By USA TODAY High School Sports
USA TODAY High School Sports is a partner of High School Football America
No one can look at the rash of deaths in high school football so far this season — eight since the season began, 11 since July 1 — and not wonder about what the future might hold.
Or as one California high school coach put it, “Is it football worth it?” His answer was, “Absolutely,” but he is not the only one asking that question.
The administrator who oversees high school athletics in California, Roger Blake, gave voice to those concerns this week in a conference call with reporters.
See more high school sports coverage from our partner USA TODAY High School Sports
“I think honestly — and I say this in all sincerity — I think high school football, we’re at a critical juncture in the next two to three years,” Roger Blake, the executive director of the California Interscholastic Federation, said, according to the San Jose Mercury News. “I really think we’re going to have to watch and look at the medical science and see what the medical community says about the future. We’re seeing it across the United States. I think we’re really in a critical juncture.”
There is no way to know to what extent the possibility of catastrophic injury is impacting participation numbers, which declined in 2014 for 11-man football by about 10,000 after a jump in 2013, according to the National Federation of State High School Association. The decline comes at a time when fewer boys were participating in high school sports overall. Participation numbers in youth football programs such as Pop Warner also are falling with some communities seeing a 10 percent drop.
A number of high school football programs started the season and then had to forfeit games when injuries hit already thinned rosters. Just last week, we reported that four high schools in the Los Angeles area had to forfeit games within a week.
Blake pointed out the more 15-year-olds are involved in tragic car accidents than the 1.1 million high school football players, but noted, “That doesn’t make it right. But we have to figure out is there a way for us, as educational leaders, to try to make the game safer.”
“We’re relying on the medical community and science community to look at what we have to do,” he said. “Are we seeing those reports? Yes. Are we taking them seriously? What adult wouldn’t take it seriously. We all have to. I think it’s going to be a very critical next couple years about what direction it’s going to go in high school football.”
Blake said he had a meeting scheduled for next week with leading sports medicine doctors in the state and the tragic deaths will be a top of conversation.
“It doesn’t matter if it’s football, cross country or any of our sports or even an activity on our campuses, when a student has a catastrophic injury or a death, it’s tragic,” he said. “Nationally, everybody is looking at it going what do we have to do to get better and making the games safer, regardless of what event or what sport it is?”
