Parents of high school and youth aged children should be very concerned for high school and youth football participation. Every year a fewer amount of high school and youth kids participate in football. The cause behind the dropping numbers is mainly the parents fear of injuries for their children.

Engineers and doctors have constantly been creating new equipment to reduce the chance of injury since the beginning of football, and especially over the 21st century. Not only is the equipment safer, the rules and penalties are a lot stricter for safety. In football, you are only allowed to have up to one hour of contact per week in practice, and that includes everything from bumping to tackling.