What are some ways they can make the game SAFER????

[greygoose]

I can only speak for my high school. Gallia Academy but I don’t think you can get much less contact in practice then you get now. I think the Blue Devils maybe had 7 full contact full speed practices last year. From first day thru end of season. Shoot they only bother to even put pads on like 1 or 2 days a week after season starts and that is more for receivers qb’s and running backs to get used to what they are doing in pads.

The new rules have worked down the ranks in football, limiting the number of days for contact. Limiting going consecutive days of contact or X-amount of hours per week. There is a lot of new guidelines that schools now have to follow. The days of teams lining up offense vs defense and just going at in in practice is becoming a thing of the past. Now the focus is more towards the fundamentals of each position, not just doing the old Oklahoma drill and thinking yeah we tackle better now.

[greygoose]

don't play it is the only way for it to be safer. football is a collision sport, not a contact sport. and you throw a 15 yarder on a defensive player for helmet contact but a running back can go head first and not a thing happens. it's a calculated risk. and you know that going on. it's played by violent people with bad intentions. you know you're gonna get hurt going in, it's just a matter of when and how bad.

This is exactly right, not playing is the safest way. Going forward though truly the safest way to make the game as safe as possible would be through advancement in technology. No matter what injuries will always be present in the sport, it's the nature of it. I tell my kids and the kids I coach that yes injuries happen however we can minimize the risk of injuries by playing the game correctly. Hitting and tackling the proper way, playing within the rules of the game, when we can accomplish this on a higher scale we truly can help minimize injuries. There's always going to be freak accident injuries but playing the game from a fundamentally sound standpoint can limit overall injuries.

[rxburgfan]

Tackling like the defensive back for New Orleans on the last play would reduce injury but significant injury to ego might be more detrimental....

[svac83]

Tackling like the defensive back for New Orleans on the last play would reduce injury but significant injury to ego might be more detrimental....

i dont know you might hurt your back tackling all that air.

[645945]

Not sure that matters any, on dirt seen where lack of rain makes ground harder and helmet hitting the ground is worse. Seen the field that was a sloppy mess, and sod not set up causing leg injuries.

Hardened dirt will give more than a blacktop surface with rubber padding.

REALLY so the 3-4 inches of grass turf length that is quite soft when you first put it down and the cut up rubber, dirt substitute, that is laid down throughout the surface that is placed on a graded out dirt surface, thus the padding. Is not going to give anymore than that exact hardened dirt, which hasn't seen rain for 2-3 weeks, that it was placed on to begin with??? YEAH let's think about that for a moment

So you have called me out and much to my dismay I see that I have made a mistake. The turf is not laid out on black top. But it is not just laid down on finely graded soil either. After ground work and drainage install then comes the six inches of gravel fill that the turf sits on which is packed so it doesn't give. Thank you for making me dig deeper.

[greygoose]

Hardened dirt will give more than a blacktop surface with rubber padding.

REALLY so the 3-4 inches of grass turf length that is quite soft when you first put it down and the cut up rubber, dirt substitute, that is laid down throughout the surface that is placed on a graded out dirt surface, thus the padding. Is not going to give anymore than that exact hardened dirt, which hasn't seen rain for 2-3 weeks, that it was placed on to begin with??? YEAH let's think about that for a moment

So you have called me out and much to my dismay I see that I have made a mistake. The turf is not laid out on black top. But it is not just laid down on finely graded soil either. After ground work and drainage install then comes the six inches of gravel fill that the turf sits on which is packed so it doesn't give. Thank you for making me dig deeper.

You're welcome, next you can dig into the different ways it's put in. Like placing it on rubber surfaces and some are installed on rolled out and packed ground. Education is key.

[645945]

One flaw to the three weeks of no rain and the hard ground. Most grass fields are irrigated. That would poke some holes in the hard ground theory.

I find it hard to believe that there is a matting system that can simply be laid down on just a plain dirt surface every field turf surface I have seen has been very firm. Which I conclude is probably a packed fill most likely gravel which is tamped down to make a very firm surface. It may be sand which would soften some. It would have drainage problems if that was the under surface of choice. I have done a fair share of ground work and it would amaze me if there was not some form of fill as the working base of field turf. I may be wrong but I am not going to dig any deeper than I have.

The game should be played on dirt so your mom can yell at you for how dirty your uniform is. That is all.

[greygoose]

One flaw to the three weeks of no rain and the hard ground. Most grass fields are irrigated. That would poke some holes in the hard ground theory.

I find it hard to believe that there is a matting system that can simply be laid down on just a plain dirt surface every field turf surface I have seen has been very firm. Which I conclude is probably a packed fill most likely gravel which is tamped down to make a very firm surface. It may be sand which would soften some. It would have drainage problems if that was the under surface of choice. I have done a fair share of ground work and it would amaze me if there was not some form of fill as the working base of field turf. I may be wrong but I am not going to dig any deeper than I have.

The game should be played on dirt so your mom can yell at you for how dirty your uniform is. That is all.

Actually most smaller schools in the area don't have irrigation system so yeah I've watched fields this past season absolutely rock hard. Depends on the group on how they lay it down.

[YOU'RE TIGER BAIT]

I can only speak for my high school. Gallia Academy but I don’t think you can get much less contact in practice then you get now. I think the Blue Devils maybe had 7 full contact full speed practices last year. From first day thru end of season. Shoot they only bother to even put pads on like 1 or 2 days a week after season starts and that is more for receivers qb’s and running backs to get used to what they are doing in pads.

svac, at ironton we went light on Mondays once the season started with just shorts,shirt, helmets. then full tilt tuesday and and Wednesday. and Thursday was pads as well, if I remember right, but a bit lighter. but we never ever had a practice with simulated tackling, it was full tilt rockem sockem when we practiced.and if you lost Friday, you better be prepared for anything.

