CONCUSSIONS IN YOUTH FOOTBALL – ARE WE THINKING CLEARLY?

By Rey Hernandez Former Head Coach, LaJolla High School (CA) The current legislative proposals seeking to limit full contact in high school practices raise some tort liability issues that to date have not made it into the national concussion safety debate. One may safely conclude that teaching your athletes how to tackle is important from both an execution and safety standpoint. But in light of the recent legislative proposals to limit full contact sessions one must ask the question, when is a coach exposing himself to tort liability for not sufficiently practicing live tackling during the practice week and then asking the players to tackle in a live full contact setting on game day?   Tackling a ball carrier involves much more than just making contact, shooting the arms to secure the ball carrier, driving your feet and keeping the head out of the contact. The dynamics of tacking