A new question arises due to new research over the health-cost of football that asks whether the findings will effect the popularity of the sport in young athletes. As of now, and for the past decade, football popularity in children has been on a steady rise, but with new research parents could be influenced into choosing a different sport for their child. However, football is one of the most funded youth programs in the United States and for lower income families, this sport would be the only option to keep their kids active. This imbalance of participation across different socio-economic backgrounds then leads to a less racially diverse sport and, later on, a sport with a majority of minorities. Although football remains one of the most popular

Over the years, the population has become more informed and aware of the deterioration football can have on a players mental well-being. However, youth participation in football continues to rise because many people shrug off the data from experiments and case studies. It is estimated that in 2007 “3.2 million children ages 6 to 14 years participated in organized youth football in the United States”, making it the most popular youth sport in the U.S. (Podberesky 1264). Football has established itself in the American culture as it has become a greater source of revenue, camaraderie and entertainment in the United States. However, in recent years NFL players have

Because football is the most popular youth sport it receives the most funding and allows it to be the most economical way to keep a child active. Research shows that “young black males believe they do possess superior athletic ability in sports like football” that leads them to believe sports are a “vehicle for black social mobility, when the reality is quite different” (Beaver 338). The reality is that around only “1 in 6,600 black males will make a decent living from professional sports”, but society has lead them to believe that they are superior athletically and inferior intellectually. These children have far more role models to emulate in sports than other fields and the countless stories they hear of players that beat the odds and turned rags to riches leads them to believe they can do the same. For the children of lower income families, these factors lead them to believe in a future of playing professional football and the sport begins to embody their “ticket” out of poverty. Many of these children in America are mislead by “false assumptions, media hype, and unequal opportunities” that lead them to believe they can overcome the odds and make it to the NFL (Beaver 338). This is most president in children of lower income families as they hear the stories of NFL players that made it out of the streets and went from rags