There is a certain feeling to a Friday night high school football game in any American neighborhood that brings about the feelings of community, pride, and brotherhood. High school football games have not only been immortalized in pop culture and cheesy high school drama movies (Varsity Blues and Friday Night Lights) but has also been woven into the cloth of what has made America the most exciting place to live.

Yet what if high school football were to be nationally banned? What if sixteen and seventeen year-old boys were told that they could no longer dream of becoming the next Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, or J.J. Watt? How would a cozy, southern town that thrives off of Friday night frenzies and last minute Hail Mary's react? Two decades ago, banning high school football in America would be one of the most ludicrous statements one could make. Yet in 2015, it is one of the most justified and validated. Countless studies have revealed that concussions and head injuries mean more than a couple of missed practices. They can lead to brain disease, memory loss, depression, and dementia later on when the pads have been hung up and the lights turned off (pbs.org). Limiting a teenager's growth both mentally and physically is not something many high schools and families are willing to mess around with. Consequently, cries for banishment have risen, asking "is football just too dangerous?" (huffingtonpost.com). Statistically speaking, it seems obvious that football is a game that should never be played. Enhancing the pro-banishment argument is the fact that seven high school players have already died on the gridiron in front of their schools this past year from hits to the head and body. What is even scarier is that this number is not out of whack and is consistent with previous years, implying that the start of the 2016-2017 season will bring another seven who will die before Halloween (nbcsports.com). However, state governments and a majority of high schools are aware that high school football has been an integral part of youth in America since the days of Roger Staubach and Jim Brown. Therefore, high schools are willing to spend thousands of dollars on new equipment so that state governments can claim that an effort is being made to augment safety on the field and that the banishment of high school football will just have to hold off. While pro-health know-it-alls and protective mothers battle it out with action-hungry scouts and overly-competitive coaches, high schools across are America are preparing for next season by bringing up future stars, and possibly future victims.

If one were to argue for the reasons as to why high school football should not be banned, or at least significantly modified in preparation and gameplay, he or she would not have much to draw from concerning past history. In the past two years, there has been at least one significant death that has captured the attention of the high school football community and urged school administrators and state governments to take a closer look at the safety of the game. In 2013, eighteen-year-old Deantre Turman, a "popular and well regarded" senior who had just committed to play football at the University of Kentucky, snapped his neck in half while making a tackle during a summer scrimmage game (CNN.com). His death turned many heads towards the dangers that not only professionals, but high school players as well, face every Sunday in the fall. Turman's death only turned attentions toward the dangers of the game and it was not until sixteen-year-old Tom Cutinella, a sophomore at Shorham-Wading River High School, was hit in the head and killed during a game on October 1st, 2014. Cutinella's death was the third high school football related death that week as Demario Harris Jr, a seventeen-year-old junior at Charles Henderson High School was killed after making a tackle, and Isaiah Langston, a seventeen-year old junior at Rolesville High School, died after collapsing on the field. Then, this past week on October 24th, 2015, Andre Smith, a seventeen-year old junior at an Illinois prep school, took a hit on the last play of a game and died early the next morning in a hospital bed (CNN.org). The class action lawsuit that followed is the first of it's kind against a prep sports governing body and asks that all Illinois schools "pay for medical testing of former high school players extending back to 2002." The lawsuit has not yet been decided, yet the cost of what is requested would be so high that it would essentially "kill the football programs statewide" (cbsnews.org).

Yes, it seems crazy to ban, or even indirectly eliminate, a sport that has become a past time, and even one that many rely on for a living. Yet it seems crazier to continue ignoring the fact that football is too dangerous of a sport, and that many high schools now start their season expecting that any player could lose their life at any given time. This notion motivated Alex Pierscionek, a former South Elgin High School nose tackle who now suffers from memory loss, splitting headaches, and drastic mood changes to sue the Illinois High School Association (IHSA) for failing to "shield athletes from the possible dangers of concussions" (chicagotribune.com) back in January of 2015. The Illinois State government ruled that the IHSA did not have to pay Pierscionek because his parents had signed an agreement stating that they were aware of the dangers of football before the season started. Instead, the IHSA was forced to adopt "mandatory baseline testing for all players...stricter guidelines on returning to play and medical personnel available at all practices as well as games"

(chicagotribune.com). Pierscionek's suit against the IHSA served as a benchmark for future modifications to high school football; as of most recent, high schools in California were also forced to modify their policies towards practices and games, which included having mandatory baseline testing for all players, stricter guidelines on returning to play, and medical personnel available at all practices. Additionally, California high schools were forced to "limit the number of hours and days their football programs' young athletes can practice tackling and other game speed hitting plays" as a result of a new law signed in my Governor Jerry Brown (sfgate.com). Law AB 2127 "prohibits football teams at middle and high schools from holding full-contact practices that exceed 90 minutes a day, limits the number of full-contact practices during the season to two per week and prohibits contact practices during the off-season" (latimes.com).
However, there are always two sides to every argument. Despite the statistical arguments that pro-banishment seekers have brought to the table, coaches, scouts and football fanatics bring a more logical and football-based argument. Many high school coaches claim that too many modifications and limitations will "interfere with their ability to field a quality team that is properly prepared to avoid injury" and that perhaps more injuries will occur because of a lack of experience with contact (latimes.com). Others claim that too many laws and changes will take away the rough nature of the game that has defined American football from it's beginning.

It would be hard for one to tell whether or not changes to the game have been a positive or negative. For the ones that love football for what it is, perhaps changes are not in their best interests. Yet on the other hand, for protective parents and concerned family members, perhaps banning football is the best way to keep America's sport savvy youth safe and promising. On a national or even international scale, the debate over the safety of high school football players is so minute. When compared to world hunger or even the poverty crisis in America, protecting high school football players is not a big deal. Yet no parent should have to bury his or her child. No high school student should have to sit in the stands and watch a classmate snap his neck and pass on. No friend should attend another's funeral at the age of seventeen. What I firmly believe is that high school football, despite its flaws and dangers, is too important to take away. Kids and adolescent should have the right to dream and the freedom to work for what they want. As the controversy progresses, both in courthouses and in high schools, one can only guess where football in America will be headed. For some, Friday night games will forever be irreplaceable where as for others, banning high school football is a must. It may get to a point where so many changes are made to the game in an attempt to preserve it that it will lose the beauty and rough nature that America has come to love. Or perhaps more advanced concussion protocols and management programs will be forcefully implemented in all high schools across the nation and demand high schools to spend money that they do not have; this could consequently wipe out thousands of high school football programs like the case of Andre Smith has previewed. In any case, too many young lives are being lost while the nature of a beautiful game is being replaced. It is up to state governments and reasonable school administrators to decide the fate of America's game.