In 2015, the biographical sports film Concussion raised awareness of the degenerative brain disease chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) which "is caused in part by repeated traumatic brain injuries, which include concussions and nonconcussive impacts" according to Concussion Legacy Foundation. There's a strong correlation between CTE and football. Weeks ago, Boston University updated their study which discovered the brain disease in 92% of the NFL players analyzed.

You don't have to be a professional player to risk developing CTE. Another study from Boston University in 2018 analyzed the brains of 4 teenage or young adult athletes with sports-related head injuries sustained 1 day to 4 months before their deaths. Below is a summary of what the study discovered, from an article by the Boston Globe.

The four brains showed the blood-vessel damage and inflammation associated with CTE. Two of them also bore the hallmark of CTE — the clumps of malformed proteins know as tau. And one of those two was diagnosed with full-blown CTE.

High school students have also gotten concussions while playing sports. Since 2015, 109 concussion claims went to the Montana High School Association insurance, with a total of $71,555.02 paid by their insurance company, according to their executive director, Brian Michelotti.

NFL Flag, the official flag-football program of the NFL, listed the benefits of playing football, which include learning teamwork, discipline, and mental toughness. Montana parents can decide if those supposed benefits are worth the risk. Long-term effects of CTE cause "the decline of memory and cognition, as well as depression, suicidal behavior, poor impulse control, aggressiveness, parkinsonism, and, eventually, dementia" according to PubMed.

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