Quote:
Originally Posted by CaptainCrunch
That's what we're trying to do at a grass roots level. Here's the problem though. There are too many old school coaches that don't believe in it as a efficient tackling technique and don't teach it or pay lip service. It drives me crazy, that I have to sell coaches on teaching safe tackling techniques at every practice.
There are too many former player coaches who romanticize about putting their helmets in the numbers and leaving a smoking holes.
to me the grass roots organizations have to do more then teaching coaches to teach it, and certifying them.
They have to find a way to audit practices.
They have to change and enforce the rules of what is a safe tackle and what's not, especially at the amateur level. There has to be more then just penalizing head to head tackles, or head blows or even tourist hits. At the peewee and bantam and midget levels any tackle where the helmet is the lead device has to be called.
If a team gets X number of those penalties in a game, then you toss the head coach out of the game.
We are really our worst enemies at times.
Personally I've told coaches that if you don't want to teach safe contact then you shouldn't be coaching period.
|
CC, not trying to single you out or anything because you are very knowledgeable.
Anyway, I was listening to a podcast with Chris Borland and he basically said concussions are inevitable. There are ways to adjust the game so that it's not as traumatic (i.e. banning contact until high school) but at the end of the day no amount of training or smart tackling is going to change the fact that people are hurling themselves at each other.
He uses Luke Kuechly as an example of someone who tackles perfectly (i.e. no one has better fundamentals than him) and yet his career is on the verge of being cut short from concussions.
I'm not saying we should ban football, but I don't think teaching "safe contact" is enough.