The below story is written by Joshua Wilson, the Owner and Publisher of FloridaHSFootball.com. Wilson has been promoting high school football in the Sunshine State for over a decade.
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida High School Athletic Association continues to evolve the sport of tackle football as the Board of Directors voted to approve a six-quarter rule for programs to utilize starting for the 2020-2021 school year during the FHSAA Boards of Directors meeting via Zoom on Tuesday afternoon.
The vote to add Policy 6.1.3.1 which would allow schools across the state to apply to the FHSAA football administrator to waive the 1 game per week requirement, which has been a standard rule for many years in Florida.
With the vote, it means a lot of struggling programs that have not had the terms of the numbers to field both varsity and sub-varsity teams which have been seen as a factor for the quality of development for an overall program at many schools across the state.Advertisement
One thing in the vote that should be noted is that classification size will not be a factor for a team getting approval to be able to use the six-quarter rule. Instead, history of performance and current and past roster sizes will be used as the criteria for schools in the application process.
However, with all of that, the FHSAA Sports Advisory Medicine Committee is recommending that at 24-hour rest period be given between playing a sub-varsity game and a varsity game. That would mean playing a sub-varsity game on Wednesday and playing a varsity game on Friday. The committee did raise concerns about fatigue, heat exposure, and increased exposure to injury, as well some sub-varsity games would see stronger players moved down issuing concern about gamesmanship but overall felt there are many benefits for the rule.
As for now, the clock for a week would start on a Monday and end on a Saturday at this time in terms of how the six-quarter rule would be followed per the FHSAA’s guidance.
BOOM! ? ? Pumped for my football coach who spear-headed this w/ excellent research and stats. Pumped for a lot of young football players in FL who will get important extra reps and a safe, positive experience. Bring on the fall! (Safely!) cc: @FLgridironpreps @FlaHSFootball https://t.co/xbRksQwfeX
— Dr. Chris Hobbs, CMAA (@Dr_ChrisHobbs) June 9, 2020
????? https://t.co/oZdZqlyvUA
— Jesse Fox (@CoachJFoxUHS) June 9, 2020
A lot of coaches on the Treasure Coast want this.
— Jon Santucci (@JonSantucci) June 9, 2020
Nice work Florida!! This is a win for high school ? https://t.co/wwgxsrkCDV
— Smerk (@CoachSmerk) June 9, 2020
Huge deal for us smaller programs. https://t.co/5xEMIEDov2
— lyle wilkerson (@CoachLW5) June 9, 2020
