HS Also Stands for Health & Safety
December 20, 2013
By John E. “Jack” Roberts
MHSAA Executive Director
When parents send their children to our programs of school sports, most parents have one hope above all others.
More than they want a winning team, even more than they want their child to get playing time and score points, most Moms and Dads want (and many of them pray) that their child will be safe in our care.
I've seen many Moms (including the mother of my two children) gasp for breath and grasp the arm of the person next to them when one of their children took a tumble in soccer or was being twisted to some extreme in wrestling.
Those parents who have the one hope above all other hopes – that their child is safe in our care – have almost every right to expect that their children are, indeed, safe in our care.
Not all accidents can be avoided; and no sport can be entirely injury-free. Those realities mean that people in charge – rules makers, administrators, coaches and officials – must take every reasonable, realistic precaution to minimize accidents and injuries.
With the right policies and procedures, and coaches and officials committed above all else to the well-being of student-athletes, we can reduce head injuries and eliminate serious heat illness; we can get CPR and AEDs in use faster; and we can provide environments free of bullying and hazing.
I know that all of us want programs like this for our own children. We must do our utmost to provide nothing less for the children entrusted to us by other parents.
During the next two weeks, Second Half will continue feature stories from this fall's issue of "benchmarks" centered on the MHSAA's focus on health and safety. Click here for the first installment, "Safety Blitz - Taking a Healthy Approach to Sports."
Thank Roosevelt for Football Weekends
December 20, 2013
By Rob Kaminski
MHSAA benchmarks editor
The next time you find yourself immersed in a tense crosstown football rivalry on a Friday night followed by a Saturday pilgrimage to the nearest college campus and a Sunday afternoon with a remote and your favorite snacks and beverages, take a moment to consider what the weekend would be like if it weren’t for Teddy Roosevelt.
The man who became our 26th President shortly after the turn of the 20th Century following the assassination of William McKinley in 1901 was a football fan like you. Maybe more so.
Today’s game of football has reached a critical crossroads. Player size and speed have increased across the board. Savage use of equipment as weapons rather than protective gear has been glorified on television networks and social media. Leaders of the game at all levels have recognized the need for change, employing new rules and widespread educational efforts to aid in preserving the sport.
History, as they say, is repeating itself.
In an ironic twist, it was Roosevelt who saved the then-brutally violent game of football from itself more than 100 years ago. Yes, the same “Rough and Ready Teddy” who led the charge up San Juan Hill during the Spanish-American War and often sparred in the boxing ring while in office from 1901-09 opined that football was becoming so gruesome that he delivered an ultimatum: clean up the game or it would be outlawed.
The Chicago Tribune reported that in 1904 alone, there were 18 football deaths and 159 serious injuries, mostly among prep school players. Football deaths suffered by younger players were reported on a nearly weekly basis, as outraged citizens called on colleges and high schools to banish football outright.
In stepped Roosevelt, who called head coaches and representatives from Harvard, Yale and Princeton – college powers at the time – to the White House in 1905 urging them to eliminate excessive violence and set an example of fair play for the rest of the country. When the casualties actually rose by one during the ensuing season, Roosevelt reacted with greater resolve and convened leading football authorities for the purpose of authoring drastic rules changes. What emerged was an intercollegiate conference which was the predecessor of the NCAA.
Among the most effective changes for the 1906 season were the legalization of the forward pass, the elimination of mass formations, and the creation of a neutral zone. Football fatalities fell to 11 in each of the next two seasons, and severe injuries fell drastically.
Thanks to the introduction of protective equipment and ever-evolving rules changes, football during the 100-plus years to follow has become an exponentially safer game. Yet, the game’s leaders always will need to adjust and react to scrutiny that comes with the territory.
So, as the game once again undergoes rules modifications in the name of safety, give a tip of the cap to President Roosevelt while you enjoy college bowl season and the NFL playoffs and begin to think ahead to the first high school practice of 2014.