Practices without helmets an option, says neurosurgeon

Cantu’s suggestion for preventing head trauma is to limit contact in practice.

Shawnee’s Alex McCrory’s helmet flies off as he’s tackled by Urbana’s Anthony Marino as he carries the ball during a game this season. Staff photo by Bill Lackey

Bill Lackey Shawnee’s Alex McCrory’s helmet flies off as he’s tackled by Urbana’s Anthony Marino as he carries the ball during a game this season. Staff photo by Bill Lackey

ENLARGE PHOTO

Mesoraco's slam sends Reds over Braves
7:38 a.m.
Raiders fall in tourney opener
5/25/12
Rough 1st inning sets up Tipp exit
5/25/12
Local Scoreboard for May 25
5/24/12
Ohio State AD says 12 violations minor
5/24/12
> More sports headlines

By Michael Cooper, Staff Writer 10:41 PM Wednesday, November 10, 2010

CONCORD, Mass. — Dr. Robert Cantu doesn’t think football players use their helmets as battering rams.

He knows it.

“Not only do I think that, but the videotape tells that, our eyes tell that every game we see,” said Cantu, the chief of Neurosurgery Service and Director of Sports Medicine at Emerson Hospital in Concord, Mass.

He believes the best way to avoid helmet-to-helmet collisions and to protect against concussions and long-term brain injuries is to limit the amount of contact players take in practice.

“First, eliminate stupid drills like Bull in the Ring or the Oklahoma Drill, where young kids are bashing helmet-to-helmet,” Cantu said. “Secondly, have several days a week where you take the helmet off so you don’t have any brain trauma on those days. You’re running plays, but you’re not running any tackling or defense.”

Cantu said research using sensor-equipped football helmets, which can measure the magnitude, location and direction of blows to a player’s head, has shown Division I players take roughly 800 to 1,500 hits over 20 G’s of force in a season, most of which is spent practicing.

He recommends coaches limit hitting in practice to one day a week and wants teams to practice without helmets.

Cantu said research shows there are more injuries when teams practice with just helmets because “the only part of the body you can hit with is your head and the kids hit more.”

He believes the NFL’s new rules on blind-side hits to fine and possibly suspend players is a great way to help them learn proper techniques. He said the suspension is really what’s going to get people’s attention because “the team losing the player is what’s going to hurt them.”

“The player getting fined, money is water to them at this stage of their lives,” Cantu said. “(Money) really doesn’t matter, but not being able to play does. The team will put pressure on the player to play correctly.”

He said he “almost would guarantee” those rules trickling down to the high school and college level, similar to the way they did with the NFL’s return-to-play guidelines last season.

“It’s a start, a great start, but I would love to see all purposeful headhunting taken out of football,” Cantu said. “You can play the sport the way it was played in the 50s and 60s and it will be every bit as exciting. You just won’t be taking people’s head off and having the unnecessary carnage to the brain and spinal cord.”

He believes the rule changes won’t affect play and will only make the game safer.

“They’re going to continue hit as hard as ever, but just don’t hit the head with somebody else’s heads,” Cantu said. “It’s every bit as spectacular, it’s just taken the head out as the initial point of contact.”

‘We must believe it’

Cantu’s theory of limiting contact in football practice is nothing new to John Gagliardi.

The 82-year-old football coach at Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., has led the Johnnies for 53 years — and they’ve never tackled in practice.

Gagliardi is the all-time winningest coach in all divisions of NCAA college football. His 477 victories and four national titles are proof limiting contact can work.

“It’s what we do, so we must believe it,” Gagliardi said.

Gagliardi’s coaching philosophy is called ‘Winning with Nos.’ He creates an environment of fun and focuses on winning football games with concentration and flawless execution. The Johnnies emphasize repetition and fundamentals in practice, without tackling.

They also don’t use blocking sleds, dummies or whistles, and practices last no longer than 90 minutes. The players also wear shorts or sweats at practice.

“We limit the injuries,” Gagliardi said. “We keep most of our guys able to play because injuries can take them out of the game.”

He said, however, he can’t see not wearing helmets at practice.

“I don’t know about that,” Gagliardi said. “It’s the first time I’ve ever heard anything like that. We always wear helmets because you have to protect the face. I just never thought of that. Everybody’s got their ideas and some work and some don’t.”

Physicality is a big part of football, and most coaches worry their teams may not be as physical without contact in practice. It’s not an issue for Gagliardi.

“We’ve done it for so long that I don’t worry about it any more,” Gagliardi said. “If it hadn’t (worked), we probably would’ve changed right away. Fortunately, it worked right away. By work, I mean we won, so we just never changed it.”

Even without tackling in practice, the Johnnies still have players who have suffered concussions during games.

“We’ve had guys from time to time, especially now with rules where you’ve got to be cleared and take tests,” Gagliardi said. “I don’t know that they paid all that much attention to it before. We’ve had a couple guys in the last few years because of the new rules who have had to miss a game or two.”

1 | 2 next page »

Share this article