Proposal would ban use of school helmets for off-season football training

Football season is still a few months away, but there’s a battle off the field that could dramatically change the way all high school players in our state get ready for their first game.

For years, tackle drills and full-pad scrimmages have been a big part of every football program, and for high school teams, the practices start early with summer camps.

But the Athletic Director for Everett Schools thinks that having young players smacking into each other during the off-season is putting them at risk for concussions.

“More and more studies are coming out about the effects of head-to-head contact or collision sport effects on the brain. Some studies are even coming out now saying that it could be an accumulation of hits that could be causing damage to the brain.”

Robert Polk is proposing an amendment to the Washington Interscholastic Activities Association. Amendment Six would restrict the use of school-issued helmets and pads during the summer. As it stands right now, he says players can check out equipment right after Memorial Day and use it all summer without limits.

“We could be one catastrophic injury away from being forced into something and I prefer to be pro-active,” he explains.

But his proposal is causing an uproar. Hundreds of high school and college coaches from around the state have signed a petition, saying it’s overkill and would hurt the sport.

“I think that it would just be over-legislation. There is some inherent risk in the game. That’s part of the sport, part of playing the game. You could get hit with a baseball. You could have injuries in other sports,” says Lakewood football head coach Dan Teeter.

Teeter is leading the charge against the rule change. He runs camps that he says are critical to get his players ready for the season.

“When we go to those camps, it’s not like we just go crazy and just hit, hit, hit all the time,” he says. “There’s a lot of instruction. During spring football, which would also basically be ruled out with this amendment, we teach them all kinds of safe techniques on how to tackle.”

Teeter thinks not having helmets during summer drills would put players in more danger. He also says the amendment would put players with post-high school football dreams at a competitive disadvantage against players from other states.

“I think that would be taking a backwards step. I think we need to be advocates for the kids,” Teeter explains. “We need to find a way to protect them, keep them safe, but also, if we can provide a career for them later, because they get an education through football, that’s a service that we need to provide for these kids.”

The WIAA will hear arguments for both sides during a meeting Monday. Polk admits his amendment will probably be sacked. But he says with a concussion epidemic in this country, he hopes that talking about it will lead to changes that will make the sport safer. Even reducing the number of practices with helmets and full pads, he says, would be a good start.

“My son’s a high school football player. He’s also an intelligent kid who has a very bright future,” Polk says. “It would break my heart if it was because of football that something happened that interfered with that bright future.”

A vote on the amendment is still a few weeks away. Even if it were to pass, it wouldn’t take effect until August of 2013.

The CDC says there are approximately 67,000 diagnosed concussions in high school football every year.