Ban on tackling to have little effect on U. football team

Ivy League football coaches' proposed ban on tackling during in-season practices will not markedly affect Princeton's football team, according to Director of Athletics Mollie Marcoux.

According to an article from the New York Times earlier this month, the proposal will become standard policy in the Ivy League if it gains approval from all eight schools' athletic directors, university presidents and the policy committee dedicated to this issue.

The University football team, as well as other teams in the League, have already been practicing this strategy of avoiding full-contact hitting, Marcoux noted.

John Kolligian, director of university health services, deferred comment about the issue to University Media Relations Specialist Min Pullan.

Pullan explained that the University's football team already has a policy in place that not allow tackling to the ground in practice.

Marcoux said, “The League has been practicing this [strategy] for a while, and the level of play continues to increase… it’s making us more competitive because we want to keep players healthy and ready to play the game.”

“This is not a far divergence from what we’ve already been doing, it would just formalize the policy in the actual season,” she added.

When asked for a remark on the issue, Assistant Director of Athletic Communications Craig Sachson deferred comment to an interviewwith Bob Surace, University head coach of football, that aired on ivyleaguedigitalnetwork.com.

“Our coaches do a great job, they’re committed to player safety. Our administrators, the presidents, we’re committed to doing this the right way,” Surace said in the interview.

Surace noted that comments from the New York Times article that covered the potential new policy misunderstood the intention of the proposal, and consequently mocked the strategy put forward by the coaches.

“‘...If you come to our practices, you take the word ‘soft,’ put a circle around it and you put a line through it. Our guys and the guys we recruit, they aren’t soft,” Surace said.

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“What the research has shown, between 25 and 33 percent – a quarter and a third – of the injuries occur from going to the ground,” Surace noted, adding that a popularization of this proposal would be a positive measure to prevent injuries.

Surace could not be reached for comment at the time of publication for this article.

Marcoux explained that, while the proposal is designed to ban tackles during in-season practices, players could still take others to the ground during the pre-season.

Surace, in his interview, explained that University football players are still learning and practicing full-contact hitting, but in a safer way.

“We’re still tackling, but we’re tackling dummies or we’re tackling shields. We’re still teaching all the form tackles… We’re still getting all the teaching in, and we’re still doing it at a high speed, but we’re not getting guys to the ground where nothing good happens,” Surace added.

Marcoux noted that safety is a priority during practices.

“There are some studies that show that a number of injuries occur when players are actually being taken to the ground. Our priority, in many ways, is the health and safety of our players, and I think this is just another strategy to reduce injuries. And that’s always a good thing,” she said.

The strategy of not tackling during in-season practices is perhaps giving a positive effect on games, she explained, since players are healthier and play safer to avoid head injuries.

“The Ivy League has taken a leadership role in concussion management and protocol, and this is sort of another step in a way that we can lead for the positive,” she said, adding that strategies such as this should spread beyond the Ivy League.

Surace added that he also believes this protocol should exist beyond the Ivies, but that the University is setting a great example.

“The way the game’s being played right now in the Ivy League is as good as it’s ever been,” he said,“It’s in our power to uphold the great game of football, in all of its traditions and physicality, but do it safer, and do it in a better way.”