Make Football Safer

Nikolas Plesons

My advocacy project focused on the movement to make American Football a safer sport for all to play. I chose this subject for my campaign because a younger kid from where I am from always wanted to play football and asked me why I did not. This kid's father was injured playing college football and eventually became paralyzed from his accidents. For this reason the father did not want his son to play football and the son himself, despite his love for the game, was skeptical about playing it himself. I myself never played football because my parents and coaches in other sports believed I had a future to play division one later in my life and did not want me to face injury. I always had to explain this to my younger friend, who just looked solemnly at me and wished he could play football without the risk. Although it is not a guarantee that one will be hurt if they take part in the sport of football, injuries are becoming more and more common. For this reason, I wanted to campaign for a safer football. A football where rules were made to protect the players and games could be played without the constant risk. I always wished that my parents were not so nervous about me injuring myself and I hope that the worries of others in the future will be of less magnitude. For this reason, I campaigned for a safer version of the American sport by creating a website which expresses some of it's dangers and the necessity for change.