California Bill Limits Excessive Football Contact

SIMEON LAM
Sports Editor

As football-related concussions are on the rise, California Governor Jerry Brown signed AB 2127 on July 21, stating several restrictions as to how frequently middle and high school football teams can utilize full-contact practices. With the support of CIF, the passed law, which will go into effect at the beginning of 2015, aims to control the amount of concussions and other brain injuries.

“It’s a step in a right direction,” CIF Director Ron Nocetti said in an LA Times article. “The CIF is interested in any issue that promotes the health and safety of our athletes.”

AB 2127 states that teams can also only have two full-contact practices per week, 90 minutes a session, during season/postseason and none during the offseason. Full-contact practices include hard tackling drills and scrimmages. Football teams around the state have either praised or condemned the passed law.

Many coaches consider that the pros of this law includes an increase in the security and awareness of concussions, keeping the game of football safer with more precautions. Not only do athletes’ bodies wear down less but they also have less contact hits to injure them.

However, other coaches criticize the law, saying that the preparation for big hits in the actual game are because of practice. In a KTVU local news article, a coach from Piedmont Hills High School stated, that “we are trading concussions for neck-injuries.”

“I think it’s on the individual whether he is dedicated enough to prepare for the season,” said wide receiver Steven Ordonez. “But personally I believe that [this law] is keeping players from [reaching their] potential because of our limited hours.”

At the end of the day, football still causes the most concussions in high school sports. In 2013, the Institute of Medicine researched that high school football players suffered over ten concussions every 10,000 games and practices. That number doubles the concussion rate of college football. While attempts to make the sport safer could turn out to be disastrous, it could also be beneficial for the sport to last longer. This bill could be a start to ensure safety for future football players.