Rule Changes to Make the Game Safer!

Why are you changing the game?

First, some context. Whether you’re a parent, player, coach, volunteer or administrator, we all share something: a deep love for this sport. So many of us have had great experiences playing the game and have been shaped by it. But we all share something else: an abiding responsibility to the kids who play it. I know many of you feel that same responsibility. That means making the sport safer while maintaining what makes it so great.

With that backdrop, the Pop Warner medical advisory committee keeps us informed of the latest research. This panel of nationally respected neurosurgeons, neurologists, sports medicine practitioners and researchers meets with us to review the latest research and discuss ways to continually make Pop Warner football a positive experience for young people. That will always be our mission. Guided by science and analysis of our own medical team, and shared with the regional directors before enacting.

According to researchers at Brown University and Dartmouth College, defensive linemen, offensive linemen and linebackers have the lowest head impact magnitudes of all positions in football but they also had more head impacts. A study in the journal Pediatrics suggested that players “who start in a 3- or 4-point stance, rather than a 2-point stance, generate greater trunk and head velocity before collision with the opposing players and may limit an athlete’s field of view, making it difficult to anticipate and prepare for a collision.” An earlier study in the Journal of Sports Science and Medicine concluded the two-point stance was likely safer because reduced “kinetic energy in case of collision” and improved player field of vision. So we set out to explore ways to reduce both the magnitude and likelihood of head contact for linemen.

A number of states have introduced legislation to outlaw tackle football for children. When we visit legislators in those states to share the work we’re doing collectively to make the game safer it is often a surprise to them. Because we are guided by what’s in the best interest of our young players, our player safety improvements long preceded politicians getting involved. If we were not acting responsibly toward our participants they would be considerably more emboldened to kill the sport. Some inside the sport wish we would not “tinker” with it. That is not an option.

Regardless of the lack of consensus around causes and risks of head injuries, we will strive to recommend approaches that can lessen the opportunity for such injury. The remedies may not always be popular but we look forward to working with so many across Pop Warner – and beyond – who are inspired to do what’s right for our young athletes and for the sport they love.