essay about high school football

Essay On Football for Students and Children

500+ words essay on football.

Essay On Football- Football is a game that millions of people around the world play and love. It can be called a universal game because every small and big nation plays it.

Moreover, it’s a great relaxer, stress reliever, teacher of discipline and teamwork . Apart from that, it keeps the body and mind fit and healthy. It’s a team game that makes it a more enjoyable game as it teaches people the importance of sportsmanship. Leadership, and unity .

History of Football

The history of football can be traced back to the ancient times of the Greeks. Everyone knows that the Greeks were great sportsmen and have invented many games.

Football happens to one of them. A similar game like football is played in many countries but the latest version of football that we knew originates in England. Likewise, England formulated the first rule of the game. From that day onwards the football has progressed in ways we can’t imagine.

Importance of Football

Football is an important game from the point of view of the spectator as well as the player. This 90 minutes game is full of excitement and thrill.

Moreover, it keeps the player mentally and physically healthy, and disciplined. And this ninety-minute game tests their sportsmanship, patience, and tolerance.

Besides, all this you make new friends and develop your talent. Above all, it’s a global game that promotes peace among countries.

Get the huge list of more than 500 Essay Topics and Ideas

How to Learn Football

Learning any game is not an easy task. It requires dedication and hard work. Besides, all this the sport test your patience and insistence towards it. Moreover, with every new skill that you learn your game also improves. Above all, learning is a never-ending process so to learn football you have to be paying attention to every minute details that you forget to count or missed.

Football in India

If we look at the scenarios of a few years back then we can say that football was not a popular game in except West Bengal. Also, Indians do not take much interest in playing football. Likewise, the All India Football Federation (AIFF) has some limited resources and limited support from the government.

But, now the scenario has completely changed. At this time football matches the level of cricket in the country. Apart from that, the country organizes various football tournaments every year.

Above all, due to the unpopularity of football people do not know that we have under-17 and under-23, as well as a football team.

Football Tournaments

The biggest tournament of Football is the FIFA world cup which occurs every 4 years. Apart from that, there are various other tournaments like UEFA cup, Asian Cup (AFC), African completions (CAF) and many more.

To conclude, we can say that football is very interesting that with every minute takes the viewer’s breath away. Besides, you can’t predict what’s going to happen the next second or minute in football. Apart from all this football keeps the one playing it fit and healthy. Above all, it can be a medium of spreading the message of peace in the world as it is a global game.

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It’s Time to End Football in High School

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More than one million high school students participate in tackle football programs at their schools, during which they each sustain hundreds of violent blows to the head over the course of a season. According to our analysis, the cumulative effect of rattling this many brains this many times is that each year roughly 264,000 high school students suffer traumatic brain injury and cognitive impairment that diminishes their ability to think, learn, and succeed in school. We know this from studies that have correlated the patterns of players’ head blows with traumatic brain injury and cognitive impairment , using helmet sensors, functional MRI brain scans, and tests of working memory.

The biomedical engineering professor Thomas Talavage presented these findings on behalf of the Purdue Neurotrauma Group at a White House summit on sports injuries in 2014. He explained that concussed and non-concussed players alike demonstrate decreased activity in the portions of the brain most vulnerable to impact and have greater difficulty with basic cognitive tasks over the course of a single high school season. About half of the linemen studied and one-quarter of players overall exhibit these symptoms.

Schools should not sponsor activities known to cause cognitive impairment in a significant percentage of participants.

As clinical evidence of the risks associated with playing tackle football mounts, professional players and sportscasters have begun to abandon the game. Notably, former NFL linebacker Joshua Perry retired this year after just two seasons, citing concerns over his mounting number of concussions. Some school districts—such as the districts of Maplewood, Mo., and Marshall, Texas—have even begun reducing or canceling tackle football programs. Nevertheless, the many high school students who will continue to play football in the coming school year present school leaders with some serious ethical questions.

Is sponsoring an activity that causes disabling brain injury compatible with educators’ responsibilities to students? Are there compensating educational benefits of playing tackle football that justify the risks? Does the putative consent of players or their parents relieve educators and administrators of their duty to protect students from harm? The answers to these questions are clearly no, no, and no.

Schools should not sponsor activities known to cause cognitive impairment in a significant percentage of participants. Nor should schools sponsor, facilitate, or encourage activities that directly undermine their educational aims. For a quarter of football players, what happens on the field diminishes their capacity to benefit from what happens in the classroom.

Beyond cognitive impairment, repeated blows to the head often cause concussions, with symptoms that include headaches, memory loss, insomnia, and mood disorders. According the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the aggregate economic costs of TBI ran approximately $76.5 billion annually as of 2010. Moreover, the younger children are when they start playing tackle football, the more likely they are to develop degenerative brain disorders later in life.

It is important to recognize that players risk cognitive impairment even if they do not suffer a concussion and regardless of whether they tackle with their heads up or down. Helmets help to prevent skull fractures, but they do nothing to stop the brain from smashing into the skull each time a player collides with another player or the ground. Such collisions are inherent to tackle football played according to the rules.

Are there compensating educational benefits that justify these risks? Many claim that playing football builds character, but there is no evidence that it is distinctive or cost-effective in this respect. Good judgment is a key aspect of good character, and studies show improved judgment in students who participate in music, theatre, and community service programs, but not in students who participate in sports. The cognitive impairment caused by collision sports is scarcely favorable to making good decisions. Even if there were solid evidence that football is a more effective vehicle for character building than the alternatives, that would not justify expensive tackle football for a few. It would justify safer and more affordable club sports for all students. Given what we know, the risks of tackle football cannot be justified on the basis of character development.

What about the benefits to students who think they have a chance at a career in professional football? Should schools provide that opportunity? The answer is, once again, no. According to NCAA estimates, only 6.9 percent of high school football players made it onto an NCAA team in the 2016-17 season. Of these, only 253 were subsequently drafted by the NFL or another major league, representing just 0.0239 percent of the original pool of high school players. By contrast, about 25 percent of the original pool—264,345 high school players—would have suffered traumatic brain injury and cognitive impairment. In other words, a high school football player is about 1,000 times more likely to be impaired in pursuing an education and other career paths than to have a career in professional football. Those are not odds that could possibly justify the risk to students.

What ethical or legal significance do student and parental consent have? In negligence suits filed when students are injured while participating in school activities, school districts routinely appeal to the doctrines of consent and assumption of risk. But legal minors have a limited capacity to foresee and assess the consequences of their actions and cannot give consent that would legally or ethically release coaches, teachers, and other school authorities from their prior responsibilities to protect students’ interests. In the context of football, the limited capacity of minors to give meaningful consent may be further diminished by unrecognized concussive symptoms and intense psychological pressure from coaches and peers. The legal and ethical significance of parental consent is also limited in this context. Educators and school officials have duties to protect students from foreseeable harm in the custodial and tutelary environment of the public school, and consent offered by students and parents does not release them from these duties.

In sum, there is no justification for continuing to expose students to the inherent hazards of tackle football, however popular it may be. The responsibility for harm to students arising from these hazards falls primarily on school officials, and it is they who can eliminate the hazards by terminating the programs.

A version of this article appeared in the September 12, 2018 edition of Education Week as Football Doesn’t Belong in School

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10 Great Longform Essays About Football in American Culture

Pre-superbowl reading—or a way to avoid it completely.

Football is not the most literary of sports. Baseball has a much more intellectual pedigree, fueled by an intense American nostalgia, literary and otherwise; boxing has drawn the attention of Ernest Hemingway, Norman Mailer, Joyce Carol Oates and Katherine Dunn; tennis only needs David Foster Wallace (but Álvaro Enrigue is good too); and even soccer has  Among the Thugs (not to mention Monty Python’s “ Literary Football Discussion “); American football, though, can only be associated with a few good works of literature—though there are some out there . But literary or not, football is part of the fabric of American culture, and so you’re likely aware that this weekend it’s throwing its grand annual competitive soiree: the Superbowl. If you’d rather be reading, but still want to engage in the cultural moment, I recommend starting with one of these great longform essays about football in contemporary American culture, which cover everything from our evolving understanding of CTE to football’s relationship to television, domestic violence, and yes, of course, Trump. If you’ll be watching the game, well, read up anyway—there will be lots of time to talk about all these essays during the million and one commercial breaks.

Reid Forgrave, “ The Concussion Diaries: One High School Football Player’s Secret Struggle with CTE ” GQ , 2016

A heartbreaking and humane essay written, in part, to honor the last wishes of a young ex-football player who killed himself after years of struggle with CTE—chronic traumatic encephalopathy—and asked his family to share his words with the world. On football culture, toughness, family, and fear.

Zac left instructions: Print his story off his laptop, post it to Facebook, use the pain of his life and too-early death to warn the world about CTE. Get people like us—football fans, football players, football lifers—to face the truth about people like him.

And now we have. Those were his instructions, so that’s what his family did. So now what?

