Focus Story Structure

Most people think of high school football as a traditional pastime that is fun both to play and to watch, but the sport is far more dangerous than one would expect. Pete Stenhoff, 16, leaned this lesson the hard way.
Stenhoff played for his high school football team until he cracked his vertebrae during one of his games. He ran head first into the chest of the ball carrier and cracked several vertebrae in his spine, causing paralysis and confining him to a wheelchair. The injury left him unable to graduate with his class, and he is now trying to graduate by taking correspondence classes.
Although this story is tragic, it is also far more common than most people would expect. There are roughly 20,000 football related injuries in high schools across the country each year. Thirty-five percent of those injuries are head and neck injuries, and twelve percent leave the players permanently disabled.