Athlete safety was the impetus behind new rules adopted by the Georgia High School Athletic Association that will reduce contact during football practices.
The rules, unanimously approved by the GHSA's executive committee, will limit full contact to 45 minutes per day and 135 minutes per week in the spring and preseason. The limitations increase to 30 minutes per day and 90 per week during the regular season and postseason and cannot take place over three consecutive days.
In addition, each school must keep a detailed practice plan for each day. Any school found in violation of the rules will be fined the first time and banned from postseason play the second time.
"Whatever keeps the kids safe, that's the main thing here," Calhoun coach Hal Lamb said of the rules, which are in line with national high school federation guidelines. "It was just a matter of time. The NFL has limitations and colleges do also, so it's only right for high schools to have them as well.
"For us, this won't be much different because we very seldom do much physical contact in practice. As long as our kids are physical and play fast on Friday nights, that's what we look for."
Georgia High School Athletic Association logo.Other programs, though, will have to adjust to maintain their physical nature.
"It will have a little bit of an effect on us," Trion coach Justin Brown said. "We're going to have to be a little more creative with practice, but it's not a huge difference. Essentially, we'll have to limit our contact during scrimmages and working with our scout team. We'll use bags a little more, things like that. Like anything else, you adjust to it and move on."
The GHSA also approved changes to the postseason in basketball, softball and tennis. In basketball, all quarterfinals will be played at neutral sites beginning next year. For the past three seasons only the semifinals and finals were held at neutral sites, meaning region champions often had to travel for quarterfinal games if two No. 1 seeds faced off.
Softball and tennis playoff brackets will be similar to those of other sports, meaning teams from north and south regions can meet before the quarterfinals. Instead of teams from the same region being placed in the same bracket, the four teams qualifying for the playoffs from each region will be placed in separate brackets.
Also in softball, the maximum number of regular-season games was cut from 28 to 25, not including region tournaments. A proposal to reduce the number of teams from each classification competing in the state championships in Columbus from eight to four was voted down.
In baseball, a proposal to increase the number of regular-season games from 26 to 36 was voted down, while there was no vote on holding the state championships at a single neutral site. Instead, the committee will further study the options before a vote is held.
The GHSA voted to allow coaches in sports not in season to train with four individuals at the same time. Currently, only two individuals can work with a coach out of season.
Contact Lindsey Young at lyoung@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6296.