We could ban football. (But we love football.) We could allow people to play football only once they turn 18, which is what Omalu has proposed. (And what happens when 18-year-old athletic phenoms—freight trains who have never learned to tackle properly—are suddenly turned loose on one another? Is that better?) We could take away tackling. (Sorry, no one’s watching the National Flag Football League.) We could build a safer helmet. (Which will only encourage players to use their heads as weapons.) We could have a consistent concussion protocol through all levels of football. (We already do in the NFL. Ask Cam Newton how well it’s working.)

Every solution ends up not solving enough of the problem.

And for most of us, this is perfectly okay. The paradox of CTE’s discovery is that it’s given most of us a sneaky ethical out, hasn’t it? No professional football player can claim now to be unaware of the risks. It’s a free country. We’re all adults here.

Unless we’re not adults. Unless we’re kids, like Zac was. Can we really let kids keep doing this? If so, how? Now what?

Mark Edmundson, “ Football: The Lure of the Game ” Los Angeles Review of Books , 2014

In this personal love letter to football, Edmundson considers the beauty and joy of the sport in poetic prose—and even compares football to poetry (“they overlap more than you think,” he writes) as well as America itself (violence and grace; freedom and exploitation; glory and ignominy: terrible beauty).

I sometimes wonder (being, I suppose, of a wondering disposition) what it is that draws us to the game. By Saturday afternoon in the fall—assuming I’ve kept away from mid-week games—I’m feeling something like an addict’s need. The urge to see some football really does feel nearly physical. It’s an American hunger, this interest in the game: I’m almost sure of that. Football’s played in Canada but, despite impressive marketing efforts, it hasn’t caught on in Europe or anywhere else. I don’t think it ever will. That is unless America and the world become synonymous, the way Rome became synonymous with the world for some time. Football is the American game, like rock is the American music, and black speak is the American vernacular, burgers and fries are (like it or lump it) American food, and golden beer served at sub-zero temp is the American drink.

If visitors from a galaxy far away landed in our precincts, landed in New York City, say, and asked us to show them (not tell, show them) what we were all about, how would we respond? I’d be tempted to take them to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the palace of Western culture. Or I might be inclined to guide them up between the sentinel lions at the New York Public Library and into the great reading room. But in either case, I’d be wrong. I’d be idealizing. No, surely the best place to take them, if they wanted to see America, would be out to the Meadowlands to watch the Giants go to war with the Redskins, or take on the Dallas Cowboys, blue versus gray, the Civil War one more time. Maybe better, one would take them up close to a flat screen TV—high definition, surround sound, the works—and let our visitors view the images that have now become, if this is possible, more life-like than life. And you would point to the screen in joy and consternation and sometimes in dismay or something close to horror. And you’d be tempted to say: This is who we are. This is what we Americans are about. But then, what exactly would you mean?

Chuck Klosterman, “ Will Violence Save Football? ” GQ , 2015

Klosterman’s essay about football discusses and dismisses the two prevailing theories about football—that it will die out, and that it will change dramatically—instead arguing that it’s actually violence, and the tendency of fans of a widely decried pleasure to close ranks, that will keep the sport around. His argument is, in 2017, frighteningly familiar and relevant.

A few months after being hired as head football coach at the University of Michigan, Jim Harbaugh was profiled on the HBO magazine show Real Sports. It was a wildly entertaining segment, heavily slanted toward the intellection that Harbaugh is a lunatic. One of the last things Harbaugh said in the interview was this: “I love football. Love it. Love it. I think it’s the last bastion of hope for toughness in America in men, in males.” Immediately following the segment, the reporter (Andrea Kremer) sat down with Real Sports host Bryant Gumbel to anecdotally unpack the story we’d all just watched. Gumbel expressed shock over Harbaugh’s final sentiment. To anyone working in the media (or even to anyone who cares about the media), Harbaugh’s position seemed sexist and ultra-reactionary, so much so that Rush Limbaugh felt the need to support it on his radio show.

This is what happens when any populist, uncomfortable thought is expressed on television.

There’s an embedded assumption within all arguments regarding the doomed nature of football. The assumption is that the game is even more violent and damaging than it superficially appears, and that as more people realize this (and/or refuse to deny the medical evidence verifying that damage), the game’s fan support will disappear. The mistake made by those advocating this position is their certitude that this perspective is self-evident. It’s not. These advocates remind me of an apocryphal quote attributed to film critic Pauline Kael after the 1972 presidential election: “How could Nixon have won? I don’t know one person who voted for him.” Now, Kael never actually said this.†† But that erroneous quote survives as the best shorthand example for why smart people tend to be wrong as often as their not-so-smart peers—they work from the flawed premise that their worldview is standard. The contemporary stance on football’s risk feels unilateral, because nobody goes around saying, “Modern life is not violent enough.” Yet this sentiment quietly exists. And what those who believe it say instead is, “I love football. It’s the last bastion of hope for toughness in America.” It’s not difficult to imagine a future where the semantic distance between those statements is nonexistent. And if that happens, football will change from a popular leisure pastime to an unpopular political necessity.

††What she actually said was: “I live in a rather special world. I only know one person who voted for Nixon. Where they are I don’t know. They’re outside my ken. But sometimes when I’m in a theater I can feel them.”

Timothy Michael Law, “ Football’s Cancer ” Los Angeles Review of Books , 2015

There’s more than one kind of violence at play here; this essay tackles systematic racism and exploitation as the primary problems with football in America.

Commentators are presently drumming up hysteria over concussions in the NFL and criticizing the sport for its overt violence, but there is a more surreptitious malady. Outbursts of violence in society, according to Žižek, sidetrack us. The violence in the background, structural and systemic, is more pernicious.

If football is ailing, it is not because it is too dangerous but because high-stakes players have figured out how to use it to create enormous wealth by exploiting a working class of athletes while minimizing their responsibilities to them. Economic exploitation is the cancer spreading throughout the body of the sport, proliferating cells as it corrodes the health of its overwhelmingly black workforce.

Most of the players are black, the fans white. For these few hours on Saturday, white college kids, alumni, and Bulldog fans who have come from near and far will act as if they have seen gods on earth. The scene is electric, and you might be easily fooled into thinking that here is proof of post-racial America. Once you’ve lived outside the South, you realize how remarkable it is that football’s popularity is greatest in Southern states that were and remain the most segregated, where antebellum hierarchies are reflected in attitudes outside of stadiums but where, during fleeting moments of athletic competition, predominately white audiences cheer madly for black athletes. Racism persists in the South in ways that some younger Americans elsewhere can no longer fathom, but black athletes and entertainers have been making white audiences (in both the North and South) laugh and cheer for centuries—so long as they are staying in character. A hip-hop artist and an athlete may sing to us, rap to us, play for us, but we still want to control the script.

Žižek cautioned that we often fail to notice systemic evils because secondary and tertiary concerns distract us. To address malignant biases and our own propensity to exploit requires the kind of uncomfortable work that keeps many fearful of seeing a therapist. The media fascination with concussions allows them to appear serious about football’s problems, but since they are part of the profiteering, exploitative machine, we should never expect to find this urgent confrontation among football’s talking heads.

In not a few ways, football’s cancer is the same cancer that has attempted to silence and demonize the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Young black men remain useful as long as they turn a profit for the managerial class and don’t shout too loudly about their labor conditions and opportunity. The impulse that drives many to consider football’s maladies of little consequence is the same impulse that drives the #AllLivesMatter response, and this impulse stems ultimately from a recalcitrant attitude that refuses to look squarely in the mirror, beyond the surface Žižek warned about.

Malcolm Gladwell, “ Offensive Play ” The New Yorker , 2009

In which Malcolm Gladwell asks the question: “How different are dogfighting and football?”

These are dogs that will never live a normal life. But the kind of crime embodied by dogfighting is so morally repellent that it demands an extravagant gesture in response. In a fighting dog, the quality that is prized above all others is the willingness to persevere, even in the face of injury and pain. A dog that will not do that is labelled a “cur,” and abandoned. A dog that keeps charging at its opponent is said to possess “gameness,” and game dogs are revered.

In one way or another, plenty of organizations select for gameness. The Marine Corps does so, and so does medicine, when it puts young doctors through the exhausting rigors of residency. But those who select for gameness have a responsibility not to abuse that trust: if you have men in your charge who would jump off a cliff for you, you cannot march them to the edge of the cliff—and dogfighting fails this test. Gameness, Carl Semencic argues, in “The World of Fighting Dogs” (1984), is no more than a dog’s “desire to please an owner at any expense to itself.” The owners, Semencic goes on,

understand this desire to please on the part of the dog and capitalize on it. At any organized pit fight in which two dogs are really going at each other wholeheartedly, one can observe the owner of each dog changing his position at pit-side in order to be in sight of his dog at all times. The owner knows that seeing his master rooting him on will make a dog work all the harder to please its master.

This is why Michael Vick’s dogs weren’t euthanized. The betrayal of loyalty requires an act of social reparation.

