By Dustin Fink
The Illinois High School Association Board of Directors approved a new policy last month that better protects high school players in that state from concussion.
It reads as follows:
Weekly Player Limitations for Football
A player shall not play in more than 2 games in any one week, and shall not play in more than one game in a single day. For the purposes of this section, a week is defined as the seven-day period running from Sunday through the following Saturday. (It is recommended that if a player does play in 2 games in a given week, one of those games is only as a one way player. [i.e., only plays on offense or defense or special teams]
Players cannot play in games on consecutive days or be involved in live contact/thud in practice the day after playing in a game.
1 play in a game equals a game played.
NOTE: If a player plays in a game that is stopped due to weather or other circumstances and completed the next day, the player can participate in the resumed game the following day.
In 2012 I wrote a piece detailing what I thought would be a better way to protect athletes who chose to play football in high school. The proposal was written before the many changes that have occurred in the NFL and NCAA. This proposal made even more sense after all of those adjustments because the levels above high school were adding protection for the athletes, yet the most “populated” level of the sport was not. Although the new policy will not be implemented until the 2019-2020 school year, it is a very good policy for protecting the players.
Thankfully there were people who wanted to take on this challenge, one way or another, at the state level. I have been lucky to be part of the last phase of this as a member of the Illinois High School Association Sports Medicine Advisory Committee via the Players Safety Council. Athletic trainer Greg Gaa, a committee member, has spearheaded this process for the past four years.
This policy is more than for concussions, although it is the catalyst. It is about player safety and recovery. Kids were playing three levels of football games in a week due to low numbers, and they were also being subject to “full-speed” contact drills on their off-days. Something had to give, especially when you looked at the injury numbers for freshman and sophomores (let alone concussion numbers). This policy effectively puts into place a safeguard for the kids; mandated “rest” (albeit active rest) after uncontrolled, high-volume and high-intensity game activities.
The vast majority of coaches were already doing the right thing, upwards of 90 percent, based on our data gathering. We thank the coaches for doing the right thing, but we also thank them for being part of a solution that will potentially save the sport. Certainly, there have been plenty of “this will kill football” or “fewer kids will play” type of comments. But if those people step back they will realize two things:
First, the sport is already hemorrhaging players, and second, this will ease the concerns of players and parents who are worried about abusive or “meat grinder” practices. This policy may increase numbers in a few years.
One concern that will most likely come to fruition is that this policy will eliminate levels of football, particularly in small schools. Yes, it will. However, if a program has only 37 kids, is it safe to have three levels of football? Is 50-60 players even enough for three levels of football? Archaic rules along with the “machismo” of sport have driven the idea that there is a need for three levels. As the sport loses players, trimming back a bit might help.
This is a new frontier for Illinois, and the nation, so there will be growing pains. How do you run a Tuesday practice if you have players playing a game on Monday? What does a football practice week look like going forward? These are legitimate questions, but there are some very smart coaches, athletic directors and administrators who will figure it out.
What is most important is that Illinois high school football players will be the most protected in the nation when it comes to rest and recovery. What a tremendous day.
Fink is the founder of The Concussion Blog (https://theconcussionblog.com/)
