GHSA bans three-a-days, sets limits on football practices to combat heat risks
Moved by the news that Georgia leads the nation in heat-related deaths of among football players over the past 15 years, the Georgia High School Association made sweeping changes Monday to make football practices safer.
It’s believed to be the first time in state history that the GHSA has set limits on practice time.
Beginning this summer:
- Each player must participate in five days of practices in only helmets, t-shirts and shorts before going to pads in August. These practices without pads, which may begin no sooner than July 25, are limited to two hours.
- Practice in pads, which may begin Aug. 1, are limited to three hours.
- Three-a-day preseason practices are banned, and two-a-day practices cannot take place on consecutive days or exceed a total of five hours in a single day.
- All schools must use wet-bulb temperatures, and not heat index, to determine when excessive heat and humidity call for limiting or canceling practices.
Schools violating the new regulations face fines of up to $1,000.
“We want to make sure that all the kids are out in the sun with moderate levels of practices without the heavy equipment so they get used to outdoors,’’ GHSA executive director Ralph Swearngin said. “Research has shown there are times when players are most vulnerable.’’
The new rules come in the wake of a three-year study commissioned by the GHSA and completed by University of Georgia. It found that heat-related deaths among football players tripled nationwide between 1994 and 2009 and that Georgia suffered more deaths at all levels of the sport (not just high school) than any other state.
In August, two Georgia high school players died on the same day. Fitzgerald High lineman D.J. Searcy died at a camp in Florida, although controversy remains over the role that heat played. Forest Jones, a lineman at Locust Grove High, had been hospitalized since the previous week after collapsing at a voluntary workout.
‘’A lot of people may think this was a direct reaction to [those deaths], but we were into the final year of this research then,’’ Swearngin said. “We felt like were trying to make decisions [in the past] when we didn’t have the data. When you start making rules without a factual basis for those rules, it gives a false sense of security. We wanted to get some facts first.’’
The UGA study, which tracked practices at 25 Georgia schools for three years, found that most of the players who died got sick on days when practice was held in the morning and ended by noon. Most deaths happened in August and during preseason practices during which two-a-days and longer practices were common.
‘’There’s no single cause of kids having these problems,’’ Swearngin said. “We’re trying to minimize the risk so that when problems occur, we can respond at a less serious level and not have a catastrophic event.’’
Swearngin said Georgia researchers indicated that perhaps only two other states, Arkansas and Texas, had rules that limited high school football practice times over heat concerns.
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98 comments Add your comment
More Private School Separation
March 20th, 2012
10:11 am
So the private schools will probably now go and build indoor facilities and not miss a beat….
A person SMART enough to know......
March 20th, 2012
10:18 am
Wow old school is just….old
And OLD SCHOOL is better than Internet Instant School
I might have played Madden. I wouldn’t have played it all day. I would have only been able to play an hour or two at Night. “Why are you in the house? Because it is hot outside mom. Well, if you are going to stay inside then go clean your room, take out the trash, and collect and do a load of laundry. But Mom. You have summer reading so go read a book or get out of the house or get to work and I don’t care which. There is nothing to do outside. You can weed and pick the garden or mow the yard.”
Kids today have NOTHING to Do or be Responsible for. They have too much Free Time to get stupid and do stupid things.
Chris
March 20th, 2012
10:23 am
More Private School Separation– Pike County is a public school and they have an indoor facility, has it made them better? They are consistently mediocre
South GA
March 20th, 2012
10:29 am
With temps in the upper 90s and humidity over 80% they will be lucky to get an hour of practice in South GA during August.
No place is hotter than South GA in the summertime.
brick
March 20th, 2012
10:31 am
Good start to solving the problem, but put some teeth in the penalty. The $1000 fine isn’t much considering some of these schools spend $500,000 on their field. A booster club would gladly pay that if it meant a championship. Some things that would get the attention of those coaches that always look for an edge would be the loss of the teaching certification, shutting down the football program for a year or maybe the legislature help out by making it a crime. But this is a great start to solving the problem.
