Football Impact of a Head Injury By: Leila

I bet you could name 5 people currently playing in the NFL. But, do you ever think about past players who have since retired? What are they doing now? Have all of those years being tackled and hit affected their health? The data shows that we need to place more importance on the safety of the game.

To start my Genius Hour project I brainstormed some passions that I enjoy. I love history and football so I picked something involved with history and football. I chose to work with football helmet so people learn that helmets are not very effective at protecting the head. First I researched some facts to put on my adobe spark page. I then made my timeline after I did all of my research. Next i made my poster board with facts and matching pictures. Finally I made my oral report page to talk and explain my findings to the audience.

One of the biggest health issues associated with football are concussions. It’s important to focus on concussions because they can cause vomiting, headaches, depression, disturbed sleep, moodiness and amnesia. When someone gets a concussion, the brain can crash against of the inside of the skull. If the brain and skull crash, they would move at different speeds. Strangely enough, what happens during a concussion is very similar to an egg experiment. So, if you have an egg, and you crack the egg, the impulse of kinetic energy might send the egg flying. Almost the same thing happens when an athlete’s head gets hit.

In order to help prevent head injuries, let’s take a closer look at head protection. Since 1903, when football first started, helmets have changed dramatically. One of the first helmets had very thin leather, and very thin padding and they also were not very protective. Finally, in the 1930's a face mask was added. A face mask actually had more protection because it wasn’t just open in the face. The key is to have three layers of padding in the helmets. Those three layers are called polymers.

There are a lot of rules in the NFL. All rules are important, even if you don’t think so. One rule is, if a player loses a helmet the play is immediately whistled dead. For example, if you have a turtle and the turtle’s shell breaks, it can’t protect itself. It's almost the same thing with football players heads. Another rule is, you can’t hit somebody with your helmet in the head or neck while they are in the air. So, that just means while the person about to catch the ball is in the air you can’t hit them in the head or neck. Finally, the last rule is during extra point attempts, the defense cannot position any player directly in front of the snapper. Who is considered to be in a defenseless position. So, basically during extra point attempts the defense can't go across from the snapper to try to block the shot easily.

CRASH! When football players hit other players in the head they can get a concussion, some big hits in the head will cost the players their career. Some players retire because that hit was so major. People all over the world watch football. Nobody wants that sport to end because of concussions.

My football helmet timeline shows how the NFL helmets were 100 years ago, and how they have changed. With this timeline I am going to help people understand that helmets aren't very effective at controlling kinetic energy and preventing concussions. We need to show more focus on the football helmet. You never know, maybe you love inventing and love football. You could be the one to finally change the helmet.