“That’s the main part of the sport–the contact,” said Rusty Brady, Head Coach of Christian Academy of Knoxville.
It’s the nature of the game.
“Tackling for American football is key,” said LaDawn Wolfe, Certified Athletic Trainer of Foothills Physical Therapy Center.
The American Academy of Pediatrics wants to make football safer. They’ve suggested taking tackling out of high school football.
CAK Head Coach Rusty Brady said tackling does more than create excitement on the field.
“Guys are going to develop at a later stage and they’re not going to be as developed coming into the college game,” said Brady. “That’s going to cause them to not be as developed when they enter the professional level, as well.”
That’s also going to make it hard for colleges to recruit players.
“You’re removing one of the major ways to evaluate players at the college level,” said Brady.
Certified Athletic Trainer LaDawn Wolfe said removing tackling at the PeeWee level is okay. They can focus on form and technique. At the high school level, players gain certain skills that are necessary.
“If they’ve not really took a tackle and they all of the sudden start taking tackles in, you’re talking about so much more injuries, not just for head concussions and spinal injuries, but just for more injuries in general,” said Wolfe.
Wolfe said there are certain precautions football players can take to stay safe during a tackle. Players need to train their bodies to understand how to be tackled — It’s all about muscle memory.
“You’re doing the technique properly, You’re not tucking your head right when you make the impact which is a natural instinct to guard ourselves,” said Wolfe. “We’re not letting them do that because we are catching that in the practice, we’re catching that in the drill.”
Brady’s team doesn’t tackle in practice. He says they still work on technique, but that keeps them safer.
Click the link on the side to see what The American Academy of Pediatrics said about removing tackling.
ORIGINAL ARTICLE:
http://www.local8now.com/news/local/headlines/No-more-tackling-339004462.html