As one of the most successful season of football in the past few years comes to a close, there seems to be a certain something that the Eagles, along with football teams around the nation, are currently shoving under the rug: concussions.

Concussions are medically defined as “a traumatic injury to tissues of the body such as the brain as a result of a violent blow, shaking or spinning,” but in layman’s terms they just plain suck.

These types of injuries have been on the rise in high school, and professional football. The public media has finally begun to acknowledge there is a problem needing to be addressed. In a recent study, it was estimated that over 200,000 football players of all ages suffer from a concussion each year.

We need to realize as a school that our students are not only getting injured in a sport, but the lack of quality equipment is putting them in legitimate danger. The school needs to understand that it is worth looking into the budget to provide safer equipment for our players. With at least five athletes suffering from concussions this season alone, the administration needs to take a look at what it can do to cut down these injuries.

But we cannot solely blame the quality of the equipment; players need to realize that suffering from a concussion is a serious concern and playing with a concussion is reckless and not worth the risk.

I have one important message to the athletes at our school: This is not a normal kind of injury that can be “walked off.” After suffering from a concussion one can suffer permanent brain damage, become paralyzed and a normally harmless blow to the head can become fatal.

There are symptoms that you can look for after getting hit in the head to figure out if you’ve gotten a concussion or not. If you ever feel dizzy or a change in your sense of balance, have changes in your vision like sensitivity to light or blurred visions or ever become exhausted after what is usually a light workout after getting hit then you need to see a doctor.

Not every hard hit to the head leads to a concussion but whether or not you have a concussion can only be determined by an athletic trainer like MG Pogue or your personal doctor. If a coach doesn’t notice an injury, nothing can be done to prevent a player from getting seriously hurt.

If you think that you might have a concussion, don’t risk further injury by continuing to play. We all want to win, but are we really willing to sacrifice the health of our fellow students in order to win a regular season high school football game?