The Georgia High School Association on Monday set limits on full contact during football practices to follow safety guidelines recommended last summer by the national federation.
The new rules, effective this fall, will limit full contact to 45 minutes per day and 135 minutes per week in preseason and then only 30 minutes per day and 90 per week in the regular season. Practices with full-contact drills cannot take place over three consecutive days. The rules were passed the GHSA’s executive committee unanimously. (See the full guidelines at bottom.)
‘’It was coming,’’ GHSA media director Steve Figueroa said. “There have been six states including Alabama and Texas that have adopted [similar] rules. The NFHS has guidelines, and common sense tells you that if you have a catastrophic injury and you didn’t adopt those guidelines, that’s the first thing they’ll ask you.’’
Many football coaches who were asked about the proposals before Monday said their full contact practices don't amount to much more than the new guidelines anyway, but that they preferred the chance to make those calls themselves.
''I have had the chance to visit several practice sessions of perennial top-10 programs in Georgia, and I have found that all of them take extra care to self-limit the major player to player contact periods,'' Griffin coach Jarrett Laws said. But Laws also complimented the national federation's lead in making safety a priority.
For a few old-school coaches, the new rules will take some getting-used-to.
‘’Gonna be playing flag football soon it seems like,’’ said GACA Hall of Fame coach Charlie Winslette via e-mail. Winslette, now the offensive coordinator at Georgia Military's prep school, has won more than 250 games in a career that began in the 1970s.
The GHSA's policy is almost identical to the recommendations that came out of the National Federation of State Higch School Assocation's Concussion Summit Task Force.
The GHSA's executive committee also voted to:
-Move the state-playoff basketball quarterfinals back to neutral sites beginning next year. For the past three seasons, the quarterfinals have been played at the site of the higher-seeded team. Only the semifinals and finals were played at neutral facilities, such as the Macon Coliseum. The home-court quarterfinal drew complaints from region champions – potentially an undefeated No. 1-ranked team - being forced on the road for the elite eight. Now, a region champion cannot play a true road game in the state playoffs, which is the way it had been for decades until the challenge of finding so many facilities for six classifications gave rise to trying the home-court quarters.
-Allow state-championship teams to play in nationally recognized tournaments after their Georgia season is complete, pending GHSA approval. Call this the Wheeler rule. Wheeler’s boys basketball team was allowed to play in a national tournament in New York earlier this month under the threat of legal challenge to a GHSA bylaw that disallowed it.
-Required that host schools provide an adult, 21-years-old and over, to be the scorekeeper in all varsity games. This issue was raised after a state-playoff boys basketball game last season when an apparent error by student scorekeepers assigned by the home team awarded an extra point during regular of a game that went to overtime. The team that got the questionable point (the home team) won the game in overtime.
-Approved spring tryouts for volleyball. All fall sports except for cross country now allow for spring tryouts.
-Adopted statewide playoff brackets for tennis and softball. Those had been the only team tournament sports played in all classifications that held to the traditional north-south bracket. Tennis and softball will now use the same brackets as football, basketball and other sports, meaning four teams from one region could reach the semifinals.
-Allowed football teams to play 10 two-quarter mini-games instead of the seven regular four-quarter games currently allowed. In a mini-game, four schools would meet at one site, and two schools would play one half, the other two the second half. Officials would be paid the regular-game fee. This will be popular especially among programs with smaller rosters whose players were limited to six quarters of game time per week and barely have enough to fill varsity and JV teams. Now, for example, a JV player can play a two-quarter game on Thursday and then participate on special teams for all four quarters on Friday.
NEW CONTACT RULES:
Full contact should be limited during games and practices as well as during activity outside of
the traditional fall practice. When possible, an athletic trainer should
be present at all practices and games. (Note: No limitation is placed on
activities defined below as “AIR, BAGS or CONTROL” contact.
A. For purposes of this by-law, the following definitions shall
apply: AIR - Players run a drill unopposed without contact; BAGS -
Players run a drill against a bag or another soft-contact surface;
CONTROL - Players run a drill at assigned speed until the moment of
contact and one player is pre-determined the “winner” by the coach.
Contact remains above the waist and players stay on their feet; THUD -
Players run a drill at competitive speed through the moment of contact
with no pre-determined “winner.” Contact remains above the waist,
players stay on their feet and a quick whistle ends the drill; LIVE
ACTION - Players run a drill in game-like conditions and is the only
time that players are taken to the ground; FULL CONTACT - Contact which
meets the definition of Live Action or Thud.
B. Pre-Season Practice:
1) Full contact shall be allowed in no more than 2 consecutive practice
days per week;
2) Full contact during practice shall be limited to not more than 45
minutes per day;
3) Full contact during practice shall be limited to not more than 135
minutes per week; and
4) During any twice-daily practice, only one session per day should
include full contact.
C. Regular & Post Season Practice:
1) Full contact during practice shall be allowed in no more than three
(3) practice days per week;
2) Full contact during practice shall not be allowed on more than two
(2) consecutive days;
3) Full contact during practice shall be limited to not more than 30
minutes per day;
4) Full contact during practice shall be limited to not more than 90
minutes per week.
D. Written Practice Plans: A written practice plan in compliance with
this by-law shall be prepared in advance by the head coach prior to
every practice and maintained by the school for a period of at least
twelve (12) months. Such practice plans shall be made available to the
GHSA upon request.
E. Violations: The penalty to be imposed upon any member school found
to have violated this by-law in any substantial manner shall be as follows:
1) First Offense: A fine of not less than $500 nor more than $2500
per violation at the discretion of the Executive Director.
2) Second Offense: The school shall be placed on probation and shall
not be eligible to participate in post season play.
About the Author
