By NICK OSPINA
“Sack Him!” every Saturday morning at the Tenafly track/football field home to the Tigers from the beginnings of September all the way till Thanksgiving.
“Hearing those words became tradition. It almost felt as if the game didn’t fully commence till you heard those words being yelled out by our fans,” said Eddie Rodriguez 22-year-old senior at Rowan University, Tenafly High School graduate class of 2013 former Tiger running back/defensive back.
Right before Tenafly installed lights above its football field and changed the grass into turf in the fall of 2012, it used to be tradition for the Tenafly Tigers High School Varsity Football team to play their home games every Saturday morning beginning around 11 a.m. It became tradition for players to see the fans sitting on the bleachers cheering for the Tigers.
The bruises and the kinks are part of the game, but lately the more serious injuries concussions, being paralyzed, have driven many students away from participating in Tigers football. So few recruits joined the Tigers that the school cut the freshmen football team.
Not Wanting To Play
Dan Lehman, 20-years-old, junior at Fairfield University, graduated Tenafly High School class of 2014. A football fanatic especially when it comes to rooting for his New York Jets, Lehman didn’t play football in high school, however.
“Joining the high school team never really crossed my mind,” Lehman said. “I enjoyed playing the sport, but I couldn’t envision myself putting on the pads and taking those hits, and my mother also was not allowing me to play football for the school.”
Head Injuries Affecting The Game
One of the most popular sports in America is football. Whether it be the NFL or College Football, diehard football fans watch the game on Saturdays, Sundays, Mondays, and even Thursdays.
A poll Bloomberg Politics poll concluded that football has surpassed baseball and has become the nation’s most popular sport. An estimated “67% of respondents said that the gridiron is America’s pasttime, while only 28% voted for baseball.”
But the increase in concussion-related illnesses among athletes has shown that the sport damages the athlete’s body in the long run. Concussions are traumatic brain injuries suffered from multiple blows taken to the head. The result is that increasingly parents are not allowing their children to start playing football.
The NFL took a major step forward as this past season 2016, the league reported that the total number of concussions players suffered was 244, significantly less than 2015 when 275 concussions were reported.
During the 2017 Annual League meetings the NFL clubs approved to have new rules in order to keep providing safety and improving the health of their players.
Around 47 percent of concussions to high school athletes have been suffered through football.
Former Players Feel the Impact
Junior Seau, former NFL linebacker for the San Diego Chargers, Miami Dolphins, and New England Patriots, committed suicide on May 2, 2012 by shooting himself in the chest. The National Institute of Health said that Seau had “degenerative brain disease linked linked to previous head trauma” leading him to commit suicide.
Tony Dorsett, former NFL running back for the Dallas Cowboys, has been diagnosed with signs of “CTE” (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy) a degenerative disease of the brain in people who have suffered blows/injuries to the head impacting the brain. After being evaluated at UCLA. In an interview with “Outside the Lines” of Espn, Dorsett explained that when he took the flight on Oct. 21 from Dallas to Los Angeles for his testing he had trouble remembering why he was on the plane.
Mike Webster former NFL offensive lineman (center) for the Pittsburg Steelers died on September 24, 2002. At first his death was ruled due to heart failure, but it wasn’t until Dr. Bennet Omalu made the discovery of the “CTE” disease while performing an autopsy on Webster’s brain. Webster was the first NFL player to be diagnosed with “CTE”. Dr. Omalu described Websters brain as “No brain of a 40-or 50-year-old should look like this. The only people who would have such markings were boxers, very old people with Alzheimer’s disease or someone who had suffered a severe head wound.”
Description of CTE (Chronic Traumatic Encephalopathy)
Unfortunately if CTE symptoms are persistent being shown in a player the only way for the disease not to progress is to reduce the head trauma which entice means ending the players career.
Tenafly Tigers’ Team Struggles to Recruit
The Tenafly Tigers football program has been around since 1924. The Tigers finished the 2016 season with a very disappointing record of 2-8 with an 0-5 record against their conference/division. Each player who has been a part of the varsity experience for the football team knows what it means to put in hard work. It’s very rare for a freshmen or even a sophomore to get on the field with the varsity team.
Each player who has represented the Tenafly Tigers on the football field knows what it means to earning a spot. Though the team doesn’t hold tryouts each player has to prove to the coaching staff on why they should be allowed to play on the field.
“Though we didn’t hold tryouts, we had to earn our spots on the field. It wasn’t handed to us. Work hard in practice and then good things will happen,” Rodriguez said.
“Back when I was playing, we weren’t even tackling anymore in practice because we had such few players who could step in incase someone got hurt. That must be why Tenafly cut the freshmen team. Such few players really know how to play, while the other players are really just on the team to be able to wear the jersey every Friday the day before a game at school,” said Rodriguez.
Students Perspective
“Growing up I loved playing football, as a child I used to play with my cousin who played at Dumont High School. Even during middle school/high school my friends and I would go to Mackay School play pickup games,” Lehman said.
“My mother was afraid of me getting hurt with all the reports she read on websites and herd on the news with people being paralyzed/breaking bones/as well as being tackled getting slammed into the ground with the fear of ultimately having a concussion. Instead mom told me to try out cross country and track & field to be my high schools sports,” Lehman added, who is now running Division 1 cross country and track & field for Fairfield University.
Asked if he regrets not playing the sport during his high school years at least for one season.
“Regret, I wouldn’t say regret in a way. I wish I would have at least tried it out for one season, instead of being fearful of the injuries that could arise. Don’t get me wrong I’m glad I took on my mothers advice to try out cross country and track & field, I just wish I hadn’t let the injuries that could happen to oneself affect my decision to not play football. Injuries can happen to anyone, I guess I was just to scared,” Lehman said.
Rodriguez as well is a football fanatic, especially rooting for his Dallas Cowboys, and never once questioned the idea of quitting football because of injuries.
“Playing football were the best six years of my life, playing all throughout Tenafly Middle School and throughout Tenafly High School, I wish it never ended,” Rodriguez said.
“Football was my passion, and I never once considered quitting due to the concern of injuries. My parents were always scared of me participating in such a violent sport, and used to try and convince me to quit after sometimes coming home with cuts and bruises around my body. Injury did cross my mind sometimes, but that just comes with the sport. In any sport you can get injured, not just in football, just people are more afraid because of the hitting, but for example in basketball you can tear your ACL or even sprain your ankle in any given play,” Rodriguez added.
Haseon Kim, 23-years-old, graduate of Rutgers University, and a graduate of Tenafly High School class of 2012.
In an interview with Kim he explains why he chose not to play football in high school, how he was shocked to learn of Tenafly no longer having a freshmen football team, and why he thinks more kids are gravitating to playing other sports instead.
A Mothers Perspective Not Allowing Her Children To Play
With parents being fearful of their kids playing football due to the potential of getting hurt, more kids are now being gravitated to other sports. With parents attempting to gravitate their children to take interests in other sports rather than football.
Will the popularity of the sport dwindle?
It may not be seen in the near future, but in the distant future with less and less kids playing football, the sport may be majorly affected, not just in youth/high school football, but it the impact can also be felt College Football and the NFL.
This article was well written and included some great research. The quotes were very good since they went into detail regarding the dangers of football. The multimedia also gave the audience a chance to take a break from the writing and see what was happening from different perspectives. Overall this is a great package-piece about concussions and how they influence the sport of football.