Professional football players, too, are selected for gameness. When Kyle Turley was knocked unconscious, in that game against the Packers, he returned to practice four days later because, he said, “I didn’t want to miss a game.” Once, in the years when he was still playing, he woke up and fell into a wall as he got out of bed. “I start puking all over,” he recalled. “So I said to my wife, ‘Take me to practice.’ I didn’t want to miss practice.” The same season that he was knocked unconscious, he began to have pain in his hips. He received three cortisone shots, and kept playing. At the end of the season, he discovered that he had a herniated disk. He underwent surgery, and four months later was back at training camp. “They put me in full-contact practice from day one,” he said. “After the first day, I knew I wasn’t right. They told me, ‘You’ve had the surgery. You’re fine. You should just fight through it.’ It’s like you’re programmed. You’ve got to go without question— I’m a warrior. I can block that out of my mind . I go out, two days later. Full contact. Two-a-days. My back locks up again. I had re-herniated the same disk that got operated on four months ago, and bulged the disk above it.” As one of Turley’s old coaches once said, “He plays the game as it should be played, all out,” which is to say that he put the game above his own well-being.

Jamil Smith, “ The Necessity of Football ” New Republic , 2015

In this essay, Smith, a onetime associate producer at NFL Films—where his job was to assemble glorifying montages—argues that it actually the inadequacies  of football, and not its saving graces, that make it so necessary to the American experience.

I have no excuse, really. Every time I’ve thought about leaving the sport behind, I remember my favorite photograph: a black-and-white shot my mother took of me in my football uniform in the eighth grade, standing next to my father and smiling after a win. But nostalgia is a reason to love the game, not a reason to need it. Perhaps, then, this is where I should tell you why—even in the wake of Omalu’s revelations—I feel we still need football. Not to rescue the NFL’s largely black labor force from its humble origins, or to entertain the masses that refuse to let it go in the wake of mounting tragedies. We need it partially because football serves as a kind of fun-house mirror for our national character.

The reflection comes in various forms: social movements, national tragedy, political spectacle, and yes, our sports. And we are a dramatic country, so much so that the volume of theatrics we see in every corner of our lives dulls our senses. We need more, and we need it louder. And in spectator sports, we want to see the best versions of ourselves reflected back at us, or else why would we consider it entertainment? We want to believe that inside that arena, everything will be all right because our men are the strongest, and our fight is the hardest. This is why between 2012 and 2015 the Department of Defense paid 18 NFL teams a total of more than $5.6 million for marketing and advertising, including flying military bombers over stadiums at taxpayers’ expense. It’s also why we watch hit montages week after week, delighting in the crack of the pads or the punch of the music without wondering whether that player just got pushed a bit further toward CTE. Football marries artfulness to brutality, providing the most honest interpretation of American character that we have available, and I enjoy football despite its horrors because I have learned to do the same in my life in America.

The problem is that too few of us recognize ourselves in the beauty and the carnage the NFL presents each Sunday. The game won’t change because we’re not changing. I hope a new audience will be exposed to Dr. Bennet Omalu’s story and understand that the only way to get football to change is to present its faults in an uncompromising fashion, pressuring the NFL and those who love the sport to face themselves and do better. Omalu exemplifies a model of America in which its citizens, in virtually every political context, work to change this nation for the better. Abandoning football won’t fix the sport—Americans need it so that, one day, we might learn to see ourselves for who we truly are.

Louisa Thomas, “ Together We Make Football ” Grantland, 2014

A look at the NFL’s history of domestic violence—players who commit it, fans and teams who ignore it—and what that says about sports culture and the myth of football as a “family.”

Domestic violence does not happen on a football field. It happens in bedrooms, cars, parking lots, elevators. Intimate-partner violence and sexual assault are epidemic in the military. They are pervasive in Silicon Valley, on college campuses, in small Alaskan towns. They exist in all countries and in all times. Getting rid of football would do nothing to change this.

And yet there are connections between a culture that sidelines women and disrespects them, a culture that disrespects women and tolerates violence toward them, and a culture that tolerates violence toward them and commits violence toward them. Nearly half—48 percent—of all arrests for violent crimes among NFL players are arrests for domestic violence.

Men have worried that masculinity was under threat for as long as football has been around. The sport as we know it, after all, began during an era and in a class so nervous about decline that there was a condition, neurasthenia, to describe men’s anxiety. The easiest way to prove you were a man was to adopt an attitude of aggression. Those who were vulnerable or different were, and are, not merely unwelcome. It’s as if they were contagious. It is as if they were dangerous.

The NFL calls itself a family. If that’s the case, it’s a family of fathers and sons but not wives and daughters. It’s a family that more closely resembles the mob than a family connected by blood or love. It’s a family that protects its own by cutting others, a family that privileges loyalty over what’s right. But loyalty goes only so far in the NFL—because at some not-so-distant point, the family turns into a business. When concussions enter into it, or salary caps, or age, the family becomes about winning Sunday’s big game or about the business’s bottom line. If it’s a family, then it’s a fucked-up family.

Nicholas Dawidoff, “ The Comprehensive Illusion of Football ” The New Yorker , 2015

Television changes everything—including football.

“Before modern TV, it must have felt more abstractly gladiatorial,” Richard Linklater, the filmmaker, who was himself a Texas high school quarterback, says. We were discussing the way that these days, on television, you can impart personalities to the players and coaches on the screen. The N.F.L. has wired participants for sound and improved its broadcasts’ camera angles and photograph definition. Camera operators pan the field and sidelines for raw reactions. The emotion fans tend to feel most keenly is outrage, and, following along, producers have lately specialized in conveying assorted shades of indignation. We think of Giants coach Tom Coughlin as a man perpetually aggrieved and consider Buffalo Bills coach Rex Ryan a puerile teen-ager—after all, that’s how they behave in our homes. Of course, both men are far more complex. “Once you can see their eyes, everything changes, and you think you know them,” Linklater says. “TV does that—that powerful, possessory bond with the audience. The public might fawn over actors they know from movies, but if they know you from television, they act like they’re a relative. They really think they have access, and they almost consume them.”

Part of football’s appeal is the violence, which gives it the feeling of a real-life action movie. But the violence has always been risky for TV, as well as for the players. Long before there was any public controversy concerning the long-term effects of football-related blows to the head, TV sought to make the game more palatable by magnifying its balletic beauty and deëmphasizing the brute concussive aggression of the hitting. One of the game’s most notorious collisions took place on “Monday Night Football” in 1985, when Giants linebacker Lawrence Taylor sacked Washington Redskins quarterback Joe Theismann. The reverse camera angle revealed Theismann suffering a grotesque compound leg fracture. That was too much reality for family television. In the decades since then, much to the dismay of defensive coaches, the most revealing football rules changes have put restraints on contact and otherwise eased the task of completing passes. Part of this is that America loves touchdowns, and another piece of it is that passing looks prettier on TV. But concerning ourselves with the graceful choreographies of receivers and defensive backs also relieved us of the unsettling responsibility for witnessing what’s going down off-camera.

Paul Solotaroff with Ron Borges, “ The Gangster in the Huddle ” Rolling Stone , 2013

An in-depth profile of former Patriots tight end and convicted murderer Aaron Hernandez—who, four years later, has yet another murder trial coming up in less than two weeks.

Most people, even self-important stars blowing thousands on bottle-shape women, might have simmered down about now. But the 23-year-old Aaron Hernandez wasn’t like most people; for ages, he hadn’t even been like himself. The sweet, goofy kid from Bristol, Connecticut, with the klieg-light smile and ex-thug dad who’d turned his life around to raise two phenom sons– that Aaron Hernandez had barely been heard from in the seven hard years since his father was snatched away, killed in his prime by a medical error that left his boys soul-sick and lost. Once in a great while, the good Aaron would surface, phoning one of his college coaches to tell him he loved him and to talk to the man’s kids for hours, or stopping Robert Kraft, the Patriots’ owner, to kiss him on the cheek and thank him damply. There was such hunger in that kid for a father’s hand, and such greatness itching to get out, that coach after coach had covered for him whenever the bad Aaron showed–the violent, furious kid who was dangerous to all, most particularly, it seems, to his friends.

Robert Lipsyte, “ Donald Trump Represents the Worst of Football Culture ” The Nation , 2017

An essay that bemoans Trump—a failed team owner himself—as emblematic of the worst aspects of “jock-culture”, but looks to Colin Kaepernick and others like him as a ray of hope.

His kind of boastful, bullying, blowfish persona is tolerated in locker rooms (as in sales offices, barracks, trading floors, and legislatures), just as long as the big dog can deliver. Which he has done. It’s no surprise that his close pals and business associates in SportsWorld include two other notorious P.T. Barnums, boxing’s Don King and wrestling’s Vince McMahon (whose wife, Linda, is now Trump’s pick to head the Small Business Administration).

Another typical jock-culture trait is rolling over for the alpha(est) dog in your arena, be it the team leader, coach, owner, or even the president of Russia. One wonders, had Trump become a successful NFL owner, would he have wimped out as completely as New England Patriots’ owner Robert Kraft did when Russian President Vladimir Putin pocketed his Super Bowl ring in 2005 and walked out of their Moscow meeting room with it. It was never returned.

