The other night, my boyfriend and I were laying in bed, trying to figure out what to watch on television. We've exhausted most of the Netflix classics, such as "House of Cards" or "The League," so we decided to be intelligent, or at least attempt to be intelligent, and put on a series titled "Friday Night Tykes."

Approximately fifteen minutes in I was about to lose my mind. The show centers around five 'pee wee' or little league tackle football teams in Texas. Now, I know what some of you are thinking "....of course, Texas," but the show does so much more than just highlight the realities of little leaguer tackle football in Texas.

Within the first four episodes, a viewer witnesses or hears about four different eight or nine year olds getting severely injured, specifically concussions. It's really difficult to watch, especially with some coaches teaching their kids to hit hard, especially helmet to helmet contact.

While the whole series has been a bit hard to stomach, often ending with me screaming at the TV screen, it brings into question an important point: how young is too young when it comes to high intensity sports?

With the Olympics currently going on in Rio, it's easy to fantasize, and more importantly, romanticize high intensity sports. After all, none of these sixteen-year-olds would be winning the gold if they didn't start young, right?

But at some point we must consider as parents, or future parents, how young are we willing to risk the future health of our children? And for me, eight or nine years old is just too young. Watching these young boys really hit and hurt one another has been so hard for me, as what is often the most obvious point within the series, is that these 'wins' and 'big plays' are much more for the parent's benefit than the children's. If you close your eyes and just listen to what's being said, you'd swear you were watching a professional game. But then you open your eyes and realize they're not 20 something year old professionals, they're babies.

I played competitive sports for many many years, reviving a few major injuries myself. Moreover, I am a dedicated Giants fan and will forever hold them as one of the best teams in the NFL despite how bad their season may be. And I understand every member of the Giants and every other professional team must have started somewhere, but that doesn't have to be eight.

At such a young age, sports should be about life lesson such as sportsmanship and teamwork. Kids shouldn't be killing themselves for playing time. At such an impressionable age we should be more worried about them learning and having fun than about winning. Kids have the rest of their lives to worry about that.

I love sports, but kids safely and health should be paramount to all, and unfortunately that doesn't always happen.