On Tuesday high school football was back in the news as Illinois High School Association officials expressed their concern about the lawsuits the IHSA is facing about concussions in football (Chicago Tribune, April 14, 2015). Here at Mount Carmel the Athletic Department is just as concerned as the rest of the IHSA.

Head Coach Frank Lenti, who was present at a press conference held in the fall about concussions, questions some of the research done on concussions in high school sports. “The people that are studying concussions use research on NFL players that have taken an astronomical amount of more hits than high school players. Essentially they are comparing oranges to apples rather then oranges to oranges. ”

Mr. Dan Lacount, Athletic Director, was not surprised at the pending IHSA suits.  Lacount explained, “The times are changing; people are becoming more aware of concussions in contact sports.” For Lacount if the IHSA were to be required to legislate changes to minimize concussions he doesn’t expect huge problems for Caravan football.

Lacount spoke about all that Mount Carmel does to keep its football players safe from concussions.  “Over $300 is spent on each player to give them the very best helmet out there.”

While football equipment is important, it’s the coaching and technique that makes the difference, according to Lenti. “We work on proper tackling and blocking as much as we can. We even do this work primarily on tackling dummies to minimize contact when we can. ”

The Mount Carmel coaching staff is hired based upon their ability to teach players proper form and technique in blocking and tackling according to Lacount. Junior Andrew Guerra, a linebacker for the varsity team, spoke highly of the coaches procedure. “When we tackle the wrong way in drills the coach stops and corrects us. We spend a period during each practice in the summer doing tackling drills.”

In addition to providing safe equipment and providing excellent coaching, the Mount Carmel Athletic Department also pays attention to the facility where games are played.   Carey Field, the home of varsity practice and freshman/sophomore home games, will be examined to check if surface of the field is too hard.

Finally, before each season, every player is required to take a baseline concussion test so that trainers can check players after high impact collisions. Some helmets even have sensors in them that buzz when a player is involved in either several high velocity hits or one big hit.

Tucker Gill, a sophomore who will be playing varsity football next fall, feels that it is the players’ fault when they get concussions, and it has nothing to do with the sport. “The coaches teach us to look at what we hit and keep our eyes up. So when players get concussions they have no one to blame but themselves.”

When talking about equipment, Gill also pointed out that it’s about more than elements.  When players don’t wear their mouthpieces they put themselves at an added risk. Lacount observed that in high school football, repeatedly not wearing a mouthpiece warrants a delay of game penalty of  5 yards.

Both Lacount and Lenti agree that the concern over concussions is hurting numbers in Illinois High School Football.  Clearly, the IHSA shares this worry.  According to the Chicago Tribune article this is one of the main reasons that the IHSA is fighting so hard to dismiss these lawsuits.

Lacount sees the drop off in numbers when he is trying to schedule games for the lower levels of Mount Carmel Football. “Here at Mount Carmel we are fortunate enough to have a varsity, sophomore, and freshman A and B team. Some other schools who have rich football tradition like us, are losing that luxury. It’s tough to see something like this happen.”