Are Two-a-days dangerous?
Two-a-day pre-season practices are a staple of football from high school through the pros. They are grueling, challenging, sometimes dangerous, but also necessary. Recently the National Athletic Trainers’ Association came out against two-a-day practices and many high school coaches are now coming out and disagreeing.
I also disagree for many reasons. While I usually like to defend those who work in the field and may have scientific evidence, this is a situation where the group (NATA) is off-base. First, as a former football player and coach I understand the importance of two-a-days. They allow for the players to improve their conditioning, bond together as a team, and have added time to learn the plays. For the coaches it gives them extra time to learn about the players, see them in adverse conditions, and teach their schemes in a concise manner. By having single practices they lose a week of practices (sometimes more because of the flow how both daily practices fit together). If the regular season (in high school) is 10 weeks and you have a 3 week preseason (which is common in the Northeast) then loosing a week of practices is HUGE.
I also have an issue with NATA for a professional reason. This is another example of a group trying to fix a problem by stopping everything. I fully understand the risks and issue that go along with two-a-days BUT it is not a major issue. Yes, it is a tragedy when players die unnecessarily but it is not like thousands of kids are dropping dead each year during two-a-days (25 H.S. football players have died from heat stroke during the preseason since 1995). No player should ever die due to heatstroke/exhaustion but NATA does not address prevention, they suggest elimination. Stopping something is unrealistic, most coaches would never agree to this. NATA should be providing suggestions/education and improve resources for helping prevent deaths.
As a scholar/practitioner group they have a responsibility to explain how to manage this potential issue and not cause false outrage. Some parents will hear this report and panic if their kid’s school keeps having two-a-days. Some media outlets will also run with this report and cause additional panic. These reactions are a part of our life now (as much as people complain, the media continues to do the same thing). With this knowledge it is up to organizations in the future to be more responsible in the information and recommendations they produce. When they do give their recommendation it should solve problems, not just suggest abolishing something. (NOTE: see an expanded version of this article in Issue 2 of the AMPED Sports Magazine)
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Tags: coaches, football, heat stroke, high school, NATA, practices, two-a-day
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