NFHS Rules Changes

[Tim C]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Bob Colgate

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (February 23, 2010) — Effective with the 2010 high school football season, any player who shows signs, symptoms or behaviors associated with a concussion must be removed from the game and shall not return to play until cleared by an appropriate health-care professional.

The concussion rule was one of 12 changes approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee at its meeting last month in Indianapolis. The rule changes subsequently were approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

The previous rule directed officials to remove an athlete from play if “unconscious or apparently unconscious.” The previous rule also allowed for return to play based on written authorization by a medical doctor. Now, officials are charged with removing any player who shows signs, symptoms or behaviors consistent with a concussion, such as loss of consciousness, headache, dizziness, confusion or balance problems, and shall not return to play until cleared by an appropriate health-care professional.

“Given that the vast majority of concussions do not include a loss of consciousness, but that athletes often show obvious evidence of concussion, the NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee (SMAC) strongly believes that officials must continue to be empowered to remove these athletes from play, thus protecting them from further injury,” said Dr. Michael Koester, chair of the SMAC. “Continued participation in any sport following a concussion can lead to worsening concussion symptoms, as well as increased risk for further injury to the brain and even death.

“The safety of the athlete is of paramount concern during any athletic contest. Officials, coaches and administrators are being asked to make all efforts at ensuring that concussed athletes do not continue to participate. Thus, coaches, players and administrators should also be looking for signs of concussion in all athletes and should immediately remove any suspected concussed athlete from play.”

In addition to football, the new concussion language is being placed in all NFHS rules books for the 2010-11 season, as well as the “NFHS Suggested Guidelines for Management of Concussion.”

Among the other changes were four pertaining to equipment, two dealing with player conduct, one concerning penalty options on scoring plays and three others in Rule 3 dealing with periods, time factors and substitution.

“The NFHS Football Rules Committee continues to focus its primary efforts toward maintaining the highest level of player safety,” said Julian Tackett, executive assistant commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association and chair of the NFHS Football Rules Committee. “This is evidenced by several rule changes related to equipment and concussions that were approved for 2010 following review by the NFHS SMAC. The rules of the game are in very good order and our members felt that no substantial changes were necessary beyond our emphasis on the health and welfare of the high school student-athlete.”

Among the equipment changes was approval of a new football glove/hand pad standard for the 2012 season. Beginning in 2012, gloves, which may be anchored with athletic tape and even though modified, must meet the National Operating Committee on Standards for Athletic Equipment (NOCSAE) test standards at the time of manufacture.

Other equipment changes include removal of restrictions on penalty-marker colored pads or gloves; revisions in the padding rule for guards, casts and braces; and clarification of the illegal player equipment rule.

In Rule 9-4-3k, the committee approved a clarification to the horse-collar rule. The wording in the definition of a horse-collar was changed to address situations when player possession was lost or the ball became dead by rule after the back or side of the jersey collar/shoulder pads were grasped.

“Under the previous rule, if the horse-collar occurred inbounds, but the tackle was completed out of bounds, in the end zone or after a loss of player possession, a horse-collar foul could not be called as the player was no longer a runner,” said Bob Colgate, NFHS assistant director and liaison to both the Football Rules Committee and the SMAC. “The wording was modified to ensure that a horse-collar foul could be called even if the runner no longer had possession of the ball or the ball became dead by rule.”

In Rule 8-2, six existing articles were refined and a new article created regarding fouls on scoring plays that have succeeding spot enforcement. Colgate said the changes now give both teams the same options when a non-player or unsportsmanlike conduct foul is committed during a down in which a touchdown is scored.

In other changes, the point differential rule by state adoption was modified to allow state associations to terminate a game at any point once the point differential is reached. Previously, the end of the first half was the earliest termination of a game by rule. In Rule 3-2-2, coin toss provisions were revised to state that no more than four captains per team can be on the field of play for the coin toss. In Rule 3-7-1, the committee revised the timeframe for replacing players from “immediately” to “within three seconds.”

Finally, the rules committee altered field markings in nine-, eight- and six-player football. All players who participated in the previous down and all substitutes must be momentarily between the 7-yard marks if they play on regulation 80-yard fields.

Points of emphasis adopted by the NFHS Football Rules Committee for the 2010 season include concussion recognition and management, heat illness and hydration, illegal helmet contact, assisting the runner, sportsmanship and public-address announcers, and NFHS Football Officials Manual.

Football is the No. 1 participatory sport for boys at the high school level with 1,112,303 participants in the 2008-09 season, according to the High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS through its member state associations. In addition, the survey indicated there were 759 girls who played football in 2008-09.





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About the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS)

The NFHS, based in Indianapolis, Indiana, is the national leadership organization for high school sports and fine arts activities. Since 1920, the NFHS has led the development of education-based interscholastic sports and fine arts activities that help students succeed in their lives. The NFHS sets direction for the future by building awareness and support, improving the participation experience, establishing consistent standards and Rules for competition, and helping those who oversee high school sports and activities. The NFHS writes playing Rules for 17 sports for boys and girls at the high school level. Through its 50 member state associations and the District of Columbia, the NFHS reaches more than 19,000 high schools and 11 million participants in high school activity programs, including more than 7.5 million in high school sports. As the recognized national authority on interscholastic activity programs, the NFHS conducts national meetings; sanctions interstate events; produces publications for high school coaches, officials and athletic directors; sponsors professional organizations for high school coaches, officials, spirit coaches, speech and debate coaches and music adjudicators; serves as the national source for interscholastic coach training; and serves as a national information resource of interscholastic athletics and activities. For more information, visit the NFHS Web site at NFHS | National Federation of State High School Associations.