As the season ended, Kaepernick’s teammates awarded him their Len Eshmont Award for “inspirational and courageous play,” making a mockery of reports in the media that he had been alienating the rest of the team. Edwards describes the media and the sports establishment as clueless when it comes to Kaepernick’s growing support among athletes—a phenomenon that promises “some turbulent times over the upcoming Trump era.”

Kaepernick’s most transcendent transgression has been the way he punctured the comfort of football’s sweaty sanctuary, letting in both light and some hard truths—including this reality: that objectified and extravagantly well paid performers can still have real thoughts about the world outside the white lines, a world becoming more and more perilous for those who think Trumpball should not be the national pastime.

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More Girls Are Playing Football. Is That Progress?

By Britni de la Cretaz

• Feb. 2, 2018

More girls are playing high school football , even as the sport draws fewer participants overall in an injury-conscious era.

As part of Super Bowl LII in Minneapolis, the National Football League organized its third Women’s Summit for Friday “to discuss how football and the broader sports world can continue to support the advancement of women on and off the field,” said Kamran Mumtaz, an N.F.L. spokesman.

The sport remains male-dominated, with no women playing in the N.F.L. and few on college teams. But some high school girls, playing on teams of boys, are gaining attention for their achievements.

For example, last fall, the high school quarterback Holly Neher threw a touchdown pass in Florida, making headlines as the first girl known to do so in state history.

And K-Lani Nava, a kicker, became the first girl in Texas to score points in a high school state championship game.

But as a growing body of research suggests that youth tackle football is harmful to children’s brains, not everyone is cheering.

“Why bring girls into it? We should be taking the boys out of it,” said Dr. Robert Stern, director of clinical research for Boston University’s C.T.E. Center, which studies chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the degenerative brain disease caused by repeated blows to the head. “It doesn’t make sense to expose our children to repetitive head impacts during periods of incredible maturation of the most important organ in our body, the brain.”

The number of girls playing tackle football is still low compared to boys — of the 225,000 athletes in Pop Warner youth football programs, for example, just 1,100 are girls. According to the Sports and Fitness Industry Association, of the 5.5 million Americans who report playing tackle football, 596,000 — or 10.9 percent — are female.

It is notable that more girls want to play even as annual survey by the National Association of State High School Federations reported that participation in high school football went down 3.5 percent over the past five years.

Valerie Palmer-Mehta, a professor of communication at Oakland University whose work focuses on women and rhetoric, said the change is evidence of larger cultural shifts.

“We can thank a constellation of cultural forces for women’s involvement in football today, from Title IX to the women’s movement, to strong female athletes who have persisted in pursuing their athletic dreams despite a lack of broader cultural support,” Dr. Palmer-Mehta said.

Team sports like football provide well established social, physical and psychological benefits. But a Boston University study released last year found that kids who played tackle football before age 12 may be at higher risk for emotional and behavioral problems later in life. Another study took MRIs of the brains of kids before and after a single season of tackle football, removing from the study anyone who had a diagnosable concussion . Those researchers found that there was a change in the brain’s white matter after just one season of play. And a study published in January in the journal Brain found the kind of changes typical of C.T.E. in the brains of four teenage athletes who had died after impact injuries.

Dr. Stern said that it is important to understand that the real danger for C.T.E. is not necessarily concussions , but subconcussive impacts. That is, repeated hitting is damaging — even if it doesn’t cause a concussion.

Crystal Sacco, league president and co-founder of Utah Girls Tackle Football , which started in 2015 and is expecting about 400 girls this season, said she doesn’t hear many concerns from parents about their daughters playing tackle football.

“I think they feel safe because they’re playing against other girls,” she said. And Dr. Stern noted that it is not possible to say whether the research — which looked only at boys — can be generalized to include girls because in an all-girls league, the force of the hits could be different.

But several studies have found that in sports with comparable rules between girls and boys, the rates of concussion are actually higher in women. Not only that, a 2012 statement from the American Medical Society for Sports Medicine highlighted research showing that female athletes sustain more concussions than their male counterparts, report more severe symptoms and have a longer duration of recovery than men.

“When it comes to female athletes’ participation — regardless of age — we’re lacking in truly understanding their experience around head injury,” said Donna Duffy, co-director of the Female Brain Project , a research team at the University of North Carolina Greensboro studying head injuries in female athletes. “We’re on the cusp of this; there’s a growing body of literature suggesting that biological sex hormones may be impacted or disrupted when a head injury is sustained.”

But while Dr. Duffy cautions more research is needed, she agrees with other researchers that prepubescent kids should avoid playing tackle football.

Parents whose daughters want to play football may feel they have a difficult decision to make. Several programs suggest flag football as a healthier option for both boys and girls, because they learn the strategy of the game and develop agility skills without risking the injuries of tackling.

Last month, the Concussion Legacy Foundation, composed of doctors and former N.F.L. players, recommended that no children play tackle football before age 14. They’ve created the Flag Football Under 14 program to encourage kids who want to play football to start with flag football until they’re older, and Chris Nowinski, the foundation’s co-founder and chief executive, says those guidelines apply to both boys and girls.

The N.F.L. has also been promoting its flag football program, which partners with U.S.A. Football to allow kids who play flag football to sport the uniform and logo of an N.F.L. team. The N.F.L. Flag program is open to both girls and boys, and according to Mr. Mumtaz, participation increased 45 percent in the past five years to more than 409,000 in 2017.

Girls varsity flag football has been sanctioned as a high school sport in five states. Jen Welter, the first female coach in the N.F.L., founded Grrridiron Girls , a flag football camp program designed to allow girls of all experience levels to participate. Her most recent camp in Boston had 90 participants.

Dr. Welter suggested that if a girl is interested in playing football, rather than shutting down the conversation entirely, parents could discuss what drives her desire to play and consider ways to play safely.

“Flag is one of those ways,” she said, to allow them “to learn about the game and to develop their skills.”

An earlier version of this article gave the wrong date for the N.F.L. Women’s Summit. It was Friday, not Sunday.

How we handle corrections

Inside the World of Sports

Dive deeper into the people, issues and trends shaping professional, collegiate and amateur athletics..

What We Saw at Augusta: Golf enthusiasts regard a trip to the Masters as the stuff of dreams. Here are photos from this year’s tournament .

A Dizzying 3 Weeks: At times, Shohei Ohtani, baseball’s biggest star, seemed in danger of being tainted by a gambling scandal , before his longtime interpreter was charged with fraud.

A Soccer Team With Free Matches: When Paris F.C. made its tickets free, it began an experiment into the connection between fans and teams , and posed a question about the value of big crowds to televised sports.

Minor League Baseball’s Real Estate: The fight over a new stadium for the Eugene Emeralds  highlights a wider challenge for cheaper alternatives to big-league live sports.

New York’s Favorite Soccer Team: Some people splurge on vacations, fancy shoes and motorcycles. A group of dozens of friends, neighbors and co-workers decided to try something better (or maybe worse): They bought a middling soccer team in Denmark .

Here Comes Padel: The sport is played with a racket on a court with a net, but watch out for those bouncing shots from the back wall. Reporters take a look at the padel scene in New York City .

Football Narrative

This essay will present a narrative exploring the cultural and emotional significance of football. It will delve into why football is more than just a game for many, encompassing community, passion, and identity. Additionally, PapersOwl presents more free essays samples linked to Football.

How it works

Growing up in a town with a rich football tradition is difficult, every parent wants to see their child grow up through the school district, and shine under the lights on Friday evenings. Even growing up in the township meant going to one of the two high school games every Friday night, watching on from the stands wishing you could be one of the starting 11 players out on the field. The tradition motivates you to be the best that you can, and to live the dream of being a varsity football player.

However, no athlete can fulfill this dream without hard work and determination. From personal experience, I know that football doesn’t always go your way, but you must learn to never give up.

In fifth grade, I learned right away that not everyone was cut out to be a football player. I didn’t play all that much in the fifth and sixth grade and would only go in every few plays. I was considered the ‘bench-warmer’ of the team. I knew that I wasn’t as good as the other players on my team, but I didn’t let that bother me. I still went to practice, I still ran my sprints, and I still tried to apply myself as being the best teammate I could be. My parents would ask me if I wanted to go to practice, knowing that I didn’t have a big role on the team, and I would always go anyways. My coach at the time would always push me to be better, and would always tell me to “strive for perfection”. I knew that he saw some potential in me, but I never would have guessed that my 5th and 6th grade coach would have such a big impact on me later in life.

In middle school, I decided that I would sit out my 7th grade year and I wasn’t sure if I would play football again. I wasn’t as big or as fast as the other football players in my grade, and I wasn’t sure if I was cut out for football. Then, I remembered the sense of honor that I felt when putting on my jersey in the 5th/6th grades and I decided that I needed to come back and play in the 8th grade. I was the last string wide receiver in 8th grade, which meant that I saw limited time. The lack of playing time didn’t bother me though, because I knew that some kids were just naturally better than me. I knew that the only way that I was going to play was by hitting the weight room and increasing my speed.

