I read an article, "The Impending Death of Pro Football" (found at http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2013/01/the-impending-death-of-pro-football/267412/), and it talks about how NFL players are getting diagnosed with a disease called Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy or CTE. Because of this danger, will we stop playing football? Or is it such a big part of our lives that this is just one of the things you must give up to play this sport?
This got me thinking about what athletes will do to play a sport. I've heard of many athletes getting seriously injured during a game but they continue to play the rest of the game with the injury. For example, I have a friend that tore her ACL playing soccer her freshman year, she was in a brace for a month and couldn't walk on it, and then she had a few months of recovery so it worked like a normal knee and then soccer conditioning for it. Then the following year on almost the exact same date, she tore her other ACL. When will an injury be too big that you need to quit a sport? Is quitting even an option when you are a high school, college or pro athlete?
I found another article about the pressure that society puts on student athletes called "Pushing Kids to the Limit: Are Student Athletes Being Pushed Too Far?"(found at http://www.kjrh.com/dpp/news/segment_2/Pushing-kids-to-the-limit-Are-student-athletes-being-pushed-too-far). It suggests that parents, coaches, and money are pushing student athletes so far that they injure themselves. Going to college on a basketball scholarship or lacrosse scholarship is very appealing to students who know the cost of tuition. Or trying to make it pro and getting paid to play the sport is like a dream and most athletes will do almost anything to get to the next step of the ladder. But is getting injured really worth it? Only about 5% of high schools athletes go on to play division one sports and less than 1% go on to be a pro athlete. So does the possible benefit out weight possible damage for life? Is playing a sport worth getting an injury or a disease? Will parents sign up their child for sports knowing that there is such a big risk? Or has society already pushed us so far that we NEED the next thing and every activity has to be an all in or not at all? Or can we still play sports for fun? That we can only play ball in high school if we think it could get us to the college level? Are there any limits to how far you will go to reach your dream?