[Abe Froman]

A lot of good ideas above.

No pee wee (2nd through 5th grade) contact either practice or games. Limit 6th-8th contact (in practices) to proper technique only and teach the tackling proponents have shared above for rugby type or Seattle Seahawk type tacking drills.

Remove (and enforce the rule) crackback blocks at all levels that simply is a nonsense play no matter what.

Continue the technology advancement with the gear. Maybe instead of more gear it is less gear to encourage the non-use of the head in collisions.

Contact in HS practices can be limited, but certainly some is required in order to teach some of the new methods being advanced.

At end of day if the sport doesn't evolve it will suffer the fate of less participation - which I doubt anyone wants to see.

[JacksonMayor]

One flaw to the three weeks of no rain and the hard ground. Most grass fields are irrigated. That would poke some holes in the hard ground theory.

I find it hard to believe that there is a matting system that can simply be laid down on just a plain dirt surface every field turf surface I have seen has been very firm. Which I conclude is probably a packed fill most likely gravel which is tamped down to make a very firm surface. It may be sand which would soften some. It would have drainage problems if that was the under surface of choice. I have done a fair share of ground work and it would amaze me if there was not some form of fill as the working base of field turf. I may be wrong but I am not going to dig any deeper than I have.

The game should be played on dirt so your mom can yell at you for how dirty your uniform is. That is all.

The base of field turf is sand and chipped up car tires

[JacksonMayor]

I can only speak for my high school. Gallia Academy but I don’t think you can get much less contact in practice then you get now. I think the Blue Devils maybe had 7 full contact full speed practices last year. From first day thru end of season. Shoot they only bother to even put pads on like 1 or 2 days a week after season starts and that is more for receivers qb’s and running backs to get used to what they are doing in pads.

svac, at ironton we went light on Mondays once the season started with just shorts,shirt, helmets. then full tilt tuesday and and Wednesday. and Thursday was pads as well, if I remember right, but a bit lighter. but we never ever had a practice with simulated tackling, it was full tilt rockem sockem when we practiced.and if you lost Friday, you better be prepared for anything.

We also used to ride horses to get from Point a to Point b. Your helmet was probably made of leather that could fold up and go in your back pocket for the ride home. My point is when we knew better we did better. And today we have to do better to protect kids who no longer help farmers put in hay and spend their free time in air conditioning playing x box live. Unless you want to see football go away. Because that is where our milk toast society is headed.

[Phoenix31]

[Phoenix31]

[greygoose]

Crack back blocks, even blindside, are illegal all the way down to pee wee starting this past season. With the new rules in place trying to limit the amount of overall contact throughout the weeks we will see if this helps. I'll stand by my thoughts that the only true way to continue the sport in this manner is advancement in technology and coaching coaching coaching. Coaches need to be given all the tools necessary to teach these kids proper tackling at the YOUNGEST of ages, that doesn't mean I'm saying play tackle in 2,3,4 but I'm saying we should be instructing these kids beginning at this age in the ways or proper technique. Try to engrain it in them by the time the real hits start coming it's a natural reaction to do it the proper way and not a defensive I don't want to get hit or hurt way like we've seen kids doing. This leads to bad habits and is very hard to correct as they get older. I told kids this past season as we were teaching them the hawk tackling that it's all about the technique it's something they had to learn in order for me to get them on the field defensively. I had no problem explaining to them that if I didn't feel comfortable with them being ready that I wasn't going to put them in that situation until I felt they were. Will it prevent everything absolutely not but it was something I felt from a safety standpoint I had to do and had to convey to them so they understood the importance.

[svac83]

OK here are some other ways to make game safer at youth age up through high school. Now these changes would really change the game but would definitely game the game safer. for starters every offensive and defensive player most line up within 3 yards of the line of scrimmage every player horizontally along the line of scrimmage most be within less say 9 yards of the ball. Ball carriers cannot lower there head when running the ball. all punts must be downed or making kickoffs and punts flag football downs. running backs are not allowed to jump and launch themselves to propel themselves forward. hitting any defenseless player ends your season as a player. Qb's can only take 4 step drops to avoid the speed the pass rusher could hit him at.

Do i think some of these rules are overkill and would hate them absolutely. But the game would adapt and evolve. it always has.

[rxburgfan]

Make it a scenario where virtually palyers could have controllers and make things happen on TV. In the virtual world players don’t get hurt. Perhaps we could call this fantasy of an idea...Madden Football.

[Tigercannon71]

Maybe limiting the contact in practice is what is getting kids hurt. They dont hit in practice therefore arent used to actually getting hit so when it happens in a game they get hurt cause they arent used to protecting themselves when getting hit.
I agree though about the age limits. Kids should play sports like soccer as youngsters so they can learn body control and stuff. That way when they get to football in 4th and 5th grade they know how to move and they are used to being on a team and things.
One, thing I think that would make it safer is to practice more fundamentals.
Also better pee wee coaches. I coached one year and our head coaches did stupid stuff. Me and another coach would be like I dont think we should do this and since we werent the head coaches we got overruled. For example 1st day of pads for the 5th and 6h graders we go straight from stretching to nut cracker. These kids havent hit since the year before. We thought we should have broken up into groups and did tackling drills first to make sure they knew how to tackle and, but the head coach was like no just let them hit. 2 kids got hurt that drill. You need lower level coaches that can teach proper technique and know something about football.

[farmer]

One thing to look at is getting the kids in better physical shape. Weight training to better develop muscles in the body to help lessen the effects of the physical game of football. Training with qualified trainers to improve agility. Getting the players ready to be better able to physically play the game.