My freshman year was when I really started to realize my purpose in football. My freshman year of football began while I was still attending middle school, solely because I would workout with the varsity football team everyday after school. While working out, I always used my lack of playing time as motivation to work harder. I promised myself that year that I would start on the freshman squad, and would finally get a chance to showcase my talents.

The practices were increasingly hard compared to middle school, but I wasn’t phased and managed to start in the first game that year. I played cornerback and outside linebacker as a freshman. Starting as a freshman was a big deal for me, but it didn’t compare to my ultimate goal of playing on the varsity squad that I grew up watching for so many years. My sophomore year went much like my freshman year, except I would now be practicing with the varsity squad while playing on the junior varsity team.

The players on the varsity squad seemed like giants, and set the bar very high. I was working towards being one of them, and I knew that if I wanted to be like them I would have to work as hard as them on and off the field. Playing junior varsity also meant walking out with the varsity team on Friday nights, I could sense the pride from the locker room, to the pre game speech, to the National Anthem being played just before kickoff. I enjoyed playing on the junior varsity squad, it was where all my friends were playing and it was the first time I really enjoyed playing football. The following year was my junior year of football, and I finally started to get reps with the varsity defense.

I played outside linebacker for yet another year, along with three other seniors. We lost many coaches that year, however like a ghost from the past my fifth/sixth grade coach came to coach the varsity squad. It was very surreal seeing him come to my varsity practices , the same way he did when I was just 12 and 13 years old. The entire offseason going into the season of 2013, he coached my like he had done before. Finally, it all paid off when I played in my first varsity game in front of thousands of fans including my parents, peers, and coaches. I felt that sense of pride that I had been wishing to feel ever since I first became familiar with varsity football.

Everyone wants to strive to be the best that they can be, and that’s what I did. I worked hard to make sure that I would get my chance to show what I could do. Playing varsity football seemed like a monumental goal to me, but bit-by-bit i achieved what I had been chipping away at for years. Most importantly though, I feel like I can sense the pride from my parents, knowing that their son is doing something that not many teenagers can say they do. As I continue to play football for my high school, I will never forget the pride and tradition that comes along with it.

Cite this page

Football Narrative. (2019, Oct 28). Retrieved from https://papersowl.com/examples/football-narrative/

"Football Narrative." PapersOwl.com , 28 Oct 2019, https://papersowl.com/examples/football-narrative/

PapersOwl.com. (2019). Football Narrative . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/football-narrative/ [Accessed: 23 Apr. 2024]

"Football Narrative." PapersOwl.com, Oct 28, 2019. Accessed April 23, 2024. https://papersowl.com/examples/football-narrative/

"Football Narrative," PapersOwl.com , 28-Oct-2019. [Online]. Available: https://papersowl.com/examples/football-narrative/. [Accessed: 23-Apr-2024]

PapersOwl.com. (2019). Football Narrative . [Online]. Available at: https://papersowl.com/examples/football-narrative/ [Accessed: 23-Apr-2024]

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333 Football Research Topics & Essay Titles

Football is a game that millions of people around the world enjoy watching and playing. With 3.57 billion views of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, this sport appears to be the most popular. Besides, each match is more than just a game — football is all about passion, skill, and teamwork.

In this article, our expert team has collected great football topics to write about and research that you can use for your school or college assignments.

🔝 Top 12 Football Topics to Write About

✍️ football writing prompts, 📝 football titles for essays, 🗣️ football speech topics, 💡 football topics for presentation, 🔎 football research topics, ⚽ football essay outline, 🔗 references.

• The history of football.
• Football as the world’s most popular ball game.
• The development of modern football.
• The greatest football moments.
• Why do tactics play a vital role in football?
• Football as a traumatic kind of sport.
• What is football’s most prestigious competition?
• The legends of American football.
• The impact of football on society.
• Advantages of playing football.
• Men’s and women’s football.
• The issue of racism in football.

Are you looking for some prompts on the football topic? Then you are at the right place! Below, you can find ideas for writing your essay.

Why Football Is the Best Sport: Essay Prompt

Football is a global sport that connects practically everyone on the planet. It has the power to bring an entire city or nation to a standstill. In the essay that explains why football is the best game, you can share your own experience or the emotions of your friend who is passionate about this game. Also, you can list the reasons why people love this sport. For example:

• Football connects millions of people.
• There are no age restrictions to enjoy the match.
• The world’s best talents are football players, such as Lionel Messi.
• Watching or participating in football evokes genuine emotions.

Prompt for Panyee Football Club Essay

Have you ever heard about a football club that is floating on water? Panyee FC is one of them! Since there is not enough space on the island, football fans and players built a football pitch in the middle of the sea. Find the answers to the following questions about Panyee Football Club and use this information in your essay:

• What is the history behind Panyee Football Club?
• Why is a Panyee FC pitch built on water?
• What are the core values of Panyee Football Club?
• Can we say that Panyee FC is a symbol of passion for football?

Why Football Is Dangerous: Essay Prompt

The fact that football has the greatest injury rate of any other kind of sport should not come as a surprise. Football players often incur injuries like ankle sprains, knee injuries, concussions, and acromioclavicular sprains. In your essay on the dangers of football, you can raise the following questions:

• Why is it so easy for football players to get injured?
• What types of injuries are most common during a football game?
• What precautions must be taken to prevent trauma?
• How does injury impact the future career of a football player?

Prompt for Essay on Concussions in Football

While every sport has some risk of getting hurt, football, as a high-impact sport , is infamous for causing severe injuries. Concussions are a common injury among football players. They happen when the head is hit hard enough to cause a minor brain injury. To research the topic of concussions in football, write your essay based on the following aspects:

• The effect of concussion on the brain.
• Statistics on concussion in American football.
• Medical concussion protocol.
• The recovery process after a concussion.
• Screening procedures examining football players for brain damage.

If you’re looking for the most engaging football essay titles, check out the ideas we’ve collected below!

Topics for a Descriptive Essay on a Football Game

• The thrill of a last-minute goal in football.
• The intensity of the players’ warm-up and last-minute preparations.
• Sports psychologist: working with athletes .
• The different styles of play in football around the world.
• The rapid movement of players and the choreography of their tactics.
• The role of a coach in football.
• Capturing the joys and frustrations of the players and fans.
• The interaction between players and referees: decisions, protests, and resolutions.
• A description of a football stadium and its architecture.
• The art of dribbling in football.
• How do players and fans celebrate a goal?
• Describing pre-match rituals and superstitions in football.
• How do fans create a supportive atmosphere for their team during the game?
• The joy and excitement of attending a live football match.
• Describing how coaches handle their emotions on the sidelines.
• The description of food served during the football game.
• The magnetic pull of the scoreboard: watching the numbers change.
• The vibrant fan gear and merchandise in a football stadium.
• The drama of penalty kicks: tension, hope, and heartbreak.
• The description of a goalkeeper’s save.
• The sounds of the football match.

Football Argumentative Essay Topics

• Is football too dangerous for young children to play?
• Does football develop leadership skills and teamwork?
• Title IX in the female sports development .
• College football players should be paid for their performance on the field.
• Should football stadiums have stricter security measures?
• Is the use of performance-enhancing drugs in football acceptable?
• Reasons why the NFL should expand to include more teams.
• Why paying college athletes is beneficial .
• Is the NFL doing enough to prevent concussions and other injuries in players?
• Should football games be played on artificial turf or natural grass?
• Is it ethical for colleges to recruit high school football players?
• Should players be allowed to protest during games?
• Does youth sports play a part in the character formation ?
• Reasons why cheerleading should be considered a sport in football.
• Should the Super Bowl be considered a national holiday?
• The economic influence of football: the benefits and costs.
• Is football too focused on commercialization and profit?
• Should football players be allowed to use marijuana for medical purposes ?
• The NFL should have a shorter season to reduce the risk of injuries to players.
• Using performance-enhancing drugs in the world of sport .
• Should college football teams be allowed to schedule games against non-college teams, such as high school teams?
• Should the NFL have a salary cap to ensure fairness among teams?
• Football players should wear full body armor to reduce injuries.
• Is football too expensive for schools and communities to support?
• Should the NFL allow players to use alternative therapies for pain management ?
• Should football players be required to take regular drug tests ?
• Should the NFL have stricter penalties for players who break the rules, such as suspensions or fines?
• Children participation in sports .
• Football players should take classes on financial management to prepare for life after football.
• Should the NFL have a quota for hiring minority coaches and executives?
• High school football players should pass a physical exam before being allowed to play.
• Should the NFL have stricter rules on player conduct off the field?
• College football players should be allowed to transfer to other schools without penalty.
• Should the NFL have a policy on players using social media ?
• Football players should attend media training to prepare for interviews and press conferences.
• Sport psychology: biases and influence of external rewards .
• Should the NFL have a policy on players participating in political activism ?
• Football players should undergo regular psychological evaluations.
• Should the NFL have a policy on players using alcohol and drugs off the field?
• Should football players be required to wear protective eyewear to reduce eye injuries?
• College football teams should provide mental health resources for their players.
• Should high school football teams limit the number of weekly practices to reduce the risk of injuries?
• Paying college athletes: reinforcing privilege or promoting growth ?
• Should college football players be allowed to unionize?
• Should football be banned in schools to protect students from injuries?
• Is playing football in college detrimental to academics?
• Should college football players be allowed to hire agents?

