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Will Contois
Prof. Errico
Expository Writing
April 3, 2014
Persuasion Paper Final Draft
Football Being Played too Young
Playing football for American boys is seemingly a rite of passage, and many of those
boys start out in a Pop Warner program. This program teaches the values of team work and
dedication at an early age but this also comes with some extreme risks. The youngest age
available to start is five years old and parents should be aware that this age is far too young to
engage in the sport of football. The reasons for this include the long term effects of concussions
on the body and mental development of a five-year-old child. The parents of this children should
be aware and hold their kids back from playing football until a proper age, at least the age of 12.
To begin, a concussion occurs when the brain moves inside the skull as a result of an
outside force pushing the brain to one side of the skull. This then leaves a bruising on the brain
that causes lasting damage. The short term effects of concussions include headaches and
dizziness, but in the long term much more serious damage can occur that causes memory loss as
well as depression. A concussion at such an early age in child development can damage that
child for life.
Five-year-olds are obviously not as fully developed as adults but when it comes to
football, this lack of development can be extremely dangerous. By age 4, the heads of kids are

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90% of adult size. However, their necks are much weaker than an adults neck (Hyman). This
lack of strength in the neck creates a lack of stability for the head. Added to this instability, the
athletes have to wear helmets which weigh between two to four pounds; this creates an even
worse situation for the children because now they not only have to balance their heads but a
helmet as well on a weak neck.
When a weak neck meets a large force, like those created when there is contact to the
helmet, the neck is unable to keep the head in a fixed position. As a result, a concussion occurs
when the brain moves around inside of the skull, and brain bruises result. A head that is likely to
move around after contact is a head that is a breeding ground for concussions. With a body that
is unable to support the most basic of safety equipment, five is far too early for children to play
the sport of football. Children should be held from playing football until a per-teen age when
their bodies are developed enough to support them in this type of activity.
Not only is the body of a five year old child not ready for the demands that football
places on them, but neither is their mind. Research has suggested that brain development does
not stop until a person is in his or her 20s. A concussion at an early age would have negative
effects on this development process.
Also when the child are young, ages five or six, they do not have a good understanding of
the cognitive process. Cognitive processes are needed in decision making and without this
process, the children are unable to make decisions. So basically putting a child into football at
this age would be forcing them to do an activity where they cannot decide one way or the other
on. Children should be able to choose what they want to do in terms of sports and that ability
does not come until a few years after the Pop Warner programs begin. That is why children

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should be prevented from playing football until a pre-teen age where their mental development is
further along.
The third reason why parent should not let their children play football too early is the
long term damage that happens to the body, especially the brain. In recent history, many retired
National Football League players have experienced the long term effects of the sport of football,
and this gives us some insight to what could happen to early playing children.
Some of the physical damage to the brain can lead to depression. In some cases, such as
that of Andre Waters, depression leads to suicide. A 2007 study by Julian Bailes, et al.
found that the risk of depression in retired players was twice as high in those who had
suffered concussions. That number went up to three times the risk in former players who
had suffered five concussions or more.(Hyman).
This study is highlighted by the countless number of players such as Jim McMahon, a
former Chicago Bears quarterback who suffered several concussions. McMahon is 54 years old
and already has dementia, a disease that effects people of a much older age. In an interview with
ESPN, he described that his wife does not allow him to leave the house on his own because often
times he will not be able to find his way back. McMahon understands that this life is because of
football and has previously said he'd play baseball, not football, if he could take a mulligan on
his sports career (Brinson).
Jim McMahon has also experienced depression to go along with his dementia and is not
the only player that has been experienced this. Junior Seau among other players experienced this
depression and decided to end his life and donate his brain to research to help the next generation
of football players. Parents should be aware of these long term risk factors and not push their

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children into a program which could negatively affect their lives. These conditions can only be
contributed to the long term play of football, and this should be considered when putting a child
into a football program.
Those who defend young people playing football have been relying on improved player
safety precautions and the benefits, such as character trait improvement or physical fitness. This
trait improvement means that the athletes are learning key lessons about hard work, dedication,
and working in a team format. Football does present an opportunity for improvement in all these
areas but only after the initial stages of child development. When a child is young, he will not
recognize this opportunity as well as a teenager would. Also the same opportunities are
presented in sports that do not involve as much contact and are offered at age five. The player
safety precautions, while still improving are not at a point where they can truly be relied upon
prevent serious injuries like concussions from happening.
From day one of every season, on every team, coaches take the time to teach their
athletes how to tackle properly. But this does not mean that they take all precautions necessary.
For example, In one single Pop Warner football game, five preadolescent players on a team
from Tantasqua, Mass., suffered serious head injuries (Hyman). This describes the still
prevalent danger that is always present when playing football and should seriously be considered
by the parents of the athletes. Hyman goes on to describe that these boys were all over the age of
10, showing that even after some body development that the contact may be too much. If these
players had been five or six, even more damage could have happened. That is why football
should not be played until pre-teen years when children are more prepared mentally and
physically.

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One final reason that people support the Pop Warner program is that they say the players
have a higher chance of going further into their careers, such as making it to the NFL. This is
partly true, it is estimated that somewhere between 60 and 70 percent of the league started
playing football in the Pop Warner program. This also means that a high percentage started
playing football at a later age so signing a child up now does not mean that they will be signing
with an NFL team later. The expectations of playing in the NFL are no pressure to put on a
young child and should not be a reason to enter a child into football at such an early age.
Football is a great sport and offers many benefits, but parents and athletes should be
cautious about how old the child is when they start to play football. Short term and long term
injuries can occur from the playing the sport for an extended period of time, especially when the
child starts too early. For these reasons tackle football should not be played until a pre-teen age
of 12 years old. This age would be much more beneficial than ages five or six and the child
would not lose out on any experiences.

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Work Cited
Brinson, Will. "Jim McMahon contemplated suicide, is happy with concussion settlement."
CBSsports.com. CBS Interactive, 30 Aug. 2013. Web. 2 Apr.
2014.<http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/eye-on-football/23396664/jim-mcmahon-contemplatedsuicide-is-happy-with-concussion-settlement>.
Hyman, Mark. "Why Kids Under 14 Should Not Play Tackle Football." Time. Time inc., 6 Nov.
2012. Web. 2 Apr. 2014. <http://ideas.time.com/2012/11/06/why-kids-under-14-should-not-playtackle-football/>.