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Concussions: Activity 4

1. Name and sport

Mike Webster who was a football player.

2. Background information on their personal and athletic history

Mike Webster was a professional football player in the NFL. He went to the University of Wisconsin and was looked at as the best centre in the big 10. In the 1974 NFL draft he was drafted in the 5th round by the Pittsburgh Steelers. During the first two years of his professional career he played as a backup center and guard. He then became the the starting center in 1976. Webster achieved many accomplishments throughout his NHL career with the Pittsburgh Steelers. He managed to win four super bowl championships, and played in nine pro bowl championships.

3. Details of their head injuries

Mike Webster’s life was not the best for him after he retired from football. He suffered with depression and dementia. He’d do strange things such as forgetting to eat, peeing in the oven, wandering off and sleeping under bridges. When his teeth began falling out he got super glue and glued them back in. When he couldn’t sleep he’d zap himself with a taser into unconsciousness just to get some sleep.

Webster died young at the age of 50 and became the first case of “football dementia” for Brain Injury Research Institute pathologist Dr. Bennett Omalu. Mike Webster’s brain was said to have been equal to about 25,000 car crashes over 25 years of playing football at the high school, college, and professional level.

4. Your opinion, based on what we have learnt, on what could have been done to prevent/reduce the injury. Be specific here.

Unfortunately when playing football athletes are bound to have an injury such as a concussion. It is a contact sport. This is a sport where players must sacrifice their bodies and expect to get hits to the head or any other part of the body. In the NFL it is said that 871 concussions are diagnosed over the course of 2 NFL seasons.

Although athletes may be aware of the damage they may cause to their body playing football, they still have a choice to pay attention to their injuries and act quickly upon them. Mike Webster could have reduced the severity of this injury by paying more attention to it instead of ignoring it. I believe that if he rested and took care of his body, there’d be a better chance him living a normal healthy life and still possibly living today.

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Concussions: Activity #2

1. Title

Constable: Long Grove woman rebuilding life after brain injury.

2. Evaluate the source.

The source comes from a writer who writes for the Daily Heard his name is Burt Constable. It is an established writing page with credible sources. In this article a freshman student from Carmel high school named Quinna Phillips is being quoted, her parents, her soccer coach and her doctor.

3. Key Stats

-About 15 percent of people with concussions have symptoms that last longer than six week

-Two concussions cannot be the same

-With brain injuries concussions can range from zero days to several years

-All concussions are brain injuries

4. Key Quote

“You can’t see a headache. You can’t see difficulty concentrating. You can’t see dizziness. You can’t see problems falling asleep” -Doctor

“People with traumatic brain injury are not often believed” -Quinna

5. Two points each for who, what, where, why and how.

Who: Quinna Phillips (high school soccer player) and Dr. Cynthia. R Labella

What: To inform others about the effects and symptoms of concussions and brain injuries.

To know how to cope with concussions and how they may occur

Where: Longrove and Carmel High School

Why: This article was written to raise awareness on mental health.

It was also written to inform people on concussions so that way they could take it more seriously.

How: The editor interview Quinna

The editor also found out information from Quinna’s doctors.

6. Do a little more research.

Today Quinna Phillips is currently a student studying neuroscience. Her focus is on neurodevelopmental disabilities. She works within the Autism workforce and instructs many of the new employees at Hart Schaffner Marx as well as creating new job tasks and collecting data for each job.

Source: http://exerciseconnection.com/staff.html

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Concussions: Activity #1

What did you learn?

Derek Boogard nickname “Boogie Man” was a Canadian NHL hockey player whose role on the team was to be the enforcer and fighter for the team. He was always known as the big guy on the team and was used to scare off the opponent. It was his strength that really created his fame. The fame may have been nice for Derek, however the price that had to be paid wasn’t. Derek was the team enforcer, meaning he was the player who would always put his body on the line. Although Derek was a successful fighter, he put his body on the line and as a result suffered multiple injuries. Many of them being head injuries which are known to be concussions.

A concussion is an injury that should not be taken lightly as it can potentially affect your future and the rest of your life. In certain sports, athletes are very likely and prone to get an concussion. Infact in hockey there is a very high risk of getting an concussion.

