New Online Course to Minimize Risk of Heat-Stroke Deaths in HS Sports

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (July 5, 2012) — In its ongoing effort to minimize the risk of participating in high school athletics, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has produced a free online course entitled “A Guide to Heat Acclimatization and Heat Illness Prevention.”

The course, which provides critical information designed to minimize the risk of activity-related heat stroke among high school athletes, is the fourth and latest free course in the NFHS Coach Education Program available online at http://www.nfhslearn.com/.

With fall football practice set to begin across the country in about a month and with record heat in many locations this year, the information contained in this course could help save lives, according to Tim Flannery, NFHS director of coach education.

“Heat stroke is the leading cause of preventable death in high school athletics,” Flannery said, “and results in thousands of emergency room visits and hospitalizations throughout the nation each year. Many times, deaths from heat strokes are preventable, and we believe this course can be just the tool that players, coaches and parents need to guard against serious illness or death.”

To provide more options for individuals to access the course, “A Guide to Heat Acclimatization and Heat Illness Prevention” can be taken on mobile devices, including iPads and tablets.

The heat illness course will serve as a great companion to the free “Concussion in Sports – What You Need to Know” course, which has been taken by more than 430,000 individuals since its debut in May 2010. The other free courses offered through the NFHS Coach Education Program are “Sportsmanship” and “The Role of the Parent in Sports.”

“We are very pleased to be able to offer this important course on heat illness free of charge,” Flannery said. “With more than 7.6 million participants in high school sports, minimizing the risk of serious illness and injury is a top priority, and we believe this course will help prevent unnecessary deaths from heat illness and heat stroke.”

The NFHS Coach Education Program offers 29 online courses, including the two core courses – Fundamentals of Coaching and First Aid Health and Safety for Coaches. The NFHS also offers 13 sport-specific courses and seven elective courses.

All NFHS Coach Education Program courses are available at http://www.nfhslearn.com/.

'Piggyback Bandit' declared a threat to MN athletes & is banned from games

On Friday, Minnesota State High School League executive director Dave Stead banned Sherwin Shayegan, described as "The Piggyback Bandit" for jumping on the backs of high school players, from all league-sanctioned events.

In a letter sent on Friday to the league's more than 400 member schools, Stead said Shayegan has been banned from sporting events in three other states, was spotted Thursday in St. Cloud and is known to be in Minneapolis.

On Thursday, the North Dakota High School Activities Association banned Shayegan from attending any sanctioned events. He is also banned from attending high school-sanctioned events in Oregon and Montana.

Football Rules Press Release

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (February 9, 2012) — High school football players must sit out one play next year if their helmet comes off while the ball is live.

In cases where the helmet comes completely off without it being directly attributable to a foul by the opponent, the player will have to leave the game for at least one down.

This addition to Rule 3-5-10 was one of eight rules changes approved by the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Football Rules Committee at its January 20-22 meeting in Indianapolis. All rules changes were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

“The committee made this rules change after reviewing data from multiple states regarding the frequency of helmets coming off during live-ball play,” said Julian Tackett, chair of the Football Rules Committee and commissioner of the Kentucky High School Athletic Association. “It is the committee’s hope that this serves notice for schools to properly fit players with helmets to reduce the incidence of these situations and remind the players not to take steps that alter the fit.”

Another significant change next season will be a new interpretation of a legal catch. A receiver now will be required to establish possession of the ball and contact the ground inbounds while maintaining possession – regardless of the opponent’s action.

“In previous years, the covering official could have ruled that an airborne player attempting to catch the ball would have come down inbounds, but was prevented from doing so because of contact by the opponent,” said Bob Colgate, NFHS director of sports and sports medicine and liaison to the Football Rules Committee. “Now, the player must establish possession and contact the ground inbounds for a legal catch.”

The Football Rules Committee also cleared the way for state associations and their member schools to place corporate advertising and/or commercial markings on the field of play. These types of markings previously were only allowed in the end zones and outside the field.