Ram Tough
March 20th, 2012
10:38 am
How many kids are now spending their summers glued to the TV and video games instead of outdoors working in the fields? I played in HS and college, and when I was a kid, we didn’t spend all day ensconsed in AC watching TV and playing video games.
Willydoit?
March 20th, 2012
10:43 am
MIKE T also walked to school five miles everyday…uphill…both ways!
Ed
March 20th, 2012
10:50 am
I applaud the rule changes but on another I heard an interesting tidbit the other day from a coach who stated that more deaths actually happen in the early morning practice sessions than the early evening ones because of the higher humidity levels. As a former player I do remember just feeling more stressed in the AM than the evening practice sessions. If this is true I would add to the mandate that mornings are for shorts and helmets and the evening practice is for full pads. I would also allow the schools to have mandatory running and conditioning year round as that is what is required in todays times. Lazyness, Diet and the comforts of AC (in cars too) I believe are the biggest culprit in the deaths that have really become an issue in the last decade or two. But thanks for those in charge for making the changes that were needed!
Herschel's Jock
March 20th, 2012
11:02 am
Thanks GHSA, for letting us know the price of a kid’s life is only $1k.
pat
March 20th, 2012
11:07 am
I suppose the correlation between starting school back in the dead middle of summer and these deaths has been missed? If we were starting school at or around labor day like your supposed to do, then there would have been far fewer deaths. Starting school in the summer is just plain stupid on every level. If you start football a month later than it currently starts you can practice all you want because it’s cooler then.
This make to much sense a beurocrat will never get it.
Band Parent
March 20th, 2012
11:13 am
Hey! Can the marching bands get the same deal? They practice longer than the football teams in some places!
Willydoit?
March 20th, 2012
11:18 am
@Band Parent
Its not the practices you should worry about!!
There was this one time…at band camp..
HP
March 20th, 2012
11:24 am
And this is why my son will never play football….I have no desire for him to suffer to puff up a coaches’ ego and paycheck. I still don’t think this is enough….it defies common sense to be out there in the month of August with the heat indexes we have here in GA for hours and hours. We are throwing our sons in the gladiator’s ring for the purpose of someone else’s success. Most kids will never play beyond high school or college and they will have gone through all of this for what?
MH
March 20th, 2012
11:24 am
Its confirmed these boys are a bunch of @#$%*&
Alex
March 20th, 2012
11:26 am
The problem with practicing in HOT weather is that when the players drink water or Gatorade, they SPIT it out ! You suppose to drink it , not spit it on the ground. You need to replace the sodium (salt) and Potassium you lose when you sweat.
TY
March 20th, 2012
11:27 am
Having to schedule five extra weeks to have 32 teams in the playoffs for each class and get the games in before the Christmas break has backed up the schedule two weeks into the summer…Who came up with that? the GHSA for the money’s sake and the Dome for the Dome’s sake. GHSA,The Dome, College recruiters, and the Corporate sponsors have sold their sole to the MONEY instead of the safety of the kids. Without the extra two weeks of playoffs every team in Georgia could schedule their first game after labor day and still get in their schedule and have a three week playoff instead of having half of the teams in AAAAA this year making the playoffs with a 5-5 or worse record. It is the little league philosophy. Give everyone a trophy and get them in a playoff for money’s sake. The fourth place team with a losing record should never be in a playoff.
S. William
March 20th, 2012
11:30 am
Drink cool fluids with salt tablets and swallow the liquid, not spit it out.
A person SMART enough to know......
March 20th, 2012
11:31 am
Lets be a little honest too. Most 14-17 year old kids don’t get to be 6′3″-6′7″ 250-340lbs by eating healthy and lifting weights and exercising. Many are just Big & Fat and not in SHAPE to start with. If some of these kids were in Japan they would be in training to be Sumo Wrestlers.
