According to the White House officials, the administration aims to hold the sports concussion summit to increase awareness of serious physical damages, including head injuries. The administration will invite parents, athletes, and others to attend the White House Healthy Kid and Safe Sports Concussion Summit on Thursday, May 29.
The ultimate goal of the White House administration is to bring the public and private sector to address and research the sports-related concussion issues. Playing sports is a great way for the athletes to make friends and stay healthy, but the President of the United States Barack Obama, an avid sports fan, wants young athletes to play sports safely as much as possible.
American football is considered a violent sport by many. When the athletes play the game of football, they battle against each other on the field without any mercy. With the brutality of the sport, parents were obviously concerned about their children’s physical injury, and they were discouraging their children from playing the game of a sport.
“There is something that I think a lot of families spend a lot of time worrying about and to know as much as they can about, and want to be sure that they’re taking all the precautions they can on behalf of their children so their children can get all the great experiences that come from participating in sports,” Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
The retired pro football players suffered with the traumatic brain injury for numerous years. Last year, they filed a lawsuit against the National Football League for failing to care the head damages. Eventually, the NFL has agreed to pay $765 million to settle on the issue of concussion.
Obama expressed his concern about athletes obtaining concussion. In an interview with The New Yorker, he stated publicly few months ago that if he had a son, he would not allow him to play football due to the concern of the head injury. He would probably allow his son to play different sports rather than football.
According to NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, 40% of Americans said they would encourage their children to play a different sport than football due to concerns about concussions. The concern regarding concussion leads the White House administration to establish the summit to discuss the situation and find ways to prevent athletes from obtaining concussion.
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