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Despite Decline In Numbers, IHSAA Says High School Football Safer Than Ever

By Emma Atkinson

Posted September 5, 2018

football-helmet-1401350_1920.jpg

(Pixabay)

At least two Indiana high schools aren’t fielding varsity football teams this year.

Bishop Noll Institute in Hammond will only have a junior varsity football team because of a lack of student interest. Oakland City’s Wood Memorial High School suspended its whole program in July after the call-out meeting attracted only 13 students.

Indiana High School Athletic Association Assistant Commissioner Robert Faulkens blames a growing interest in other sports, including soccer and lacrosse.

"You know, our numbers have been down, and they’ve been down for about three or four years," Faulkens says. "I rather think it’s cyclical."

Faulkens acknowledges parents’ fears about concussions and other head injuries have also contributed to recent lack of interest in football.

As a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations’ football rules committee, Faulkens says he’s been working to change how the game is played.

"I think we’re going to see an almost – I would say a precipitous decline in the number of head injuries as we get better at teaching and playing the game," he says. 

Whether or not these changes will actually result in fewer concussions, Faulkens says he says the game is safer now than ever.

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