Joe
March 20th, 2012
11:38 am
With Six classes and 32 teams in the playoffs that means 192 teams in the playoffs…If you divide the small public and private schools also will that add 32 more teams to the playoffs? and make it 224 teams in the playoffs? Will they have to back up the schedule another week to accommodate the state championship games being housed in the dome? 192 teams in a playoff is close to half of the existing teams. Why not Play seven games and start the playoffs on the 8th game and continue the playoffs until the last teams win. Now that is not what needs to be done so why put 192 teams in a playoff. Make it mean something.. It is now where the same teams usually win the championships because of their programs, recruitment and their wealth.
Hardhead
March 20th, 2012
12:01 pm
HEY MoPrvtScolSep at 10:11 You would think the private school kids would be in worse shape because they can afford colder AC and never have to walk anywhere. They have better video games and more of them so they spend more time playing Madden so how the heck do you complain about more seperation? Yes lets stick to the serious matter here. Has starting school in Ga helped grade point averages any? Not that I have seen in the results that have been published. So why start when they do? Heck the water in Lake Lanier better in June-early Sept for swimming than May. Call it what you want back in the day AAA AA A B C that wont work as someone pointed out because of the population in Ga is 3 times now. So lets go AAAAA,AAAA,AAA,AA,A B and C. The state can make the same amount of money for playoffs, have more teams start football on Labor day and be done by Thanksgiving. All problems solve minus the transfers.
Timus
March 20th, 2012
12:01 pm
Ohhhhh. A $1000 fine………….chump change for some programs. Sounds like they still aren’t vy serious about student deaths!
skinner
March 20th, 2012
12:12 pm
Where were u guys in late 60’s.early 70’s??…summer camp…2 hours before breakfast(7:30)back out at 9″00…stop for lunch at 12:00. back at it at 3:00 till 6ish, supper…skull practice at 8:00. 2 weeks.lots of salt tablets….
Big Dawg
March 20th, 2012
12:15 pm
Excellent idea. I played high school football and some of these coaches are over the top. This will help a great deal.
1eyedJack
March 20th, 2012
12:17 pm
Man, I don’t know how I survived playing high school football in South Georgia in the ’70s. Hotter ‘n Hades and the air so thick you could drink it.
HasBeen18
March 20th, 2012
12:41 pm
How is this rule going to be enforced? Who is going to check on schools making sure they are doing what they are supposed to do? And, What about during the season, What temperature does it have to be to go from full pads, to shells and shorts, to just helmets? I still havce a lot of questions regarding the safety of these players. This is a step in the right direction, but it’s only adressing a third of the issue. NEEDS TO BE BETTER!!!
A person SMART enough to know......
March 20th, 2012
12:54 pm
1eyedJack you didn’t you are dead didn’t you know. LOL
A person SMART enough to know......
March 20th, 2012
12:55 pm
1eyedJack….you didn’t survive riding your bicycle without a helmet too
go42
March 20th, 2012
12:56 pm
Changes are way overdue.
1-AA-no.1 regions basketball too
March 20th, 2012
1:32 pm
IT IS ABOUT TIME THE GOVERMENT SAVE THE CHILDREN.—ANOTHER ONE THAT I AGREE WITH. MAY ON SIDE OF THE GOVERMENT IN A ANOTHER QUEST–PAY THE PLAYERS(YOU WILL HAVE ME).
Dwbower
March 20th, 2012
1:49 pm
A very important decision has been made. However, of all the things that can be done to make practice safer, listening to athletes instead of badgering and coercing them to “man-up” to over come heat is the most important part of all. Also instructing athletes on how to listen to what their bodies are telling them instead of pushing to ignore what their bodies are telling them in the name of “be tough” will also be helpful to making practices in the heat safer. And then water, good prepractice meal habits are extremely important. Glad to hear this news on safer practices.
Rick
March 20th, 2012
2:08 pm
Swearingen sits on his high and mighty and says that he is being proactive. BULL! The GHSA caused this. $$$$$$$$ The money from the dome games caused this. The season had to be pushed back so the Championship games could be played around the SEC Championship in the dome. It’s ALL about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.
