By Staff
From time to time things come across my desk that I really don't know what I should do with them.
I recently returned from Niles to find the following column from a 1955 publication on the desk.
Part of the column was taken from an unpublished study by John O. Ames, for a M.A. degree at Western Michigan College in Kalamazoo. Mr. Ames was a former six-man football coach who was then the principal at Dowagiac Public Schools.
Here is the column:
Coaches Column
By PAUL GOVERNALI
Editor, Men's Athletics Division at AAHPER
Athletic Department, 401 John Jay Hall, Columbia University, New York 27
How to cut down
on football injuries
THE FOOTBALL COACH IS responsible for maintaining safety standards for his squad. Proper coaching, safe equipment, and suitable fields are important factors in cutting down on football injuries, which are a major problem with every football instructor.
Safety measures do not make "softies" of the players. They will play with greater vigor and enthusiasm, secure in the knowledge that the risk of injury has been diminished greatly.
Conditioning
Poor conditioning and insufficient warm-up periods are two main causes of football injuries. In pre-school training, calisthenics, grass drills, and considerable sprinting should be practiced daily. After school starts, they should be continued on a modified scale throughout the season.
Only the first scrimmage day or two, the coach pits teams and individuals of nearly equal ability against each other and watches for tired players.
Medical examinations
Any player who has not passed the medical examination should not be permitted to participate in a practice or game.
The American Football Coaches Association in its 23rd Annual Survey of Football Fatalities recommends:
1. That every team be required by their school administration to have not only an examination before participation, but a mid-season complete physical examination of every boy playing football.
2. That no boy with any history of heart abnormalities be allowed to play.
3. That every concussion should be X-rayed and studies with the immediately.
4. That every serious concussion should be X-rayed and studied with the encephalogram.
5. That a player be barred from further football participation and personal contact sports if he has suffered a serious concussion.
6. That no institution be permitted to play a football game without a physician on the bench.
7. That continued and increasing emphasis on tackling and blocking practice throughout the season be intensified.
Equipment and Field
Each player in the entire football program must be outfitted by the safest, most durable, and most comfortable equipment that can be purchased. The equipment usually given to players includes socks, stockings, athletic supporters, T-shirts, football shoes, thigh pads, hip pads, shoulder pads, pants with protective knee pads, jersey, head gear and hood or blanket. A protective plastic bar for the face and mouth may be attached to the head gear.
The blocker and tackling dummies, the machines and sleds should be well protected by thick padding, and in good order. The pits where the dummies are strong must be dug up and softened by mixing saw-dust with the ground.
The practice field and the actual playing area must be free of rocks and stones and be covered by a layer of soft, green turf or grass. The ground must not be allowed to dry out or harden. If rain is lacking, the field must be watered daily.
Type of Football
According to a recent survey among experienced coaches, the type of football chosen must be suitable to the enrollment in order to cut down on injuries. The number of players wishing to participate should be a deciding factor in choosing the type of football, since the school should be capable of fielding two separate teams in every game.
Small high schools with limited enrollments and budgets may find that six-man football will meet their needs more satisfactorily than 11-man, because: (1) Small schools cannot expect to compete with larger schools without incurring a higher rate of injuries in 11-man football; (2) Fewer players are exposed to injuries in the six-man game; (3) Injuries incurred in six-man football are not as serious as those in the 11-man game.
The coaches surveyed agreed that all schools should sponsor some type of football, however, because boys will play in sandlots without equipment if no football is sponsored by the school. Thus, football in a physical education or athletic program will help prevent injuries from sandlot play.
Other Points
They had some recommendations on equipment, too. They said equipment should be a high quality to give the best possible protection against injuries. Moreover, it should fit the individual players to offer suitable protection. They further recommended that all players wear a mouthpiece or face protector, and recommended helmets with a soft, pliable crown to retard injuries to opposing players.
Advocating the best possible physical condition for the players, they also believed in wrapping up or taping ankles to eliminate ankle injuries.
Other factors influencing injuries were attitude and physical development of players. Confidence gives better morale and results in fewer injuries than a careless, complacent attitude. The physical growth of the players is also a safety factor.