The grueling two-a-day practices that are part of college football’s mythology (and also part of its player safety problem) are about to be a thing of the past.
On Friday, the NCAA announced it was barring college football teams from holding multiple practices in a single day. For obvious reasons, holding hours upon hours of practice in intense August heat caused some danger for the athletes involved.
“The Council’s action reinforces our commitment to the health and safety of our student-athletes,” said Council chair Jim Phillips, athletics director at Northwestern. “We continue to be guided by the recommendations from medical professionals, coaches and administrators and the strong support for discontinuing two contact practices in the same day.”
Here’s how the NCAA describes how much practice is allowable under the new rule:
A single day may include a single, three-hour, on-field practice session and a walk-through. During walk-throughs, protective equipment such as helmets and pads can’t be worn, and contact is prohibited. Walk-throughs also can’t include conditioning activities and, in the Football Championship Subdivision, are limited to two hours in length. Three continuous hours of recovery are required between on-field practice and a walk-through. Activities such as meetings, film review, medical treatment and meals are allowed during recovery time.
Undoubtedly, this change will spark a cottage industry of former players talking about how things were “back in my day,” when college football was a man’s game and teams practiced twice in a single day.
And the new rule will also probably inspire coaches to scheme ways to maximize practice while following the letter of the law but not the spirit.
Still, this change is positive for college football. Players have literally died as a result of too–intense practices, and if eliminating two-a-days can save a few lives, that’s worth risking the wussification of football or the degradation of manhood or whatever it is people complain about.