Move the season where it is supposed to be, IN THE FALL, and you won’t have these problems. The beginning of summer practice used to be the 3rd week in August. The first game was after labor day. We now have scrimmages being played on Aug 17. Games on Aug. 24. This is what has caused the number of heat problems to rise. It has NOTHING to do with coaches or practice time.
87 Granger
March 20th, 2012
2:18 pm
Hey, as much as I’d like to be a curmudgeon and talk about the old days, the fact is this is good for today’s kids. I know we spent all summer outdoors so we were ready for what came in August. These kids don’t do that, but whose fault is it? We’re the parents now, right?
Somebody's Mom
March 20th, 2012
2:46 pm
To Free Shrugs..I agree..why did it take kids having to die for these men to have common sense and get these kids out of the heat. The GHSA may not enforce their rules, but I will tell you that if our coaches don’t abide by them, they will be reported very quickly. We have already lost one player and it was devastiating to everyone. It could just as well have been my son. I can’t even imagine what these parents have gone through all in the name of winning. This isn’t HEALTHY competition..it’s DEADLY competition. Good job, GHSA!
A person SMART enough to know......
March 20th, 2012
3:00 pm
So again we will have the inmates running the asylum. If a player feels like he is getting pushed to hard he will cry abuse. Like upset kids saying the parents beat them. Like the kinder gentler Marine Corps where the D.I.s can’t really get in a recruits face. yes the kids need to be treated better and their health to be looked after, but the kids should be in shape on their own from the summer. Hell the girl athletes do cry as bad as the football parents. Cheer leading is more dangerous on a per capita basis.
SmashMouth Southern Football
March 20th, 2012
3:17 pm
I grew up in Miami and played at UM in the early 80s. Coaches had the WWII mentality of storming the beaches without water and using lots of salt pills. We all know now that taking salt pills was just plain stupid.
We did not have water but once during practice for three minutes in dixie cups that you fought for before the whistle blew. You had better sprint to the table or you did not get a cup. The practices were non-stop hitting in full pads the entire season, everyday except Friday. We were tough as nails, and we won our first National Championship, but we were beat-up, and frankly hated football by the end of season. We called the longest bootcamp in America.
Jimmy Johnson came in the next season and instituted water pumps at preactice that we could drink from at any time…we thought we had died and gone to heaven, and full-contact was on Monday and Tuesday only. Smart move, practice was “fun”, and we had a lot less injuries. Sure, we had some guys collapsing in the 90% humidity with 95 degree temperature, but we were hydrated, and in much better health, and Jimmy got another championship two years later. Local high schools started to follow his lead and frankly it changed UM’s recruiting success.
Great move GHSA. Players play better, harder, and smarter when they are hydrated and not over-worked.
1BigHammer
March 20th, 2012
3:38 pm
My GAWD…are all of you people a bunch of Pansies or what? You all sound like a bunch of Whiney Women! Before you know it you’ll want them to stop hitting and change to two hand touch! I foresee more injuries this season. Athletes going in unprepared on fundamentals because they didn’t get enough instruction, getting injured. Are they going to stop the games becasue of heat and humidity? Ya’ll know as well as I do that sometimes there is very little difference in the temp and humidity at 7:30pm vs 4:00pm here in GA.
CoffeeC100
March 20th, 2012
4:24 pm
@ HP – “And this is why my HS son will never play football.
Too bad you feel that way dude or dudette. Whichever you are. If he has the physical gifts, the desire and is capable you are depriving him of a headfull of memories and experiences of teamwork and excitement that would have stuck with him the rest of his life.
Maybe you should discuss the prospect of sports in your kids lives in a family meeting. I pity your children living under your iron fist. But I think just maybe I should pity you even more. I feel fortunate to have had the parents I did. You have made me see the possibility that my entire life could have been so disappointingly different had I had a ‘father’ such as you.
A person SMART enough to know......
