A controversial new law limiting full-contact football practices in California high schools resulted in the cancellation of a football clinic in Reno, Nevada that Campolindo teams had planned to attend.
The camp, which was scheduled for the 1st week of summer break, had been heavily attended by California teams in the past. Many had signed up for this year.
The camp planned to alter its program to comply with the new restrictions, but many teams still decided to pull out. Eventually, camp administrators deemed there were too few teams remaining to have an effective camp and cancelled it.
“[This Reno clinic] is a full-contact team camp that we’ve been a part of over the past nineteen years,” said head varsity football coach Kevin Macy. “There’s a new state law in California, the Cooley Bill, which is trying to regulate how much contact [high school football] teams can have at certain points of the year.”
The Cooley Bill, named after Chris Cooley, a former tight end for Utah State University and later the Washington Redskins who suffered a concussion while playing, passed last summer. The law came into effect on January 1 of this year, and the 2015 season will be the first season it impacts.
Macy said that the Reno camp falls in a window of time where the amount of full-contact practice is heavily limited by the new law. “In essence, it eliminates what these [full-contact camps] were for. You go to the camp because you’re expecting to test your team against other teams in scrimmage situations. Now that it’s completely watered down and policed, many teams started backing away from the camp.”
Tom Renno, Campolindo’s athletic director, believes that the new law was passed with good intent but is perhaps unnecessary for schools like Campolindo. He said, “The new laws were put in place to make sure that we protect our athletes and ensure safety. Our coaches already do a great job of concussion management and we have one of the best athletic trainers in the state in Ray Albiento.”
The cancelation of the camp has forced teams to scramble to find alternatives for their summer activities.
“Obviously the team got a lot out of going to the camp [in the past] but Coach Macy is working very hard with his staff to find new and alternative ways to get the team prepared, and Coach Macy’s going to do a great job – regardless of camps – in preparing our athletes,” said Renno.
Macy and the players believe that the team will perform well in the upcoming season in spite of the camp cancellation. “It’s a big loss to our whole summer football program and it’s been a tradition for us for a really long time. Not having it is going to be really tough and different, but I think our coaching staff and our parents will figure it out,” said junior football player Myles Harris. “I don’t think it will negatively impact [the team], but I think it will just be something that we’ll have to deal with and get past.”
In addition, the new law limits the amount of full-contact practices that teams can hold during the season.
Macy said that even before the law’s introduction, his full-contact practice time was well below the new limit.
“In the past we haven’t really done much full-contact until right before the first game, so I don’t think it will make a huge difference on us,” said Harris. “I think that no matter what, we can pull together.”
