Football has always been a part of every American family. The sport is one of the most watched shows on television. Also, almost everyone in the United States has tried playing the game once in their lifetime.
Some parents even encourage their children to play it as a pastime that could also be their ticket to becoming a high school football star. However, several parents may have neglected the fact that excessive blows to the head in sports, which involve high-impact contact, may put players at danger of having permanent brain damage.
Sports like hockey, boxing and football can certainly give a grown man a concussion if a player gets hit repetitively in the head -- let alone a kid, whose body structure is not fully develop yet.
According to a report from New York Times, Dr. Bennet Omalu said that parents should impose proper control to kids with regards to engaging into a physical sport that involve hitting in the head. He cited that kids should not be given the decision to choose what and which can hurt them physically.
"We have a legal age for drinking alcohol; for joining the military; for voting; for smoking; for driving; and for consenting to have sex. We must have the same when it comes to protecting the organ that defines who we are as human beings," he said.
He explained that kids should not have to decide for themselves, just like how we do not consent them from drinking alcohol and joining the military until they reach a certain age when they are already allowed to.
"It is our moral duty as a society to protect the most vulnerable of us. The human brain becomes fully developed at about 18 to 25 years old. We should at least wait for our children to grow up, be provided with the information and education on the risk of play, and let them make their own decisions. No adult, not a parent or a coach, should be allowed to make this potentially life-altering decision for a child," Bennet wrote.
The Nigerian forensic pathologist has been doing a research about Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy (CTE), which will be featured in the upcoming movie "Concussion."
Bennet, who co-founded the "Brain Injury Research Institute", will be played by actor Will Smith in the film. The story is about the discovery of Dr. Bennet's research that brain damage in football is the factor in the deaths of some football player.
