When the calendar turns to August, the sporting world’s thoughts turn to football.

College players are reporting to their respective campuses and high school gridders are going through mandatory conditioning drills to deal with the summer heat.

And nearly everyone’s mind is on concussions and whether his or her kid is going to make it through the season without one.

Ever since CTE — chronic traumatic encephalopathy, a degenerative brain disease — has been linked to football, the sport has been taking a major public relations hit.

The question here is if that’s fair.

Research indicates that high school football produces 47 percent of all reported sports concussions. What a lot of people don’t know is that 33 percent of those concussions occur during practice.

High school associations across the country have addressed that issue, limiting the amount of hitting that can go on in football practice as well as how often teams can practice at all.

A concussion is a blow to the head causing the brain to collide with the interior walls of the skull. It doesn’t have to involve physical contact — a sudden jerking motion of the head can cause such a thing.

The American Academy of Pediatrics has reported that emergency room visits for concussed kids ages 8-13 has doubled in the last ten years. That same report states concussions have risen 200 percent among teens ages 14-19 during that same time frame.

Alarming?

Depends on how you look at it.

Concussions are more recognizable today. Thanks to modern medicine, that improved recognition has led to quicker, effective treatments and precautions. Coaches and trainers are educated and know what to look for. Game officials can — and have — forced kids to leave games to go through concussion protocol.

All of that should be applauded.

Football needs to be made as safe as possible because it continues to be the best sport when it comes to teaching youths about teamwork, bonding and coming together for a common goal.

It’s not that concussions are happening more often as much as it is we know what a concussion is today. We baby boomers — myself included — got our “bell rung” how many times as youths and never thought twice about it.

Now we know better. Good for us — and good for our kids.

But facts are facts. One out of five high school athletes will suffer a sports concussion in the coming school year. That covers all sports.

A person can be concussed a number of ways and sports in general will always be risky that way.

But maybe, just maybe, we should give football a break.

If taught and played the right way, it is still a great sport — and a great teaching tool.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.