Balancing Thrill and Safety in Contact Sports

Sports are generally fun and a form of entertainment for humans to relish the moment and shape human experience. Although fun and exciting, sporting activities can also be dangerous, especially contact sports, where it's just easier to get injured due to the constant form of contact that happens between both sides and the need to come out victorious above the other, and for these reasons, a lot of people have cried out for a need to create more measures to help subdue the dangers, especially given the fact that some of these sports have led to life-threatening injuries and even death.

I'm a big fan of sports, even though I don't usually indulge in them physically. I do watch and enjoy every moment spent watching, especially football and when my favorite team is winning, but despite how interesting it's, it poses dangers to those involved, and through the years I've seen players suffer all forms of injuries while playing, injuries such as concoctions, fractures, dislocations, and even internal injuries.

Now these happen in almost every contact sport, as players can easily miss their steps or intentionally or unintentionally injure one another, leading to all of these issues that can be life-threatening or refrain them from participating again in the sport for a short time or sometimes for ever, depending on how severe the injury is.

These happen in contact sports such as football, rugby, American football, ice hockey, judo, boxing, wrestling, and several others, to name but a few. The dangers are common in almost all of them, although I've played hockey and American football still takes some measures in protecting the players via the protective gear they're made to out on, unlike others that leave players exposed to sustain severe injuries in critical parts of their body.

Despite the level of danger involved in these sports, I don't think there's much one can do to reduce the danger without ruining the fun. I mean, I can't even imagine a football player putting on a helmet while playing football; it'll affect how the player deals with aerial ball and heading, so even a head patch will affect, and that's why I fetch, things should just continue as they are, but first aid emergency response should be made available in case of injuries.

Nowhere is really safe in our world, and we don't know what awaits us in the next minute, even in a place that seems safer. For instance, players and onlookers have gone on to suffer severe injuries and even death in non-contact sports such as javelin, gymnastics, tennis, swimming, golf, cycling, and several others. The news is all over the internet for everyone to see and show that no place is really safe. Even though we need to be more cautious and create rules and standards that safeguard life, we shouldn't ruin the fun of the game.

But the talking about contact sports since it's the focal point of this write-up, I'll say I'm. Not a big fan of some of these sports, especially boxing and wrestling that involve heavy punching and fighting between strong individuals; these exchanges of punches can be so severe sometimes that they lead to severe fractures internally, in the head or other part. I don't buy the idea of these sports, and left for me, I would have called for their cancellation, but for the sake of those who enjoy it and the players who adore it, I'll say they should have more safety gear on to safeguard them.

The following measures I believe would help curb dangers involved in contact sports, and they're: usage of protective gear, pre-participation medical checks, adequate rest and recovery for players, strict rule enforcement to prevent and punish offenders, a well-structured education on sportsmanship, and lastly, adequate emergency preparedness against any form of incident before, during, and after each game.

All photos are mine.