USA Football to test major changes to improve game's safety at youth level
Drastic changes could be on the horizon for youth football as the national governing body for the sport responds to safety concerns and declining participation.
USA Football confirmed to USA TODAY Sports on Tuesday that it will institute several rule changes in a small number of leagues later this year as part of a pilot program. The new rules, which will be evaluated and potentially rolled out nationally, include cutting the number of players on the field for each team from 11 to seven, smaller fields, elimination of kickoffs and punts and banning the three-point stance.
“A lot of this makes very good sense,” Stefan Duma, professor and head of the department of biomedical engineering at Virginia Tech, told USA TODAY Sports. “The data is clear in a number of those categories, including on kickoffs. I’m not aware of the data on some of the other changes, like limiting the number of players on the field.”
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The New York Times was the first outlet to report the potential rule changes.
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Here’s the full list of changes that will tested and potentially rolled out nationwide:
— Smaller playing field, which will measure 40 yards-by-35 yards, and require teams to drive length of the field on a fresh possession
— Seven players on the field for each team
— No special teams
— Mandated position rotations
— Coaches will be required to ensure players of equal size will be lined up against each other
— Two coaches to be allowed on the field to organize plays and guide players
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Pop Warner, the nation’s largest youth football organization, put in place rules to limit full-contact practices and taken other steps in recent years in an attempt to limit the risk of repeated head impacts in response the research that links such collisions to debilitating, life-altering brain injuries.
USA Football, which has received millions in funding from the NFL, has pushed its Heads Up Football program that teaches safer tackling techniques and injury recognition to youth, middle and high school coaches. The Heads Up Program, however, only showed a marginal decline in injuries, according to a 2015 study.
Duma, a member of Pop Warner's medical advisory board, said he's all for changes backed by solid evidence that leads to a reduction of injuries, something he said limiting full-contact practices has done in Pop Warner. But drastic changes -- like reducing field size and the number of players on the field -- need to be closely studied because, according to Duma, there's no evidence either of those changes makes the game safer.
"I think they run the risk that people will just stop listening," Duma said. "You change the sport too much and parents won't want to be part of USA Football. They'll break off and do their own thing, maybe create their own leagues. Then you lose the ability to control the sport.
"I have talked to a lot of parents of youth football players and they want to see real numbers. They want evidence. They don't respond well to changes (in the sport) based just on opinion."