Derek, however was oblivious to the severity of his concussions and had no knowledge of the impact this was taking on his body and brain. He did not understand that multiple injuries to the head came with consequences and damage to his mental and physical well-being that would affect him for the rest of his life. He thought that all he needed was painkillers to get rid of the nausea, or headaches that he was feeling. The painkillers worked for awhile but eventually Derek became addicted to them and they stopped working for him. His sickness began to show in the games and he later on was not the same player he used to be. This caused severe depression for Derek. Derek thought that maybe he need new painkillers or more painkillers. In 2011 Derek was found dead in his apartment in MInnesota. The cause of his death was an accidental overdose on painkillers combined with alcohol.

DId your opinions change at all?

My opinion did not change after watching the video only because I am currently suffering from post concussion symptoms and I am currently in rehabilitation. Therefore I have learned and gained a lot of knowledge about the effects and damages it cause on your health.

However, if I did not experience a concussion my opinions would change after watching the video because I would realize how serious and damaging a concussion can be. As well as a how it can change one’s life mentally and physically. Before watching the video i’d have no knowledge regarding this topic and I would not think an injury like this would be so serious. I’d think that it’d just be an injury resulting to a small headache that wasn’t that big of a deal. My thoughts would basically be the same as Derek Boogard’s.

Should there be fighting?

No! There should not be fighting in hockey. There has been many stories on hockey players whose lives has been ruined due to many injuries caused by fighting in hockey. Most of these injuries led players led players to either being depressed, anxious or disabled after their hockey career. Although fighting is what sells, it should not be tolerated in the game of hockey. Concussions and other life threatening injuries is not what these players signed up for. As an athlete myself, I understand that in any sport it is likely for an athlete to experience pain or an injury at least once throughout their entire sports career. I also understand that there are some sports such as boxing that you are very likely to get a serious injury. However, this is hockey! The objective of the game is to score goals not to fight. Besides, fighting why would people want their to be fighting during hockey games? It would only make the game longer than it already is and ruin the flow of it.

Is anybody responsible for Derek’s death?

Yes. I believe the NHL is responsible for Derek’s death because they encouraged him to keep fighting and they scouted him mainly for his fighting ability. Therefore giving him the title of enforcer which is infact a common role to play in the NHL.

I also believe that Derek is responsible for his own death. He should have taken these headaches more seriously and spoke with a doctor about them. In sports athletes need to realize that there is fame, pain, responsibility, and a life after being an athlete. Unfortunately Derek was only caught up in the fame and the money so he had to pay the price in the end.

The response of the NHL?

The NHL response overall is that there are no plans to change the rules of the game. As quoted by the NHL commissioner he stated that “they are serious about treating concussions and has instituted rules on hits to the head”. But then the commissioner goes on to say that “we don’t allow fighting. Fighting is punished, penalized and the issue is whether you increase penalties”.

Anything else you think is relevant?

Other relevance is regarding pain killers and that that they can become very addictive.

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Kareem Abdul-Jabbar's 38,387 career points

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar is a retired American NBA player who holds the record for most points scored in a NBA career. Throughout his twenty seasons in the NBA, six being with the Milwaukee Bucks and the rest with the Los Angeles Lakers, Kareem scored a total of 38,387 points. Twenty-nine years has passed and no one has come close to his record. Behind him are also retired NBA players Karl Malone and Kobe Bryant. Karl Malone with 36, 928 points and Kobe Bryant with 33, 643 points. The highest career points scored by someone who is currently playing in the NBA today is by Dirk Nowitzki with only 30, 212 points who is close to retiring. That is nowhere close to Kareem Abdul- Jabbar. It is evident that this record attained by Kareem will be extremely hard for any upcoming NBA player to beat. Judging by the stats for most points scored in an NBA player’s career, I believe that as long as I live it may never be broken.  

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Intro Paragraph

Question: How are sports transformative?

The transformative role of what it is to participate in a sport is characterised by the belief that sports can build confidence, while also developing strong community ties within the activity itself. Sports provides opportunities for individuals to engage in social activities. Players gain a wide range of experiences while developing necessity life skills all at the same time. Sport offers opportunities for players to experience first-hand. By participating in a sport players are instantly forced to build skills and learn the true meaning of what it is to be a member of a team. Teamwork, working towards achievements, meeting expectations and pushing the boundaries of challenges is the significance of contributing to a teams sucess.

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Strength, no weakness 🙅🏿‍♀️