The Olympics are unlike any other sporting competition on the planet. For 16 days, over 300 events which represents 35 sports and every country on the planet compete to take home their revered medals, and I have looked forward to watching summer months Olympics every 4 years since dating back to I can remember. But almost always there is been something missing. One of the United states most popular sports, and a top ten sport all over the world, it looks as if tackle and flag football could be Olympic sports by the year 2024, but issue obstacles still remain for that as a reality. First we’ll walk through some reasons why the street that will get American Football included into the Olympics is not an easy journey, accompanied by why we believe flag football to be the logical solution and choice as a future Olympic sport.
WHY ISN’T AMERICAN FOOTBALL ALREADY AN OLYMPIC SPORT?
According to an article by AMERICAN FOOTBAL. com, the biggest logistical problems facing the adventure of American Football being included in the Olympics are much like that of Rugby. With the large numbers of participants on 축구중계 each team, the “gender equality” formats where both ladies and men participate in every sport, and the condensed 3 week schedule that has to be tough with a more physical game like football and rugby. Furthermore for American Football, the barrier to entry is high due to it’s cost to render all players with pads and gear, and because of this in addition has been slow to take in many foreign countries, especially of the less well off variety.
Knowing all this, it’s hard to see how either sport would be a good fit for the Summer Olympics. Rugby is a lot like Sports in that very little is necessary to play the adventure in terms of gear and practice at it’s base level, and has a much wider international following. This among other reasons has recently allowed Rugby to be cleared for the Olympics starting in 2016 by changing the traditional style to a less traditional “sevens” format which is faster paced with less people, which could help carve a similar path for American Football, or flag football more specifically.
TACKLE SAFETY CONCERNS
Even more and more high school, college and pro teams are beginning reduce the number of contact practices, still sporting the likes of soft-padded suspensions and shoulder pads for added protection. But what if we could limit the contact players see before high school and middle school while also addressing some of the concerns for the sport related to it being fully accepted into the Olympics? There are plenty of talk recently turning around the safety of tackle football, and not just in the AMERICAN FOOTBAL where concussions are a major concern. Starting dating back to the youth football level, recent evidence has been released supporting the idea that even short of a concussion, repeated head impacts and impact can manifest in similar brain injuries later in life for kids tested between the ages of 8-13. Many researchers are suggesting kids really should not be playing football at all, suggesting that children’s heads are “a larger part of their body, and their necks are not as strong as adults’ necks. So kids may be at a greater risk of head and brain injuries than adults. inch
CAME BREES BELIEVES FLAG FOOTBALL CAN SAVE FOOTBALL
As of 2015, studies show that flag football is the fastest growing youth sport in the united states, greatly outpacing the growth of traditional tackle football. Many individual high schools are switching to flag football over tackle, getting other schools in their regions to follow suit creating organized leagues and divisions. It’s even an formally recognized school sport in many states, and with women especially flag football is a way to allow easier involvement versus the physical nature of tackle. And he’s not the only person. Recently Came Brees was interviewed by Peter King for NBC’s pregame show and had some strong words on why he believes flag football is the answer. “I feel like flag football can save football, inch Brees said. Brees coaches his son’s flag football team, and played flag football himself through jr high, never playing tackle football until high school. “I feel like (flag football) is a great starting method for a lot of kids into football, inch Brees mentioned. “Otherwise I find myself it’s very easy to go in and have a bad experience early on and then not need to ever play it again. I find myself like once you put the pads on there are just so many other elements to the game, and you’re subject to the coach in a lot of cases too. And to be honest, I do not think enough coaches are well-versed enough with regards to the true fundamentals of the game particularly when the pads go on at the youth level. inch Many other pro athletes and coaches have expressed similar sentiments as well, vocal praises for the sport of flag football, and the rise in popularity of the sport echoes that.
