Protecting the future of football

The game of football is inherently violent. With players, whether they are high school, college or professional level athletes training with the purpose of hitting their opponents there are bound to be injuries.

None are more concerning than those to the head. This struck particularly close to home in 2009 when Valley Christian athlete Drew Swank collapsed after taking a hard hit to the head during a game in Washtucna.

Swank had suffered a concussion earlier in the season but had been cleared by his family’s doctor to play in the game. This was the first season after the implementation of the Lystedt Law by Washington State legislators in May of 2009.

The law stipulates that any athletes exhibiting symptoms of a concussion must be held out of activity and require a doctor’s release before returning to play.

Swank was taken to Sacred Heart Medical center where he died a few days later.

In 2012 Swank’s family filed a lawsuit against the school, the former football coach and the doctor, saying the coach and the doctor ignored signs of concussion.

His story is one of many in the past few years, which have caused concern over the sport and, for a time, may be attributed to a decline in participation rates.

From these cases, however, comes progress. With Washington State leading the way.

Greg Whitmore, athletic director and head football coach at Lind-Ritzville High School and the District 7 representative on the WIAA Executive Board explained how the latest requirements for coaches will help preserve football for the future.

Whitmore said the game would never change in terms of removing contact from the sport.

“We’re not going to change that part of it,” he explained. “But we are rethinking some things we’re doing with teaching tackling.”

Since 2009 the Lystedt Law has become a national movement, Whitmore said, with most states adopting some form of legislation to protect student athletes from severe head injuries.

Additionally the WIAA has mandated several rules to help prevent reoccurring head injuries.

The first of which is to limit full contact practices during the summer to two weeks. California State legislation has taken it even further, mandating that summer practices have no contact.

This year a new mandate by the WIAA will also go into effect.

In 2015 the head coach of every football program must be certified in four areas: helmet and shoulder pad fitting; safe tackling technique; return to play protocol; and heat and hydration awareness.

By 2016 not only will head coaches need to be certified, but all assistant coaches as well.

There have also been a slough of rule changes, from the high school to college and professional levels, protecting players from an indefensible hit and penalizing players who do make contact with their opponents head.

All of this is to prevent injury to the athletes.

Whitmore is attending a USA Football conference in Indianapolis with a focus on a program called Heads Up Football. This program teaches safer tackling techniques and is sweeping the nation.

In addition to laws and regulations Whitmore said better helmets and pads have helped reduce the risk of injury from football.

No helmet is concussion proof, Whitmore said, but reducing the impact will help minimize concussions.

Whitmore also talked about an amendment currently going through the WIAA, which would allow teams only two days of contact practice each week after the first contest of the season.

Contact is defined by the amendment as Thud and Live Action. Thud is described as when drills are run at an assigned speed through the movement of contact. Contact is kept above the waist; players stay on their feet and a quick whistle ends the drill.

Live Action is when the drill is run in game-like conditions and players may be taken to the ground.

The rational behind the amendment is based on the recommendation from the National Federation of High Schools and the WIAA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee that limiting the amount of contact in practices during the season can help make the game safer and is statistically shown to reduce the potential for serious injuries.

The amendment is to be voted on from April 29 to May 8 by the 2015 Representative Assembly.

According to Whitmore despite concerns over concussions there have been no long-term study linking them to degenerative brain disorders. Whitmore said he was interested to see the results of studies as the NFL pumps more money into research.

“But in the meantime we have to do all we can to make the game safer,” Whitmore explained. “We know it doesn’t matter what any kind of study finds we always want to make it safer for our athletes.”