The Most Dangerous Game.

Reno — Nevada. It’s Friday afternoon in late September. High school students all over the United States are anxiously waiting for the weekend to arrive. While some students are making plans for the upcoming weekend, others are getting ready to suit up for battle under the Friday night-lights.

It’s almost game time and the bleachers are packed. Students, parents of players, college scouts, and teachers are patiently waiting for kickoff. As the opening kick-off commences fans from both teams are excited for the game to start.

Parents of players are cheering their sons on to victory, but in the back of their minds, those parents are praying that their child will not suffer any type of injury on the field of play.

There has been a decline in student participation regarding high school football programs in the United States. The National Federation of State High School Associations shows that participation for six, eight, nine, and 11-player football was down approximately 1,112,000 participants to 1,086,748 participants from the 2015–2016 season to the 2016–2017 season.

One main reason why participation in high school football is down is because of the injuries that occur on the field of play. A common injury that players experience on the field is a concussion. A concussion occurs when a player’s head is impacted on a collision and the brain moves around in the skull hitting the walls of the skull.

Two people who have different views on the topic of letting children play tackle football are Myrton Running Wolf, a journalism professor at the University of Nevada, Reno, and Aqueelah Thompson, a professional advisor in athletics at the University of Nevada, Reno.

Running Wolf has no children but has played the game of tackle football when he was in college. Thompson has two young children, six and 11, and her oldest son started playing tackle football at the age of six-years-old. Both Running Wolf and Thompson voiced their opinions on letting children play tackle football.

“If I were a parent, putting my child in harm’s way. It’s almost like the question of second-hand smoke. Yeah, maybe not, but I’m not going to expose my child to it,” Running Wolf said.

Many parents will not expose their children to the dangers of tackle football, like Running Wolf, but some parents will air on the side of caution, still allowing their children to play tackle football, like Thompson.

“I see it at the SYFL, Sierra Youth Football league, and Pop Warner age. A lot of my peers who have kids will not allow their kids to play. They always question me and ask if I am afraid. I get nervous, but try to make sure our boys understand proper technique and help them with understanding the game by talking about scenarios,” Thompson said.

One similarity that both Running Wolf and Thompson have in common was both believed that many people are worried about children playing tackle football based on the information that the media is putting out in the world.

The Orthopaedic Journal of Sports Medicine shows why so many parents are afraid to let their children play tackle football. OJSM compares injuries in youth flag football to youth tackle football.

In youth tackle football there are 59 more serve injuries compared to flag football, 62 to three, and the rate of concussions in youth tackle football far outnumber the rate in flag football by more than 25, 30 to three.

A major topic of discussion regarding concussions in tackle football is chronic traumatic encephalopathy, CTE, and the negative effects CTE has on football players.

The Journal of American Medical Association shows that symptoms of CTE in football players may be more common than people might believe.

JAMA shows that out of the 202 deceased former football players, CTE was diagnosed in 177 players from different levels of the game. Despite the number of injuries in football, there is an ongoing argument among parents about whether or not to let their children play tackle football.

One major question that is yet to be answered is will the game of tackle football become extinct? People all over the country have different views and opinions on the question, like Running Wolf and Thompson, and those views result in different answers.

“That is tough to say, judging by how small my son’s SYFL team was last year, how few kids are coming out to play at this level, it would seem as though that might be a possibility. It’s scary, but I try to focus on the game and the kids being educated and having fun versus living in fear. Things can happen to our kids even if they are not playing football. I have been blessed to not have to experience any concussions or head trauma with my son as of yet, my stance may change if that were to happen,” Thompson said.

Many people have similar views as Thompson. But there is a vast majority of people who believe that the game of tackle football is at a major risk of extinction, like Running Wolf.

“I think that it’s at risk of it, yes. Part of the fascination of watching football is its violence. It contributes to our fascination to watch the game. When you remove that where does the foundation go? The popularity was built on the physical violence and physical domination,” said Running Wolf.

The question of whether or not football will eventually become extinct has no simple answer, and it may never be answered in this lifetime. At the end of the day, it comes down to one question that parents need to ask themselves: To allow their children to play football, or not to allow their children to play football: that is the question.