Ideas for a Narrative Essay about Football

• The first time I stepped onto the football field: an unforgettable experience.
• Overcoming adversity: how I bounced back from a football injury.
• A story of teamwork : how football taught me the value of collaboration.
• The most memorable football match I have ever witnessed.
• Coping with stress in athletes .
• The importance of football in building lifelong friendships.
• From underdog to champion: my journey with the football team.
• A day in the life of a football player: behind the scenes.
• The role of football in shaping my identity.
• A tale of rivalry: the intense football match against our arch-nemesis.
• The impact of football on my physical fitness and well-being.
• How a football coach changed my life.
• The thrill of scoring the winning goal: a football victory to remember.
• The evolution of football: from my grandfather’s time to the modern era.
• A football match that taught me the importance of humility .
• The emotional rollercoaster of supporting a football team.
• Lessons learned from defeat: how football taught me resilience .
• A football game that tested my leadership skills.
• Football and community: how the sport brings people together.
• A football camp experience: training, team building , and friendship.
• From fan to player: fulfilling my football dream.

Football Essay Topics: Compare and Contrast

• Regular football vs. American football: a comparative analysis.
• Lionel Messi vs. Cristiano Ronaldo: contrasting two football legends.
• Comparing football and soccer .
• College football vs. professional football: similarities and differences.
• The World Cup vs. the Super Bowl: contrasting two major football events.
• The roles and impact of offensive and defensive players.
• The Premier League vs. La Liga: comparing two dominant football leagues.
• Contrasting playing styles and cultural significance of football in Europe and South America.
• Club football vs. international football: examining the differences in competition and loyalty.
• Football stadiums vs. arenas: comparing the experiences of live football events.
• The similarities and differences between Olympic football and FIFA World Cup.
• Football in the past vs. modern-day football.
• Comparing the roles and responsibilities of quarterbacks and goalkeepers.
• Football fan culture in Europe vs. the US: contrasting fan traditions and behaviors.
• Amateur football vs. professional football.
• Football uniforms vs. gear: analyzing the equipment used in the sport.
• Comparing and contrasting famous football team rivalries.
• Football team dynamics vs. individual brilliance: contrasting the impact of teamwork and individual performances.
• Football referees vs. video assistant referees (VAR).
• Club vs. country: comparing the passion and loyalty for club and national teams.
• Football and injuries: comparing the risk and types of injuries in the sport.
• Football leagues during the pandemic vs. regular seasons.
• Football commentary vs. live match experience: comparing the different ways of engaging with the sport.
• The impact of football on local vs. global economies.
• Football documentaries vs. fictional football movies.
• The role of football in promoting diversity vs. perpetuating stereotypes.
• Football fandom vs. player idolization: contrasting how fans engage with the sport.
• Comparing the traditional grass pitches vs. artificial turf.
• The impact of social media on football vs. traditional media.
• Comparing the challenges of football in different weather conditions .
• Football in mainstream culture vs. football subcultures.
• The health benefits of football vs. injuries and health risks.
• Betting in football vs. gambling .
• The cultural significance of football in different regions.
• Football literature vs. football films: contrasting different forms of storytelling about the sport.
• Football stadiums: traditional vs. modern architecture .
• College football vs. professional football: differences in gameplay and culture.
• Offensive vs. defensive strategies: which is more important?
• Comparing traditional and modern football training methods.
• The history of football in America and Europe.
• Injuries in football vs. soccer: which sport is more dangerous?

American Football Topics

• The evolution of American football: from its origins to the present day.
• The impact of race on American football.
• Concussions and brain injuries in American football.
• The psychology of football: understanding the mental game of players and coaches.
• The role of women in American football: from cheerleaders to coaches and executives.
• The strategies and tactics used in American football.
• The role of coaches in American football: leadership and game planning.
• The significance of the offensive line in American football.
• The impact of college football on the NFL.
• The influence of the media on American football.
• The role of the head coach in American football.
• The importance of physical fitness in American football.
• The impact of technology on American football: from instant replay to virtual reality training.
• The economic impact and financial aspects of American football.
• The history of Super Bowl halftime shows.
• American football and national identity.
• The impact of weather on American football games.
• The influence of player protests on American football.
• The role of American football in the entertainment industry (movies, TV shows, etc.).
• The development of American football youth programs: benefits and challenges.
• The importance of the running back in the offense in American football.
• The role of the defensive line in stopping the run and rushing the passer in American football.
• The influence of American football on sports marketing and sponsorship.
• The impact of fan behavior on American football.
• Exploring the legacy of American football’s great players and their impact on the sport.
• The influence of a new coach on team culture and performance in American football.
• The consequences of player suspensions in American football.
• Player trades in American football: exploring how teams acquire new talent.
• American football and sportsmanship: fair play and ethical considerations.
• The impact of player injuries on American football: exploring the recovery process.
• The role of American football in building teamwork and camaraderie.
• The impact of American football on society’s perception of masculinity .
• The history and cultural significance of American football rivalries.
• The role of American football in promoting community engagement and volunteerism.
• The influence of American football on US pop culture.
• American football and social justice : protests, activism, and athlete empowerment.
• The role of American football in public health and fitness initiatives.
• The ethics of sports gambling in American football.
• American football and sports diplomacy: international relations and competitions.
• The future of American football: challenges and opportunities.

Are you looking for exciting football topics to talk about? Check out our suggestions for persuasive and informative speeches about this sport!

Football Persuasive Speech Topics

• The benefits of playing football for overall physical fitness.
• The importance of youth football programs in fostering teamwork.
• Kids and sports: lack of professional sports guides .
• The positive impact of football on character development and leadership skills.
• The role of football in promoting gender equality and inclusion.
• The economic benefits of hosting major football events like the World Cup or Super Bowl.
• The need for increased safety measures and concussion protocols in football.
• The necessity of providing proper healthcare and support for retired football players.
• The role of football in breaking down cultural and racial barriers.
• Balancing college sports and academic mission .
• The benefits of investing in football infrastructure and facilities for communities.
• The positive influence of football in reducing youth involvement in crime and drugs.
• The potential of football as a tool for empowering disadvantaged communities.
• The role of football in promoting a healthy and active lifestyle among fans and spectators.
• The benefits of including football as part of the physical education curriculum in schools.
• The positive effects of football in promoting national pride.
• Corporate social responsibility in sports organizations .
• The use of football as a platform for raising awareness and funds for charitable causes.
• The importance of football in boosting tourism and international visibility of cities.
• The potential of football in fostering international diplomacy and cultural exchange.
• The importance of providing equal opportunities for females in football at all levels.
• The impact of football on local economies through job creation and tourism revenue.
• The significance of iconic moments in football history.

Football Informative Speech Topics

• The different positions in football and their roles.
• The psychology of football fans and their passion for the game.
• Agencies in the international football industry .
• Famous football stadiums around the world and their significance.
• The rules and regulations of football: understanding the game’s structure.
• The role of referees and their importance in enforcing the rules of football.
• Positive self-talk and its impact on athletes .
• The evolution of football equipment: from leather balls to high-tech gear.
• The most successful football clubs in history and their achievements.
• Exploring the tactics and strategies used in modern football.
• The science behind successful football coaching.
• Sports coaching career and its history .
• Football rivalries: the history and intensity behind classic match-ups.
• The art of scoring goals: techniques and skills of top goal scorers.
• Football and media: the influence of broadcasting and coverage on the sport.
• The psychological aspects of football: mental preparation and performance.
• The cultural impact of football around the world.
• The development and growth of women’s football.
• Physical therapy services for sports injuries .
• The importance of nutrition and fitness in football.
• The significance of football academies in nurturing young talent.
• The role of technology in modern football: VAR, goal-line technology, and more.
• Football hooliganism : understanding the causes and efforts to combat it.
• Famous football managers and their managerial styles: strategies for success.

