American football is a brutal, physically intense sport in which a potentially serious injury is always just one miss-step away. On every play, all 22 players on the field are poised in knowing they may be carted off the field if they don't follow every safety precaution that they have learned through training. Knowing how to tackle, how to fall and how to get back up can greatly reduce your chances of being injured.
Significance
Due to the physical nature of the sport, knowing how to protect yourself on the field ranks as the top priority for all players. You could be the greatest player in the history of the game, but if you don't know how to avoid getting injured you wont last a single game. A 2009 study conducted at the University of North Carolina found that since the year 1931 there have been 1,016 deaths directly related to playing football at any level.
Time Frame
Safety drills and exercises begin at the earliest levels or organized contact football. Just because a player is 10 years old and weighs 60 lbs. doesn't mean he is immune to suffering a fatal or debilitating injury. Very young players usually begin training with padded football dummies held by coaches. As they get older and build coordination, practice hitting drills become more the standard. Players who are roughly the same size and temperament are paired together to practice proper form. It's during this time that players are taught to fall as flat as possible, and in the case of a dogpile, to wait until all of the players on top of them have gotten up before attempting to stand.
Benefits
In football, unless you are a kicker or punter, you will undoubtedly be knocked to the ground at some point during a game. If you are an offensive player, knowing how to react to being hit, and how to position your body on the way to the ground can reduce your fear of getting hit. If you're a defensive player, knowing that you are tackling with proper form helps reduce your fears of getting injured, which in turn will help you become more assertive in your physical playing style.
Misconceptions
The quarterback position, outside of kicker or punter, is the least physical position on the field. Your role is that of an offensive general, with the ultimate goal of leading your team down the field to score. In professional and collegiate ranks, quarterbacks are often "protected" during practice, meaning quarterbacks wear a special colored jersey and nobody is allowed to hit them. However in high school, quarterbacks are usually open game, which though it may sound dangerous, it can actually assist in the quarterbacks development in knowing how to receive a hit without getting injured.
Warning
Safety training is practiced at every level of competition, however despite ongoing training players still get severely injured. These injuries are not limited to games either. Many injuries can and do happen in practice, often times in non-contact drills. Football is a dangerous sport in which professional athletes in the best shape of their lives get injured on a daily basis. Extreme caution must always be practiced on the field. There is no way you can eliminate your chances of being injured, however training yourself to know what to do in every scenario can help reduce the likelihood of that happening.
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