California took a step forward yesterday when Gov. Jerry Brown signed a law limiting contact in American tackle football practices. One provision of the law could affect soccer, hockey and other contact sports as well as football. But it doesn’t go far enough.
California’s new law restricts full contact in high school and middle school tackle football practices to two sessions of 90 minutes each per week during the season. It prohibits these practices off season.
It also requires that any high-school or middle-school athlete (not just a football player) “suspected of sustaining a concussion or head injury” be removed from play until evaluated by a healthcare professional.
In writing the bill, Assemblyman Ken Cooley pointed out new research showing that brain injuries can develop gradually. There is evidence that the violent head movements in football, soccer and other sports can lead to memory loss and emotional problems long after athletes have quit their sports.
Misguided Opposition
The law had opponents, as the San Francisco Chronicle reports.
Some coaches said the law, while well-intentioned, could lead to even worse injuries among young athletes because the players won’t have adequate training in safe tackling.
“Unless you practice, you’re not going to know how to protect your head and neck, how to fall properly, or how to tackle someone else safely,” said Chad Nightingale, who has been the head football coach at Salesian High School in Richmond for 19 years. “That’s the irony of this.”
Instruction and practice on dummies is useful, but it’s no replacement for body-on-body contact, he said. A better way to reduce head injuries is to improve helmets and pads, and make sure players wear them properly.
Nightingale’s position reflects a poor understanding of how brain injuries occur. While helmets protect against fractures and lacerations, they can’t prevent concussions, which occur when sudden head movements cause the brain to slosh around in the skull. (Neck strengthening exercises can help with that.)
For this reason, the California law doesn’t go far enough. The NFL Players Association recently negotiated a limit on full contact practices to 14 in an 18-week season.
No more than one contact practice per week is also the recommendation of the Sports Legacy Institute, led by prominent neurologist Robert Cantu. And it’s the rule set by the body overseeing school sports in Texas.
Young football players everywhere should enjoy at least the same protections as the pros.
Another problem with California’s law is that it doesn’t specify what it means for a concussion to be “suspected.” Every time a player looks dazed or has trouble getting up after a hard hit, the law should required the use of sideline assessment instruments to determine whether a player is suffering from a concussion.
Let’s hope legislators in other states will take a firmer stand.
In the meantime, here is an example of neck strengthening exercises from Donald Corenman.
