Safety is job No. 1 in football Rutland Herald | August 15, 2018 By BOB FREDETTE STAFF WRITER Mill River Union High School Football players take a break to hydrate during a practice session this week. (Robert Layman / Staff Photo) Making football safer is a prime directive among high school coaches. A result is that it’s better quality football, too. Springfield High School football coach Todd Aiken noted that he’s seeing his players make more good tackles on the edge with the shoulder tackle, the method that takes the player’s head out of the equation. “It forces the kids to keep their eyes up and wrap up with their arms,” he said. “Absolutely,” said Mill River coach Jon Wallett. “I totally agree with what he said. The coaches have done hands-on stuff to show our kids the techniques and I think he’s absolutely right.” Springfield and Mill River are football programs where participation is up over last season. The potential for concussions is a possible factor in numbers decreasing elsewhere but the USA Football methods being taught to tackle and block without helmet contact could help reverse that trend. Vermont is one of only two USA Football states. “We have an increase of seven or eight kids from last year,” Wallett said. “I don’t know what it’s attributed to but this stuff could be part of it.” “Vermont is a USA Football state and coaches have to be USA Football certified. I’m seeing a difference in my kids,” said Aiken, a first-year head coach and former assistant at Springfield. He referred to smaller players being able to tackle larger ones with the so-called “shoulder roll,” where the defender’s shoulder meets a ball carrier’s midsection with the head outside the ball carrier’s body. “I love it. I am a big supporter of the new techniques. The days of the head tackle are over,” Aiken said. Safer tackling and blocking techniques are just part of the formula for making the game safer, says Rutland High School coach Mike Norman. Coaches must be educated in concussion recognition and response, heat preparedness and hydration, sudden cardiac arrest response and proper equipment fitting. “Equipment is safer than it’s ever been” said Norman, a Norwich Hall of Fame offensive lineman. A coach from every staff must attend an annual training session. Norman, a master trainer, is qualified to run such sessions. “It’s in the best interest of the game,” said Norman. “The reality is that football is under the gun and I think the more proactive we are the safer the kids are.” USA Football blocking techniques are also designed to keep the head out of play. Proper posture and the uncoiling of the hips are means by which an offensive lineman keeps a defender off balance. Wallett, a former lineman at Rutland, thinks the new method is not only safer, but as effective. “I think it is, it’s just going to take some time for coaches to put the effort in to learn the technique,” he said. Wallett says efforts to make the game safer aligns coaches with parents concerned with the welfare of their children on athletic fields. “I think it’s a positive effect. It’s bringing more awareness to such an important topic of safety and having coaches who are USA certified brings some understanding from parents that football is putting itself out there to be safer,” he said. Aiken says Springfield is preparing to bring the topic to parents in a very personal way. “We are planning to hold a parent forum and educate how it is safer and more effective. It’s a lot of reassurance and demonstration. We are talking about bringing parents to the field on tackling night and walking them through it,” he said. Mill River is getting information out to parents by various means, including social media. “Numbers are going down in football so change needs to happen,” Wallett said. “If we don’t change, football is going to go away,” Norman said. Follow Bob on Twitter: @Bob_Fredette bob.fredette@rutlandherald.com
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