The Leader • Saturday, August 17, 2019 • Page 1B
Photo by Patric Schneider
Heading toward a safer sport Statewide tackling training aims to reduce concussions By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
Like many young football players, Byron McDaniel was taught to take advantage of his helmet while tackling. So he often led with his head when making a hit, using his facemask to try to jar the ball loose from opponents. The result was some jarring collisions, with McDaniel saying he sustained a concussion when he was 9 or 10 years old. The Heights High School linebacker said he suffered another one early last season. Later last season, Bulldogs coach Stephen Dixon began teaching a new way to tackle. He instructed his players to lead with their shoulders and keep their heads behind or to the side of opposing ball carriers, then wrap their arms around the opponents’ legs and roll until they fall to the ground. “Safety-wise, it’s better,” said McDaniel, a 16-year-old junior who hasn’t had any more concussions. “I feel like it takes out a lot of head-to-head trauma.” That’s the idea behind a rugby-style tackle, or hawk tackle, which has become increasingly prevalent in Texas high school football. More and more players are learning the technique because coaches all over the state are now required to do
the same. A joint initiative by the Texas High School Coaches Association (THSCA) and University Interscholastic League (UIL), which governs public-school athletic competition in the state, mandated that all public high school and middle school football coaches be certified in rugby-style tackling by Aug. 1. The in-person and online training program is conducted by Seattle-based Atavus Sports, which was enlisted because of its work with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks as well as prominent college programs such as Ohio State and Washington. The first statewide program of its kind in the United States, Texas’ tackling certification program aims to reduce head and neck injuries. It’s also in response to growing concerns about the long-term health risks associated with playing football as well as declining participation in the sport across the nation, including in Texas. “The problem that we’re having is there’s so many kids that are avoiding the sport now, because of the fear,” Scarborough High School coach Gary Howard said. According to statistics compiled by the National Federation of State High School Associa-
Byron McDaniel
tions, the number of kids playing high school football has gradually dwindled during the last decade. Data from the UIL, obtained through an open records request, shows that head injuries in football have increased in number and proportion
during the same time frame. When the first tackling training sessions were held last summer at the THSCA convention in San Antonio, then-executive director D.W. Rutledge said the initiative aimed to “save the game.” “It’s under attack,” he added, “and some changes need to be made.” Dixon and Howard, along with first-year Lutheran High North coach Shaun Stephens, said altering the way players tackle Tim Lavallais is good for them and the sustainability of the sport. Private-school coaches are not required to receive the same training – even public-school coaches are not required to implement it – but Stephens teaches the technique anyway. All three coaches, along with a sampling of Heights and Lutheran High North players, agreed that a rugby-style tackle is safer in terms of preventing head injuries. But is it more effective? McDaniel and Tim Lavallais, a senior linebacker for the Bulldogs, said the technique works well when approaching an opponent from the side or behind. In straight-on situations, though, they said it is harder to wrap up and more difficult to keep their head out of the tackle. “It was 50-50,” Lavallais said of implement-
ing the technique last season. “I missed some and then I made some.” UIL spokesperson Kate Hector said the organization has gotten “good feedback” from coaches about the training program. She also said it’s too early to know whether the initiative has had an impact on reducing head injuries. Atavus cannot point to studies or medical data to support the notion its way is safer. The 7-year-old company uses game film to measure head contacts for its clients and strives to reduce them. Atavus also tracks the efficiency and effectiveness of its method, claiming it leads to more successful tackling. The company hopes to parlay its partnership with Texas into arrangements with other state high school associations. “We hope it’s a catalyst,” Atavus CEO Karen Bryant said at last year’s THSCA convention. “We’ve had a lot of conversations about our joint desire to create a movement across the sport.” McDaniel said there are inherent dangers associated with playing football, including concussions, and they cannot be completely eliminated. But he appreciates the effort to reduce them, saying the implementation of a safer tackling technique could prolong careers such as his and reduce the likelihood of cognitive problems later in life. Will Harris, a senior wide receiver for Lutheran High North, said football players weren’t concerned with Will Harris such things as recently as a generation ago. Some might say the game is getting soft, but Harris sees the adaptation as smart. “If you want to save the excitement of the game and stop as many injuries, then definitely I think you incorporate hawk tackling and shoulder tackling,” he said. “It’s not that much of a difference. If you’re athletic enough, you’ll make the tackle. You don’t need to use your head at all.”
Heights alumni who opposed name change still support team By Adam Zuvanich azuvanich@theleadernews.com
They still call themselves graduates of John H. Reagan High School, and they wish their alma mater still went by that name. But while they never supported the rebranding of the Houston ISD campus at 413 E. 13th St., which is now called Heights High School, they still support its students and their activities. A group of about 12 alumni who meet for breakfast every Wednesday at Yale Street Grill – all of whom opposed the name change to distance the campus from the former postmaster general in the Confederate States of America – recently purchased nearly $5,000 worth of equipment for Heights’ football team. Howard Moon, a 1951 graduate who presented a check to Bulldogs head coach Stephen Dixon last month, said some of that money was left over from a fundraising
campaign to fight the name change, which the HISD school board approved in 2016. “They told us to order some stuff that we needed, and they paid the bill,” Dixon said. “It’s great that they still support us.” Heights, which has made eight consecutive playoff appearances and kicks off a new season with an Aug. 30 home game against Spring Dekaney, used the donation to purchase practice equipment. Dixon said the Bulldogs have new rings and pads they use to work on tackling, nets for quarterbacks to throw into and arches that players run through to train them to stay low to the ground. Moon, who played football for the University of Texas after graduating high school, wrote in a letter about the donation that and his fellow alumni “now expect the Bulldogs to win the city championship and perhaps become state champs.” “At one of the meetings, Coach
Dixon came and was telling us what a good team he’s going to have this year, but he needed a little equipment,” Moon said. “So we got together and made a donation.” Dixon said the new equipment brings the Bulldogs more on par with some of the bigger schools in the area in terms of training resources. “It’s definitely going to help us this upcoming year and in the future,” he said. While Moon and the other men he meets for weekly breakfasts are supportive of Heights’ team, that doesn’t mean they’ve gotten over the name change. Dixon said he also wishes the school was still called Reagan, but named after either former President Ronald Reagan or his wife, Nancy. The coach joked that the alumni might be even more generous if that were the case. Contributed photo “In our mind,” Moon said, “it’s Heights football coach Stephen Dixon, left, accepts a check from alumnus Howard still Reagan.” Moon, whose weekly breakfast group of alumni purchased equipment for the team.