If you need compelling topics about football for your presentation, here are some ideas you can consider:

• The FIFA World Cup: the most significant event in international football.
• Techniques and skills in football: dribbling, shooting, passing, and more.
• Leadership development in football management .
• The rules and regulations in football.
• Football tactics: exploring different formations and strategic approaches.
• Famous football players of all times: their achievements and impact on the sport.
• Football and sports injuries: common types, prevention, and treatment.
• Steroid use effects on professional young athletes .
• Football stadiums around the world: architecture and unique features.
• The business side of football: sponsorship, transfer fees, and revenue streams.
• Football and social media: the influence of digital platforms on the sport.
• Football documentaries and films: capturing the drama and passion of the sport.
• The effects of football on fashion and popular culture.
• Virtual reality technology in soccer referee training .
• The financial impact of football on cities and regions.
• Football and sports journalism: media coverage and analysis of the sport.
• Football stats and analytics: how data is revolutionizing the sport.
• The causes and consequences of fan violence in football.
• The cultural rituals and traditions associated with football matches.
• Football and the environment: sustainable practices and stadiums.
• The impact of football on tourism.
• Health care site: fitness, sports, and nutrition .
• Football and celebrity culture: players as icons and brand ambassadors.
• Football in video games: the popularity of virtual football experiences.
• The importance of infrastructure in hosting major football events.
• Football tactics in different eras: from Catenaccio to Tiki-Taka.
• Football and broadcasting: the growth of televised matches and media rights.
• Football training drills for improving agility and speed.
• Physical activity and sports team participation .
• Strategies for effective team communication on the football field.
• The importance of proper warm-up exercises in preventing injuries in football.
• Tips for strengthening and conditioning specific muscle groups for football players.
• Defensive formations and tactics for shutting down opponents in football.
• Analyzing football game films to improve performance and strategy.
• Recovering from football injuries: rehabilitation exercises and protocols.
• Sports-related problems and conflicts .
• Sports psychology techniques for boosting confidence and mental resilience in football.
• Nutrition and hydration guidelines for optimal performance in football.
• The connection between globalization and football.
• The role of stretching routines in preventing muscle imbalances in football players.
• Practical strategies for successful penalty shootouts in football.
• Steroid usage in professional sports .
• Football scouting and player evaluation techniques for talent identification.
• The use of technology in football training and performance analysis.
• Football equipment maintenance and safety guidelines for players.
• Preparing and executing penalty kicks in pressure situations in football.
• Advanced passing techniques in football: long passes, through balls, and more.

Do you need to write a research paper about football but don’t know where to start? Consider our list of football research questions and topics:

• How have football tactics evolved over the past decade?
• The impact of technology on decision-making in football.
• Business industry: trend analysis for soccer .
• The psychology of team cohesion and its effects on football performance.
• What is the role of nutrition and diet in optimizing football players’ performance?
• What is the relationship between football and concussions?
• How do FIFA World Cup events affect host countries’ economies?
• What is the carbon footprint of major football events?
• The effects of climate conditions on football matches.
• Shortage of officials at the high school sports level .
• The influence of social media on football players’ image and brand.
• The role of VAR in the fairness of football matches.
• The impact of home-field advantage in professional football.
• How does the football stadium atmosphere affect player performance?
• The rise of women’s football and its impact on gender equality.
• The economic implications of football player transfers and fees.
• The correlation between a team’s wage bill and on-pitch success.
• Factors influencing fan loyalty in football.
• Research handbook of employment relations in sport .
• The role of leadership and coaching in a team’s success.
• The impact of sponsorship deals on football clubs’ financial stability.
• The relationship between player positioning and successful goal scoring.
• The effects of VAR on the emotions and behavior of fans during football matches.
• How does football influence youth development and participation in sport?
• How can big data analytics improve football performance and decision-making?
• The effects of football on cultural identity and national pride.
• How do sports affect disabled people psychologically ?
• The impact of football on the local community and economy.
• The influence of crowd noise on football referee decisions.
• The role of sports psychology in enhancing football performance.
• The impact of financial fair play regulations on football clubs.
• How does football betting affect match outcomes and integrity?
• The cultural significance of football chants and songs in fan culture.
• Steroid abuse in the world of sports .
• The influence of doping scandals on the reputation of football players and clubs.
• The role of football in promoting social inclusion and breaking down barriers.
• How do international football competitions affect tourism?
• The effects of player transfers on team dynamics and performance.
• The correlation between player height and success in football.
• The influence of different playing surfaces on football player performance and injury rates.
• How do referees maintain fairness and order in football matches?
• Achievement motivation theory in sports psychology .
• The impact of football on academic performance and school attendance.
• The role of football hooliganism in shaping public perceptions of the sport.
• The influence of football sponsorship on brand image and consumer behavior.
• The effects of football on social integration and community cohesion.
• How do rule changes affect football game dynamics?
• The influence of football on individual and societal gender norms.
• Sports analysis: steroids and HGH in sports .
• Investigating the impact of celebrity endorsement on football merchandise sales.
• The role of technology in improving football player performance and injury prevention.
• The correlation between alcohol consumption and football-related violence.
• The impact of fan protests and boycotts on football clubs and leagues.
• The effects of retirement on the mental well-being of former professional football players.
• The influence of football on urban development and infrastructure investment.
• How does football affect students’ academic motivation and educational attainment?
• The impact of football on destination marketing in tourism.

Structuring your essay on football is a piece of cake, and we’re going to prove it! Follow our mini guide with valuable tips and examples!

Football Essay Introduction

The first paragraph of an essay is crucial to creating a strong paper. A successful introduction often starts by addressing broad ideas related to the essay’s topic. Follow the steps below to write a compelling introduction:

1. Start with a hook.

Make a good first impression by using a captivating hook . In football essays, it can include a surprising fact, statistics, a question, or a relevant quote. Here’s an example:

What is the one thing that can unite a country and foster its pride? Yes, it is football!

2. Provide background information.

Give essential details on the essay’s main subject. This part can include the history of your topic, an explanation of key terms, and anything that can help your reader understand the context of your issue.

Football is a group of team sports that involve kicking a ball to score goals.

3. End with a thesis statement.

Put a concise thesis statement at the end to outline your motivation for the paper and present central arguments. Let’s talk about this element in detail.

Thesis Statement about Football

The thesis statement is a sentence expressing the primary idea of a piece of writing and guiding the thoughts within the work.

There are several steps that you should take to develop a thesis statement:

• Research information on your issue.
• Limit your topic to a specific area.
• Brainstorm to come up with interesting ideas.

Look at the example of a football thesis statement:

Football offers the chance to feel pride for the favorite team and positively impacts physical, social, and emotional development.

Essay about Football: Body Paragraphs

The main body of an essay is the most crucial part where you deliver your arguments. Here are some tips on writing a good body paragraph:

• Start with a topic sentence to capture the key points.
• Provide additional information to support your opinion.
• Use a transition sentence to get to the next paragraph smoothly.

Here’s an example of what your topic sentence and supporting evidence might look like:

Topic sentence : Football requires effective communication and listening skills since the game will not work without them. Supporting evidence : Communication helps athletes perform and focus better on the pitch and improves the decision-making process.

Conclusion for Football Essay

A conclusion brings your discussion to a close. The following outline may assist you in completing your essay:

• Restate your thesis.
• Explain why your topic is significant.
• Summarize the core points.
• Call for action or provide an overview of future research opportunities

Check out an example of a paraphrased thesis and the summary of the main points:

Rephrased thesis : Football is a fascinating sport with many societal benefits. Summary : To sum up, football can be considered a hobby, a sport, or an obsession. But still, its most important role is to unite people or even entire countries.

We hope you will find our football topics to write about and research beneficial! Want to receive some more ideas? Try our free online title generator ! Just click the button, and the result will not keep you waiting!

• Health and Wellness | The Football Players Health Study at Harvard University
• Sports | Harvard Business School
• Head Injuries & American Football | McCombs School of Business
• Research | Global Sport Institute
• University Archives: History of Football | Marquette University
• NCAA and the Movement to Reform College Football | Library of Congress
• Medical Issues in Women’s Football | National Library of Medicine
• Football Injuries | University of Rochester Medical Center
• Head to Head: The National Football League & Brain Injury | NYU Langone Health

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Why I Quit High School Football

I’d waited my whole life to play, but the hits and the pain outweighed my desire for glory.

by Rian Bosse | April 14, 2015

I wore football pads, real pads, like the pros wear, for the first time when I was 12 years old, walking out onto the practice field at the start of my seventh grade season, moms and dads cheering the entire team on before we ran our first wind sprint. I felt so much anticipation before heading out on to that field. I made sure the foam guards fit snug around my knees and thighs and that the contraption wrapped around my shoulders and chest wouldn’t give. I saw the world through a facemask when I put my helmet on, something I’d only experienced through toy helmets up to that point in my life. My full sprint stopped immediately, shoulder pads pulled up to my throat, the full weight of the player cutting off the air in my windpipe.

All I could think about was how I had waited my whole life for this. I could feel the glory of doing something big, making some catch or tackle in a varsity game in the years to come. I had no idea that I’d be done with football only four years later, that I’d leave the game by my own choice before I finished high school. I quit organized ball my sophomore year without giving any reasons to my coaches or ever really coming up with one for myself.

It wasn’t until the weeks leading up to my graduation from college in 2012 that I found my reason, something I think I knew all along. One of my favorite players, one of the most energetic and enthusiastic linebackers of all time, Junior Seau, was found dead after taking his own life. It sparked a national conversation about the physical toll the game takes on players, especially on professional players who dedicate years to what is potentially killing them. For me, it was a realization of how much I hated the pain everyone experiences playing. Of course, Seau experienced a lot more pain than I ever did. Tests revealed he suffered from CTE, a type of chronic brain damage that was later found in many other players, most likely caused by repetitive hits to the head. But I was finally honest with myself. I quit playing football all those years before because I was afraid of getting hurt. I couldn’t tell anyone at the time, including myself, because of the stigma against quitters, against those who couldn’t take the pain required to play, especially in the conservative part of rural Minnesota where I grew up. There’s so much ritual, so much rite of passage associated with playing junior high and high school football, that quitting is almost akin to leaving a cult.