[mbyron]

Once NFHS insurance rates soar because officials are being sued for allowing players showing "obvious" signs of a concussion to play, this rule might be changed.

I'm all for player safety, but this one has me scratching my head.

[ajmc]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Once NFHS insurance rates soar because officials are being sued for allowing players showing "obvious" signs of a concussion to play, this rule might be changed. I'm all for player safety, but this one has me scratching my head.

I think most officials who observed a player who lost consciousness, was noticibly dizzy, was obviously confused about his surroundings, had trouble maintaining balance or complained of headache has had no problem sending that player out of the game for years.

What this rule change seems to do is put a lot more emphasis and responsibility on who who is going to evaluate the player and decide fitness BEFORE sending him back into the game.

[Adam]

We've heard rumors this is coming to basketball, too. I don't mind making the decision when I think they've lost consciousness, but I'm not trained to recognize a concussion. I was hoping they wouldn't put it on the officials, because you can bet your a$$ as soon as a player gets a concussion the parents are going to sue the official if he didn't tell the coach he couldn't play.

[mbyron]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

We've heard rumors this is coming to basketball, too. I don't mind making the decision when I think they've lost consciousness, but I'm not trained to recognize a concussion. I was hoping they wouldn't put it on the officials, because you can bet your a$$ as soon as a player gets a concussion the parents are going to sue the official if he didn't tell the coach he couldn't play.

Exactly. Which means that every player who gets a little bump on the head will be done for the night.

[Texas Aggie]

Once NFHS insurance rates soar because officials are being sued for allowing players showing "obvious" signs of a concussion to play, this rule might be changed.

Actually, their motivation is to keep THEM (the NF) from being sued, not you or I.

As an attorney, I would be extremely concerned about this, so much to the point where I *might* advise a client not to officiate in games played under these rules. If you work 40 games a year, you are bound to have 4-6 concussions. How many of those did you know about? How many kept playing?

This is insane. I sure hope the NCAA doesn't do this.

[bigjohn]

Points of emphasis adopted by the NFHS Football Rules Committee for the 2010 season include concussion recognition and management, heat illness and hydration, illegal helmet contact, assisting the runner, sportsmanship and public-address announcers, and NFHS Football Officials Manual.


IHC, imagine that! Assisting the runner? As in Rule 9-1? Helping the Runner?


If they had added illegal equipment(adornments) I would have gotten my Trifecta!!!!!!!!

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Texas Aggie

This is insane. I sure hope the NCAA doesn't do this.

Now that the Fed has, I wouldn't be surprised if the NCAA follows suit, especially since it is already being considered. Think we'll see this in basketball for this year's rule changes?

[bigjohn]

In Rule 3-7-1, the committee revised the time frame for replacing players from “immediately” to “within three seconds.”

[Adam]

Originally Posted by Welpe

Now that the Fed has, I wouldn't be surprised if the NCAA follows suit, especially since it is already being considered. Think we'll see this in basketball for this year's rule changes?

Yes, it states in the release that they're putting it the rules for all sports. Track officials are not off the hook.

[Welpe]

Originally Posted by Snaqwells

Yes, it states in the release that they're putting it the rules for all sports. Track officials are not off the hook.

I missed that earlier. Yikes.

[JRutledge]

I said this on the other board. This thing about concussions is about the dumbest thing I have ever heard from the NF committee. We are supposed to decide if someone with a helmet on has a headache.

When I was in high school I had two teammates get concussions during the same game. One I could not tell he was concussed at all until we had a discussion about a class and an assignment. When he repeated what he said I felt there were something wrong and alerted doctors. The other individual was very much hurt but there was no event in the game that alerted anyone. I also reported this to the trainers and made it clear his condition was an issue. Neither of these I would be able to identify easily on the field of play as they both were found out by conversations and this was long before the media concerns and issues on this topic.

This is a very bad decision and they might have to deal with this in court to change their stance.

Peace

[JRutledge]

Originally Posted by mbyron

Exactly. Which means that every player who gets a little bump on the head will be done for the night.

Funny you say this. I had a basketball game on TV this past Saturday and there were two teammates that ran into each other. I was the covering official and I did not know they bumped heads at all. One of the players was down and stayed down. I did not know until I saw the replay at home that the kids bumped heads. The kid stayed down for awhile and I believe he came back into the game. I stayed away as the medical people came out onto the floor almost immediately and they were checking on him. Now this is basketball where players do not have helmets and other devices covering their heads. And I could not tell or did not try to do more than I am normally asked to do based on the fact that that is for the medical people and coach to decide. Now the player was laying face down and it was not easy to tell why he was down at the time. This is bad on so many levels, but I have stated that before.

Peace

[Adam]

I'll be curious to see what sort of guidance we get from the state and/or the NFHS on how to actually go about enforcing this one.

[Mike L]

I'm less than thrilled. Do we cover our butts and remove anyone with any sort of sign only to incur the wrath of the coaching staffs? And just what qualifies as an appropriate "health care professional" anyway? Doctor? Nurse? EMT? Does the team trainer know anything beyond tapes and sprains?