By Erin Cotton

Awareness of the amount of head injuries sustained during football games has increased over the past few years, leading many parents to consider not letting their children play.

In the past two weeks, three high school football players have passed away because of head injuries sustained while playing. Even though head injury awareness has increased over the past  two years, especially for concussions, they are not being entirely prevented. .

Concussions can occur in any sport. Researchers at the Colorado School of Public Health have found that football players have the most of concussions, almost 45% more than girls soccer, the next sport on the list. Concussions are a serious head injury that can cause temporary loss of some brain functions.

In 2012, Pop Warner, a youth football program, issued two major rule changes for practices. Players are only allowed full contact in one-third of the practice time. Additionally, no head on blocking or tackling drills can take place with players starting more than three yards apart . This is followed by most youth leagues, however it is not followed by high schools, which is where the most concussions occur. Concussions are common at the high school level and younger because most kids do not know how to tackle correctly. Despite this, even athletes at the professional level can still suffer from mild to severe head injuries.

In school departments, coaches and athletic trainers are all trained in detecting signs of a concussion. Coaches should also be trained in how to teach players safe ways to tackle. By keeping their heads up and making contact with their shoulders, the risk of head injury can be lessened which in turn could make football safer.

In any sport you play, different types of injuries can occur. As a society we cannot focus on football being bad because of players receiving concussions. Other sports such as soccer and hockey have a high concussion rate, yet America continually focuses on football. Football is one of the more violent high school sports but if the players want to play and safety measure are taken then they should continue to play. Football is an American pastime and it still should be,as long as safety always comes first.