Staff report

COLUMBUS

On Monday, the Ohio High School Athletic Association took a step toward making football a little safer.

The organization joined dozens of states in adopting recommendations from the National Federation of State High School Associations concussion summit task force, which will reduce the risk in football for concussions and head impact exposure.

The changes, which begin with the start of football practices in Ohio on Aug. 1, focus on limiting full contact practices and extending recovery time. Ohio already outlaws contact and wearing pads at any time except during the season.

During preseason two-a-day practices, teams are only allowed full contact in one of the two practices. The NFHS also recommends spacing out the full contact practices (i.e. if Session 2 is full contact, teams should not have full contact on the first session of two-a-days the following day).

During regular season practices, teams are required to limit full contact on consecutive days. Players are limited to 30 minutes of full contact per practice and 60 minutes per week. Players cannot be involved in more than two full-contact practices per week. (Contact with soft equipment such as bags, shields, sleds, etc., does not count toward full contact limitations.)

For more information, visit ohsaa.org.