With how important football is to my family, I remained a loyal fan of both my college and professional teams, but I never played another down. In a family ingrained with football culture that is especially difficult. My father loves to tell stories about the game. From watching his favorite team, the Browns, as a kid growing up in Ohio to attending some of the greatest games in the Orange Bowl when he moved to South Florida as an adult. Even more, he loves telling stories from his days playing.

My older brother, who also quit before he finished high school, likes to talk about the time he broke the leg of the coach’s son in a tackling drill during a summer practice his final season. Though he’s in his thirties now, I can see whenever he tells it that the story still carries a sense of achievement for him.

These two men taught me the game, my father who threw me routes in our back yard, who told me to always come down with the ball whenever it was thrown too high, even if it meant a terrifying hit from a defender. And my brother, who chased me all through the house, picked me up, and threw me down wherever he could, always trying to hit me hardest so I’d be ready for the real thing someday.

Yet I have no football stories to tell, at least no stories of personal glory, no big games that I helped win or hard hits I put on other players. The only memories I really have of the game are times I felt terrible pain, times I really questioned why I even played at all.

The first time was eighth grade, in a game we lost by some large margin, which was how most of our games turned out. I ran with the ball towards the sideline when an opposing player dove and caught my shoulder pads at the back just below the neck, what’s known as a “horse collar” tackle. My full sprint stopped immediately, shoulder pads pulled up to my throat, the full weight of the player cutting off the air in my windpipe.

When I popped up in front of my coach, gasping for air, eyes already watering from the sudden pain, he knew immediately that I wanted to sit out the next few plays.

Frustrated by the score, maybe misreading how hurt I actually was, he yelled, “Fine! Get on the bench!”

I walked over, gasping, trying to breathe through thick mucus that had suddenly formed in my throat, what I thought was blood. I started to cry. To this day, I can’t remember if I played again in that game. I do remember an odd wheeze in my throat for a week or so after.

Still, I pressed on for two more years, that dream of playing in a big game taking me back to the first practice each summer, until another incident when I was a player on the junior varsity. It happened during tackling drills we ran as a team with the older juniors and seniors. In one line was the offense that, one by one, picked up a ball and sprinted over three tackling dummies before trying to avoid a single defender on the other end. The defense, in the other line, took turns popping up off their backs after the whistle, trying to tackle the guy coming at them with the ball.

Somehow I paired up with one of the biggest defensive seniors on the team. He was, I remember, always a nice enough guy outside of football, but turned agitated and mean with the excitement of the drill. After the coach blew the whistle, I only made it to the last dummy. Trying to take the last step over, I caught this senior’s shoulder pad in mid air just above the chest. My helmet popped half off, the chin guard caught on my throat. The world went black for a second and, once I staggered to my feet, I “saw stars” for the first time in my life. Head ringing, I stumbled back to the end of the line. For what it’s worth, the coach complimented my bravery getting back up.

A year later, I tried to forget the whole thing as I sat at home alone while another round of summer practices started a new season. I never wanted to feel pain like that again.

Reflecting on this aspect of my past after Seau’s death and the national discussion on head trauma that followed made me realize that I am part of the last generation to play football before its serious injuries, especially head injuries, were ever a consideration. Between 2010 and 2012, years that coincide with what many consider to be the “concussion crisis” in the NFL, participation in the youth football program Pop Warner dropped 9.5 percent, according to ESPN. I graduated high school in 2007. As someone who really does love the game, it’s difficult to see the number of young players entering high school drop across the country. It’s even more difficult to know I was one of them.

But if the game is going to survive, it’s important to realize that people like me do have stories to tell, just not the ones of glory and triumph. It’s not to make accommodations for weaker players, but to realize the game’s dangerous potential and make changes to an ultra-competitive culture that desperately needs it.

I don’t think you can ever make football entirely safe. I don’t think you ever need to. But a game isn’t enjoyable when it becomes something more than a game, especially something that leaves so much destruction and defeat behind.

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Who will break out? Top 10 Arizona high school football spring storylines

Some Arizona high school football teams are beginning spring football workouts this week, while many more start next week. Schools are maneuvering ways to get their players together without interrupting spring sports teams and finals.

Here are The Arizona Republic 's top 10 storylines to follow during spring workouts, which bring college football coaches from all over the country to get a glimpse of next season's top high school players.

1. Who's QB1?

Who's next at Peoria Liberty and Chandler Basha to lead the offense? Liberty loses two-time Gatorade Arizona high school football Player of the Year Navi Bruzon, who is a walk-on quarterback for Arizona State. Basha loses four-year starting quarterback Demond Williams Jr., who could be Washington's QB1. Those two both won an Open state championship in their career and combined to win 44 games over the past two seasons.

So, who does Liberty coach Colin Thomas and Basha coach Chris McDonald turn to this spring? It could be a competition that runs through not only three weeks of spring ball, but through June 7-on-7s, and into August. But there is no doubt these programs won't be hurting at the position.

2. Changing of the guard

Can Scottsdale Saguaro still compete for a championship? Do the Sabercats have what it takes to get back into the Open? Darius Kelly will find out soon enough as he steps into the head coaching role, the third head coach in three years for a program that is used to winning championships. About 10 players have transferred out since the end of last season. But a few elite players have transferred in.

3. Hanging on

Where does Goodyear Desert Edge go from here, after co-head coaches Marcus and Mark Carter stepped down last week after the AIA placed the program on probation for the school's self-reported recruiting violation? On Tuesday, the AIA will hear Desert Edge's appeal to try to get the probation, which imposes a post-season ban for the 2024 season, rescinded. This is a program that could challenge for a state title. How will the players respond?

4. Westside takeover

Peoria schools Liberty and Centennial meeting in the Open final last season might be put on repeat, after both schools received several marquee transfers since winter. How Centennial coach Richard Taylor and Liberty coach Colin Thomas can put them in the right places and keep team chemistry strong will determine whether they meet again for the Open state title.

5. Coaching dominoes

There have been more than 50 coaching changes in the offseason, slightly more than the annual average in Arizona. Will Andy Litten turn Mesa Mountain View into a title contender after leaving Scottsdale Horizon? Can Jeremy Hathcock tap into the gold mine at Buckeye Verrado after leaving his alma mater Lakeside Blue Ridge? Will Mike Zdebski turn it around at Surprise Shadow Ridge after leading Chandler Hamilton to the Open every year? Can former Hamilton quarterback Travis Dixon lead the Huskies to the Open title in his first year?

6. Brophy's NFL pipeline

The Broncos might have the best offensive line in the state, with top 2025 recruit Logan Powell ready for a full season and the tremendous growth of Jorden Cunningham and Anderson Kopp ready for a monster season. But Brophy might be on the verge of Open greatness with the son of former NFL players in a tremendous 2026 class: wide receivers Daylen Sharper and Devin Fitzgerald, quarterback Case Vanden Bosch and outside linebacker Bastian Vanden Bosch.

7. Switching ALA schools

American Leadership Academy schools keep popping up all over the Valley. Joe Germaine, former coach at Mountain View, is now leading the new one in Mesa. But a lot of the focus will be on ALA Gilbert North, where Ty Detmer replaces fired coach and athletic director Randy Ricedorff , who was let go over his decisions related to junior running back Talan Renner after Preston Lord's death. Renner played two more games after Lord was brutally beaten to death, which led to the arrest and first-degree murder charges of seven individuals, including Renner.

Detmer was moved from ALA Queen Creek, where he led that program to three straight Open appearances. Detmer seems like the perfect guy to try to clean up at ALA Gilbert North.

8. Hidden talents

Every once in a while, college coaches find hidden talents during their trips to high school spring football practices. Tempe quarterback Saul Mendez and Tempe McClintock quarterback Jaxon Knutson are two of them. They both have big-play receivers in Tempe's Sa'Veon McCrimmon and McClintock's Khalil Bender, who will soon enough get discovered. And look at Glendale Independence linebacker Michael Palmer, 6-1, 190, who has had 38 tackles for losses the last two seasons.

9. Chandler's O-line experience

It always takes talent and depth in the offensive line for teams to win state championships. And Chandler might be back to getting to the Open final with four returning starters back on the offensive line. Coach Rick Garretson also has one of the top linebackers in Aiden Browder, and it could be a three-man race for QB1 among Dominic Carmigiano (2026), Will Mencl (2027) and Jay Arnold (2027).

10. Trey Knox's rapid recovery

Percy "Trey" Knox III suffered a broken ankle playing in a 7-on-7 tournament in February. Last week, he ran his first track meet since then, blazing to a personal-record 11.23 seconds in the 100 meters to place second at the Chandler City Meet. Now, the 2026 Basha cornerback is set for his first spring football practice.

To suggest human-interest story ideas and other news, reach Obert at [email protected]  or 602-316-8827. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @azc_obert .