There’s no denying football is a dangerous sport. The premise is to literally knock someone to the ground to keep them from advancing. Don’t get me wrong, football is my favorite sport and I know that there’s a lot more that goes into it. However, I am going to have to argue against the sport this time around.

Signing your child up to play peewee tackle football is a terrible idea. Football, being the quintessential contact sport, is very dangerous. When you take how naturally dangerous football is and add in how delicate elementary students in peewee football are. This is not a good mix. These children are not high school and college aged students who have developed a lot more. Football is significantly more dangerous for those younger elementary school aged children and I have to advocate against playing the sport at such a young age.

CTE is becoming more common among football players and part of the reason is more research on the dangers of football has performed in the last decade. Children who play football before 12 years old are more likely to show symptoms related to CTE. CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) is condition contracted by an extensive history of brain trauma. It  can lead to mental disorders and in extreme cases, death. Head trauma goes hand in hand with football and if you want your child to avoid the risk of getting this disease, I recommend not having your child play tackle football.

On top of the possibility of brain injuries, there are also a vast amount of injuries that can be caused by playing football. Broken bones, torn ligaments, muscle tears and other injuries can cause permanent damage to your child. This will obviously affect your child greatly and it can risk their future as well. If you want your child to have the best life they can have, don’t let them play tackle football.

There are, of course, ways you can avoid having these issues. Have them play flag football in elementary school instead. Have them start playing football in middle school instead of elementary. Just don’t have them play such a dangerous sport at such a young age. Doing this, you may endanger your child’s mental and physical health. You may endanger their future.

I love football with all my heart. It’s my favorite sport and that will never change. There are many lessons to be learned by playing football, but the risk and reward must be balanced. The young ages children are starting to play tackle football is simply appalling, this needs to change.