California’s latest law bans football players from engaging in full-contact off-season practices at middle schools and high schools around the state.
The law, signed by Gov. Jerry Brown earlier this week, also bans the schools from holding any full-contact practices that exceed 90 minutes per day, and restricts the number of full-contact practices that teams can hold during the season to two per week, the Los Angeles Times reported.
“AB 2127’s practice guidelines will reassure parents that their kids can learn football safety through three hours of full-contact practice … to maximize conditioning and skill development while minimizing concussion risk,” said Assemblyman Ken Cooley, the sponsor of the bill, in the Los Angeles Times.
Coaches, however, see some problems with the law.
“In the summer, we do need to have full-contact,” said Roosevelt High School head coach Javier Cid, in the newspaper. “That’s a very important part of our summer practice. That’s how we determine who our starters will be.”
Meanwhile, some say the ban is an overstepping of lawmakers’ bounds.
“I expect high school coaches to use common sense,” said Sen. Joel Anderson, who voted against the measure. “I expect them to be professional. I expect them to look at and understand their athletes and I expect them to protect their athletes to the best of their ability.”
Mr. Cooley, however, said the ban isn’t really different from what 19 other states already have in place.
The bans go into effect on Jan. 1, 2015.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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