Rule 1-2-3l will state that while corporate advertising and/or commercial markings will be allowed, the markings may not obstruct the yard lines, hash marks or nine-yard marks.

A risk-minimization change was made to Rule 2-3-7 that changes an interpretation for blocking below the waist.

“The previous interpretation was that it was not a foul for a player to block below the waist if the hand(s) of the opponent was first contacted below the waist,” Colgate said. “This revision changes that interpretation and stipulates that such action is a foul.”

After experimentation in Minnesota and Iowa, the committee revised Rule 9-3-8 to prohibit members of the kicking team from initiating contact (blocking) against members of the receiving team until the ball has broken the plane of the receiving team’s restraining line, or until the kicking team is eligible to recover the free kick.

The other three rules changes approved by the committee include Rule 1-5-3c(8), which expands the list of illegal equipment to include play cards that are not worn on the wrist or arm, as well as Rule 9-4-3h, which now states that grasping the tooth and mouth protector, as well as the face mask, is a foul. Also, to provide guidance to game officials, the committee clarified Rule 9-4-3k by adding the direction in which the opponent was pulled during a horse-collar.

Finally, the NFHS decided to extend the effective date of its new glove rule from 2012 to 2013. During the 2012 season, both gloves meeting the current standard and gloves meeting the new standard will be legal for play.

“The game of football at the high school level is in great shape, and the committee continues to review all available data to minimize the risk to participants,” Tackett said. “A hallmark to the NFHS playing rules is the constant emphasis on risk minimization, as well as historic tenets regarding the balance between offense and defense and making the rules appropriate for the levels of the coaches, players and officials.”

Football is the No. 1 participatory sport for boys at the high school level with 1,134,377 participants in the 2010-11 school year, according to the High School Athletics Participation Survey conducted by the NFHS through its member state associations. In addition, the survey indicated there were 1,561 girls who played football in 2010-11.

Safety alert from MSHSL

The recent injury to Benilde-St. Margaret’s hockey player Jack Jablonski has prompted staff of the Minnesota State High School League to remind all participants involved in hockey about the continued emphasis on eliminating checking from behind. The following note was sent today to all League athletic administrators, to all hockey coaches, and to all hockey officials.

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As you are probably aware, a member of the Benilde-St. Margaret’s boys’ hockey team was injured in a junior varsity hockey game last week. In that contest an inadvertent check from behind resulted in the severe injury. This situation reminds all of us in the hockey community to renew our efforts to emphasize the elimination of hitting from behind in hockey and to emphasize proper contact techniques.

For nearly a decade the MSHSL has identified the reduction and removal of checking from behind as a major point of emphasis for coaches, officials and hockey players. This education process continues the foundation laid for boys and girls who grew up playing youth hockey under the guidelines created by Minnesota Hockey and USA Hockey. High school coaches, officials and student-athletes all have an essential and continuing role in helping to remove this type of contact from games and practices.

Currently, 124 girls’ hockey teams with students from 241 schools and 156 boys’ hockey teams drawing students from 270 schools participate in MSHSL high school hockey. Together, players from those teams working with the thousands of high school hockey coaches and officials across the state can sustain this awareness and emphasis to ensure the game will be played within the rules which will help eliminate these potentially catastrophic injuries.

With that in mind, MSHSL staff makes the following recommendations.
Coaches:
* Daily remind your hockey players to eliminate checking from behind.
* Prior to checking or contact drills, emphasize proper checking and contact technique.
* Before every game and every period remind your team to be aware of hitting from behind situations and to stay away from those situations.
* Be grateful when officials enforce the rules which will make the game safer for all involved.
Officials:
* In your pre-game meetings with captains and coaches emphasize appropriate contact and checking.
* Prior to each period talk to the captains or coaches to again remind them of the points of emphasis.
* When there are checks from behind do not hesitate to make the call—you are protecting all of the players involved.
Hockey Players:
* Remember what your coaches and the officials have taught you—stay away from checking from behind situations.
* Remind each other to keep it clean and hit the brakes when you see the numbers on the back of the jersey.