(All Photos: @East Side Media TV/Erik Sarni)
New research on CTE is raising questions about the long term effects of repetitive head impacts. For young Latino players in underserved communities, where football can be a pathway to opportunity and a source of community, the bigger question may be whether they have the same access to the resources, information and protections that can make the game safer.
Just over two years ago, for one South Gate family, the dangers of football became painfully real.
Christopher Aiden Garcia was 16 and a junior varsity football player at South East High School. On August 23, 2024, he participated in a varsity game against Maywood Center for Enriched Studies.
During the game, Christopher made a tackle near the sideline. His head struck the ground, causing a catastrophic brain injury. He was taken to a hospital and later placed in a medically induced coma.
Eleven days later, Christopher died.
His death was not attributed to CTE. The Los Angeles County Medical Examiner determined that he died from blunt head trauma and classified the death as an accident.
But his case has raised broader questions about football safety.
In August 2026, Christopher’s family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against the Los Angeles Unified School District. The lawsuit alleges failures involving the football field, equipment, supervision and concussion protocols. His attorneys have also raised questions about his previous concussion history and whether he should have been cleared to play.
Those remain allegations in ongoing litigation.
The family is now seeking to have the South East High School football field tested for hardness and other properties. A judge recently allowed experts to conduct the testing.
Christopher’s story does not prove a connection to CTE. But it puts a human face on the larger debate about protecting young athletes from brain injuries.
He was 16.
Christopher’s story does not prove a connection to CTE. But it puts a human face on the larger debate about protecting young athletes from brain injuries. (Archive)
His death: a turning point
Erik Sarni is an American football enthusiast. He played the sport as a child in East Los Angeles and remained involved in the years that followed; now, through his website and social media channels, East Media TV, he covers up to eight amateur games across various leagues and age groups. He is arguably one of the most knowledgeable people regarding football in this part of Los Angeles.
“Christopher’s death alerted the community to the potential dangers of the sport. It had an immediate impact: there are fewer players, some leagues struggle to field full teams, and families are refusing to let their children play. It’s a combination of factors: that incident, reports on CTE (chronic traumatic encephalopathy), the economy, and migration,” he says.
Now, following reports in The New York Times regarding the latest data on the dangers of CTE associated with football, there is a need for greater awareness and information within the community.
“Information isn’t really circulating in the community; people only get what they receive when they sign their kids up and sign a waiver acknowledging potential injuries. It would be beneficial for parents to be well informed. All you really get is a liability waiver,” adds Sarni, who has over 30 years of experience covering sports in the area and has reported on around a thousand games.
For Sarni, while there are real risks, there are also benefits: the sport helps shape character, fosters excellent physical fitness, and encourages socialization. “I played for many years; I don’t have children, but if I did, I would allow and help them to play. I could guide and prepare them. That is essential for parents. If children know the rules and how to play, it’s part of keeping them safe. I would recommend the following: ensure your children aren’t too skinny; they need their bodies for protection. Many leagues don’t have weight limits, so if kids are in the same age group, one might weigh much more than another. They need the right equipment, and parents need to get involved; leagues aren’t a babysitting service, parents need to be there. What the kids gain is a great deal of learning, discipline, character, personal growth, and more,” he adds.
Sarni adds that this will benefit the Latino community, given that thousands of children and young people in East L.A. participate in the sport.
“I played for many years; I don’t have children, but if I did, I would allow and help them to play. I could guide and prepare them. That is essential for parents. If children know the rules and how to play, it’s part of keeping them safe.”-Erik Sarni. (@East Side Media TV)
Los Angeles: A Harsh Reality
At a football field in Los Angeles, the dream can look deceptively simple.
A young player pulls on his helmet. Teammates gather around him. Coaches call instructions from the sideline. Parents watch from the stands or along the fence.
For many families, football is more than a game. It is community, discipline, friendship and mentorship. For talented players, it can also represent a path to college and opportunities beyond the neighborhood.
But as a new generation of young players takes the field, families are confronting a question previous generations rarely had to consider:
How safe is the football dream?
New research into CTE has renewed concerns about the cumulative effect of repeated blows to the head. A study of former NFL players found CTE in 91.4 percent of donated brains examined. Researchers estimated that at least 24.5 percent of all players in the study population had CTE.
The numbers are striking, but researchers say the concern is not necessarily one dramatic hit. It is the accumulation of impacts over years of playing.
That changes the question for parents.
It is no longer simply, “Did my child suffer a concussion?”
It is also:
How many times is my child’s head being hit?
The football dream in working class Los Angeles
In communities across Los Angeles, football can be one of the most accessible organized sports for young people.
For some Latino families, the sport carries another possibility. A successful high school player may dream of a college scholarship. Parents may see football as a way for their child to gain access to higher education and opportunities beyond the neighborhood.
That makes conversations about risk complicated.
Telling a teenager to stop playing can feel like asking them to give up their team, their friends, their identity and a dream they have worked toward for years.
(@EastSideMediaTV)
The hits that don’t make the highlight reel
A concussion is an obvious event. A player takes a hard hit, appears disoriented and is evaluated.
Repeated smaller impacts are harder to see.
A player can experience numerous hits during practices and games without ever being diagnosed with a concussion. Researchers studying CTE have increasingly focused on this cumulative exposure.
The latest research found a relationship between the amount of repetitive head impacts players experienced and their likelihood of developing CTE. Researchers did not identify a specific number of hits that causes the disease, and the study cannot predict whether an individual young player will develop CTE.
There is no formula that tells a parent that 100 hits are safe and 500 are dangerous.
But one principle is becoming clearer:
Reducing unnecessary head impacts is better than simply waiting for a concussion to happen.
What happens on LA’s fields?
That raises another question, particularly in underserved communities:
Do all young players have the same access to resources that can make football safer?
