KEEPING CA KIDS SAFE FROM FOOTBALL INJURIES

Lori Abbott, California News Service

July 9, 2014 (Sacramento)--How long high school football players can practice each week - and how rough those practices can be - may be changing in California.

A bill that seeks to reduce brain injuries and concussions has passed the Legislature and is awaiting Gov. Jerry Brown's signature. Assemblyman Ken Cooley, D-Rancho Cordova, said his bill, AB 2127, will limit "full-contact" practice time each week and ensure that injured athletes don't return to the field too soon.

"What this bill does is, within that 18-hour framework it provides for three hours of contact practice, meaning game-like conditions," Cooley said. "So, three hours total on two days, 90 minutes apiece, within the 18-hour framework."

Some coaches have expressed concern that they won't have enough time to teach players with the practice restrictions.

Cooley said practice techniques that minimize exposure to concussion are becoming more common in the National Football League, but haven't sifted down to the high school level. He believes his bill will help reassure parents and even help save high school sports.

"I actually believe this will safeguard the viability of football programs," he said. "It will reassure parents that if their son wants to participate in football, that there's a strong framework to keep them safe while they learn this great American sport."

NFL Hall of Fame quarterback Warren Moon headlined Cooley's "Practice Like Pros" clinic at UCLA on Tuesday to demonstrate techniques to conform with the pending legislation. If signed into law, the changes would begin with the 2015 season.

More information is online at asmdc.org/cooley. Text of the legislation is at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.