American football and Ice hockey - Essay Example

Comparison between American football and Ice hockey Introduction Sports are greatly emphasized in United s and are part of the American culture. The four most popular sports in United States are Ice hockey, the American Football, Baseball and American Basketball. However, in this paper I shall only look at Ice Hockey and the American Football. The American Football is a sport, which is based on claiming of territory as much as it is based on point scoring, just like any other sport (Meehan 30).

In American Football, each team battles to defend its field and take the other team’s field. It is all about gaining enough ground for a team to make a score. Ice hockey is played on ice and the players or players use hockey sticks to shoot the puck. The puck is hard rubber that each team is required to shoot and score in the other team’s side. It is all about, how the skater’s eyes and hands coordinate, to make a score. Similarly, to the American Football, the players in Ice hockey also get physically knocked and the risk of getting minor or life threatening injuries, is just as high (Meehan 32).

In this paper, I will discuss on both the similarities and differences of these two sports. The first two points will be based on similarities between the two sports and the last two points will touch on the differences. Lastly, there will be a conclusion which will give a brief summary of the topic in discussion. Key Similarities The most common similarity between the two games, which people choose to ignore, is the fact that both demand that the player should possess a combination of gentle skills and at the same time brute muscles.

A combination of these two skills is hard to come by, considering that not all people may be endowed to posses the two skills at once. The two helmeted sports demand players to be fast and as aforementioned, possess physical strength. In football, the player has to be graceful enough to run without being drilled in the middle of the field, whereas ice hockey demands that the skater is fast enough to move across the ice and shoot the puck into the net before the opponent’s team takes the hit.

There is no doubt that both require the player to able to overpower the opponent when hit, while at the same time graceful. The other similarity is that the hits players make in both games hurt. In football, the linemen are likely to be hit, every time there is a game, whereas, in Ice hockey, the rival is likely to get hit with the hockey stick or the puck making its way to a player’s face or stomach (Meyer and Wise 1983). The two games are indeed thrilling to watch, but both leave the players with more bruises as compared to other games.

A player in ice hockey has the highest chances of experiencing pain, though the American football is almost at the same level with this frequency. Key Differences According to Meehan, Ice hockey has the highest rate of players sustaining a concussion as compared to players in American Football (32). Meehan, bases his facts on previous researches that suggest that although there are concussions that occur in American Football players, Ice Hockey proved to be the number one sport, where players incur multiple concussions, leading to depression and neck and head trauma among other long-term effects.

The problem with injuries sustained from concussions is that they cannot easily be seen on the outside like broken legs or arms. In each game, the concussions obtained from American football are 15-45 percent per season, whereas Ice hockey concussions range from 30-50 (Meehan 31). The other key difference linking the two games is that in football, each team can be given the ball after it has made its score. However, in hockey, each team cannot be given the puck after every score and the team only gets the puck when they get a chance.

The teams in the American football are guaranteed the chance to score when there is an interception (Engebretsen, Lars, and Roald Bahr 12). There is nothing in ice hockey which is guaranteed, and each team has to fight the other team to keep hold of the puck. The two sports can never end in a tie and each has overtime. This means that the overtime is only given when the first team scores. In hockey, the winning team is given the chance to score again when there is overtime. Conclusion From the comparison given, it is evident that both sports carry almost the same weight, in regard to similarities and dissimilarities.

If the player gets hit while playing the American football, chances of getting a concussion are almost as high as that of a player in ice hockey. In addition to this, both sports have rules that have been implemented to safeguard the lives of players. The attacking teams from both sports have fewer chances of attacking other team members for purposes making a score. New rules which have gained support from players who retired years ago have reduced the chances of players getting seriously injured.

Hence, today it is easier for players to play without the fear of getting fatal injuries. Works Cited Engebretsen, Lars, and Roald Bahr. Sports Injury Prevention. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print. Meehan, William. Kids, Sports, and Concussion: A Guide for Coaches and Parents. California: ABC-CLIO, 2011. Print. Meyer, Bruce, and Aaron Wise. International Sports Law and Business. 1. Hague: Kluwer Law International, 1997. Print.