‘Another Player Down’: How Concern About Injuries Is Changing Sports

November 20, 2023
Has lesson plan
Updated

Americans love contact sports. But what should be done when the violence becomes too much to ignore?

As high-impact injuries in football renew concerns over the brutality of the sport, are there lessons from earlier questions about boxing? In 1982, South Korean fighter Duk-koo Kim died after a championship bout against Ray (Boom Boom) Mancini. Medical concerns about the violence of boxing mounted, and the sport’s foothold in mainstream American culture began to slip. Today, several years into a public reckoning with football’s concussion crisis, will there be an impact on America’s favorite sport?

Previous versions
At Retro Report, we update our journalism as news unfolds. Here are the previous published versions of this story.
For teachers
  • Producer: Matthew Spolar
  • Editor: Elyse Kaftan
  • Editor: Anne Checler
  • Editor: Kenneth Levis
  • Update Producer: Sianne Garlick
  • Update Producer: Sandra McDaniel
  • Update Editor: Heru Muharrar
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For Educators

Subjects
Civics & Government
Topics
1980s Health
Introduction

As high-impact injuries in football renew concerns over the brutality of the sport, are there lessons from earlier concerns about boxing? In 1982, South Korean fighter Duk-koo Kim died after a championship bout against Ray (Boom Boom) Mancini. Medical concerns about the violence of boxing mounted, and the sport’s foothold in mainstream American culture began to slip.

Lesson Plan 1: Concussions in Sports
Concussions in Sports
Concussions in Sports
Overview
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Students will learn how boxing’s foothold in mainstream American culture began to slip as concerns over its brutality grew. Today, with concerns about the toll of football on the rise, is America’s favorite game nearing its own inflection point?

Objectives
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Students will:

  • Examine the problem of concussions in sports and categorize approaches to addressing this problem.
  • Review, summarize and evaluate public policies related to concussions in sports.
  • Determine which approaches most effectively address the problem.
Essential questions
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  • Why are concussions in sports a problem? Which approaches would be best to reduce their frequency?
  • What are some approaches that people use, individually or collectively, to solve problems?
Additional resources
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Transcript for “‘Another Player Down’: How Concern About Injuries Is Changing Sports” (Retro Report)
They Started Playing Football as Young as 6. They Died in Their Teens and Twenties With C.T.E. (The New York Times)

Standards
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College, Career, and Civic Life (C3) Framework for Social Studies

  • D2.Civ.1.6-8. Distinguish the powers and responsibilities of citizens, political parties, interest groups, and the media in a variety of governmental and nongovernmental contexts.
  • D2.Civ.6.6-8. Describe the roles of political, civil, and economic organizations in shaping people’s lives. 
  • D2.Civ.12.6-8. Assess specific rules and laws (both actual and proposed) as means of addressing public problems.
  • D2.Civ.13.6-8. Analyze the purposes, implementation, and consequences of public policies in multiple settings.
  • D2.His.1.6-8. Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts.
  • D2.His.14.6-8. Explain multiple causes and effects of events and developments in the past.
  • D3.3.6-8. Identify evidence that draws information from multiple sources to support claims, noting evidentiary limitations.
  • D4.1.6-8. Construct arguments using claims and evidence from multiple sources, while acknowledging the strengths and limitations of the arguments.
  • D4.3.6-8. Present adaptations of arguments and explanations on topics of interest to others to reach audiences and venues outside the classroom using print and oral technologies (e.g., posters, essays, letters, debates, speeches, reports, and maps) and digital technologies (e.g., Internet, social media, and digital documentary).
  • D4.7.6-8. Assess their individual and collective capacities to take action to address local, regional, and global problems, taking into account a range of possible levers of power, strategies, and potential outcomes.

Common Core Literacy Standards

  • RI 6-12.6-8 Integrate information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words to develop a coherent understanding of a topic or issue.
  • W 6-12.6-8 Conduct short research projects to answer a question, drawing on several sources and refocusing the inquiry when appropriate.
  • RI.6-12.2 Determine a central idea of a text and how it is conveyed through particular details; provide a summary of the text distinct from personal opinions or judgments.
  • W 6-12.9 Draw evidence from literary or informational texts to support analysis, reflection, and research.