With only about a dozen freshmen expected to come out for the first day of preseason practice Monday, Aug. 10, St. Joseph football head coach Anthony Griffin knows the value of preventing injuries and concussions in his small program.
Griffin was among nearly 50 high school football coaches from around the Chicago area on Wednesday, Aug. 5, who attended a presentation at McDonald’s headquarters in Oak Brook on how they can limit contact during practices for the upcoming season starting Aug. 28.
Hall of Famer and legendary Bears coach and tight end Mike Ditka was the featured speaker in the Practice Like Pros presentation and shared his own experience with concussions. He recalled celebrating one evening after a game, but could not remember any details after taking a hit from Packers Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke.
“It’s not a contact sport; it’s a collision sport,” Ditka said to the coaches.
Griffin, who is entering his fifth season at St. Joseph, has never had enough participants to field a freshman-only team. He expects to have his freshmen play on a combined team with sophomores this season.
“I agree with a lot they talked about,” Griffin said.”I’m not a proponent about having a lot of contact in practice anyway. It’s more about teaching technique for both the offense and defense.”
Griffin said his program could not afford the risk of losing players due to injuries in practice.
Niles North head coach Mark Egofske admitted that dwindling participation in tackle football due to fears about concussions is a major issue. Egofske said that for the first time, Niles North will be unable to field a freshman-level football team and will have a single combined freshman-sophomore squad this season. He said he expects to welcome a total of 65 players in the program this season.
“Sometimes you get mixed messages (about how to practice),” Egofske said. “But the IHSA and (Practice Like Pros), I think, is about doing the right thing. It was enlightening.”
Ditka said he would likely introduce today’s generation of athletes to golf instead of football, but stressed that the merits of the game include learning teamwork and discipline.
“You should never discourage him from playing a sport he wants to play,” Ditka said of a young athlete.
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Illinois High School Association football teams are entering their second year of preseason practices under rules that have all but eliminated double-sessions. The IHSA has instituted a new mandate for this season that limits contact to three days a week after the third game of the regular season.
Practice Like Pros concepts advocate new practice drills and ways of tackling, such as rugby-style shoulder or the roll tackling currently used by the Seattle Seahawks. Practice Like Pros founder Terry O’Neil showed videos of Stanford, Dartmouth, the Cleveland Browns and the Jacksonville Jaguars of practices without tackling.
O’Neil, who said his son is a Division III quarterback with a history of concussions in high school, cited a survey by the Sports Legacy Institute that claims 60 to 75 percent of the concussions suffered by high school players occur during practice.
“This is the worst, most shameful statistic in the game of football,” O’Neil said. “We control the rules of engagement in practice. This is something we (must) do to get it to a much more manageable number.”
Twitter @geomwilcox