Football practices potentially could change

For most high school football coaches player safety is always of paramount concern. But, even with advances in technology and coaching techniques, injuries are still a part of the game. With that in mind, the Massachusetts Interscholastic Athletic Association?s Sports Medicine and Football Subcommittee put together a plan in May to change the way practices were structured for the preseason.
Under the MIAA guidelines for the 2015 season — which are the same as those used in recent seasons — football practice began on Monday with teams not allowed to work in full pads before Thursday. Teams also are allowed a total of 10 practice sessions until the Friday before Labor Day. Double sessions count as two practices.
Teams also are not allowed to have a practice session that is more than two hours with scrimmages not permitted until the third day of full-pad practice.
The proposal brought before the MIAA board in May would have brought several changes, including the start date for practices and when contact could begin.
The new plan would have moved the opening of camps from Aug. 24 to Aug. 21 with the same 10 total practices allowed before Labor Day. Teams also would have to conduct five days of practice that involved no contact before being allowed to use full pads.
The proposed plan would mandate a day off during each week of practice and would limit full-contact drills to 60 minutes per day in the preseason.
On June 9, the MIAA?s Board of Directors elected to table the proposal until December, giving schools more time to discuss the proposition and its new rules and effects before the plan comes back up for another vote.
St. Mary?s athletic director Jeff Newhall believes the reasoning behind the proposed changes is sound but that the timetable wasn?t feasible for this season.
?I think that most of the proposed changes were done with player safety in mind and for that the committee should be commended,” Newhall said. “But to think that it was something that could be put into place this quickly wasn?t realistic.”
Marblehead athletic director Mark Tarmey is one of those who was not in favor of the proposal being implemented, largely because the high school football season already is the longest one of any sport in the state.
?With football, you start in the heat of the summer and end in the freezing cold of November and December in some cases,” Tarmey said. “I just don?t see the value to starting the season three days early. You have a lot of kids that go away to camps in the summer and have jobs that they?d have to leave early to begin football. There?s a lot of issues that people don?t see that are part of it.”
Former Swampscott and current Milton High head coach Steve Dembowski is the president of the Massachusetts Football Coaches Association. The MFCA was not in favor of implementing the proposal for this season because of the timing involved and for financial reasons. For example, many teams had already made monetary commitments for summer camps and practice sites that were nonrefundable.
Going forward, though, Dembowski believes the proposal should be implemented.
?The high school season has the least amount of prep time at all levels of football,” Dembowski said. “That limited amount of time puts a lot of stress on coaches because you have to install your offensive and defensive systems and take care of special teams. And then you add drills about tackling and blocking and that takes time. Most coaches would be in favor of getting rid of double sessions if it meant they could start earlier.”
Like most coaches, Revere?s Lou Cicatelli is all for improving the safety of his players. The logistics of implementing those improvements, however, concerns him.
?It?s something that?s been a long time coming,” Cicatelli said. “The worry is how much of a change it?s going to make. It?s kind of a double-edged sword. The more you practice tackling, the better the kids are going to get it. But you also want to make sure th