March 20th, 2012
5:12 pm
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WarEagle
March 20th, 2012
6:24 pm
This is a one-size-fits-all “solution” to a problem that needs a more careful resolution. The problem has more to do with how particular programs apply the heat rules — even with just one practice, an idiot coach who ignores the wet bulb or provides inadequate hydration can cause a problem. Let’s also admit that coaches and parents who encourage kids to gain weight their bodies cannot handle at this age (nobody under 6′4″ should ever weigh over 300lbs as a 16 year old) raise the risk levels. Now, as a result of a rule limiting full-contact practices in the pre-season, we will risk more kids getting hurt across all programs as the season starts because of inadequate coaching opportunities — this is a sport where technique can really make the difference between a broken neck and a good hit. We also will see poor quality of football at the start of the season, which concerns me as a fan but is less important than the health issues. I certainly do not want to see any kids get seriously injured (or worse) from on the field hits or heat issues, but the problem cannot be fixed by a simple-minded fiat. We need better supervision at each school as to heat and other potential problems, and this proposed solution did not address the real issue at all.
Fred
March 21st, 2012
10:37 am
@TY – I guess you don’t really understand how many if not most of the regions are set up around Atlanta. Generally speaking, most regions have 8-10 teams playing 7 or 8 or 9 region games. There are even a few that play 10 region games due to the number of teams. When you play 8 region games in a region with many good teams, simple math will show that some good teams wind up with less than impressive records, especially if there are a couple of teams that are very good and go 10-0 or 9-1. Just because a team is 6-4 or 5-5 doesn’t mean they aren’t a good team and shouldn’t be in the playoffs.
Rockmart Needs a Coach
March 21st, 2012
11:13 am
Look for Buford to get a dome and air condition practices. A workable work around.
Tiger4life
March 21st, 2012
1:06 pm
@WarEagle
Great Post!
Louis
March 22nd, 2012
1:12 pm
GHSA should go one step further…..there should be a set time Statewide for on field practicing. 6-8pm….It would police itself if there was a set time. Parents would have the right to contact the school administrators and coaches that violate this would be subject to disciplinary actions.
I never understanded why would you practice and 4pm, but you never play at that time.
ShaylaS
March 23rd, 2012
8:22 am
Enter your comments here
ShaylaS
March 23rd, 2012
8:35 am
Speaking of football,spring practice and next years football practice, as of yesterday the Football players of Cedar Grove High School were told in a team meeting by the head coach that we would be having tryouts for quarterbacks. Soooo, it seems that Jonathan McCrary is on the market to be recruited. Although he single handedly turned us around, we will be more than happy to let you all have him and his father, immediately. We wish them the best. Remember though, “there is no I in Team”. Don’t forget we have tryouts next week for quarterbacks.
scared
March 23rd, 2012
10:52 am
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Brian Crissman
May 30th, 2012
5:39 pm
Things would be alot better for schools in Georgia if the GHSA would just start inforcing the rules they set forth!!!! If you are going to put this new rule in affect enforce it!!!!! Yeah back in my playing days yeah I wanted to win but I wanted to apart of that win and not laying in the cemetery!!!! We need to be thinking about our kids thats the bottom line!!!! Without them you don’t have a football game on friday night!!! Some advice GHSA start the season late and that will take care of most of the problem. When I played back in the late 80’s the GHSA would not let the season start until the first friday in Septemberand that was a rule. If you noticed you did’nt see heat related deaths then as you do now. And its because GHSA started letting teams have pre-season scrimmage,which means you have to start pre-season workouts early to be able to have enough practice time in to participate and then starting the season a week after during the hottest part of summer. Bottom line lets take care of our kids!!! I applaud the GHSA new heat rule but if they are not going to inforce it why even have it!!!
Anonymous
June 11th, 2012
5:23 pm
As always, rules are ignored, seeing as many high schools are already having full length practices with helmets on… Upon further inspection, If they call it voluntary, it’s legal apparently.