Ivy League limits full-contact football practices

The new Ivy League policy goes well beyond NCAA guidelines.

The Ivy League has decided to limit the number of full-contact football practices that teams can have in an effort to reduce the chance of head injuries to players, according to a New York Times report. A study published last year indicates that players receive more hits to the head in practices than in games. (Practices, of course, consume far more of players' active time on the field than games do.)  The new Ivy policy goes well beyond the NCAA's guidelines on the subject, and is quite possibly the most stringent of any conference.  

For additional background, read the 2010 article "Hits, Heads, Helmets" from the Harvard Magazine archives; it explores some of the issues in football-related concussions and describes a new helmet designed to mitigate them. 

Related topics

You might also like

How Women Are Changing the NBA

From coaching staffs to front offices, female leaders are bringing new strategies to men’s basketball.

How a Harvard Hockey Legend Became a Needlepoint Artist

Joe Bertagna’s retirement project recreates figures from Boston sports history.

Harvard Students, Alumni to Compete at the 2026 Olympics

Six Crimson athletes are headed to the XXV Winter Games in Milano Cortina. 

Most popular

AI Outperforms Doctors in Emergency Room Tasks, New Harvard Study Shows

Researchers say the technology could help physicians with triage, diagnosis.

Spy novelist Joseph Finder, on the guilt and gumption that drive his writing

Joseph Finder makes technology the texture of his new thriller, Guilty Minds.

Centennial Medalists

Six alumni of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences are honored.

Explore More From Current Issue

Three joyful graduates in caps and gowns celebrate together outdoors.

Commencement Week Events

Harvard Commencement Events 2026

Four stylized magnifying glasses arranged in a gradient background with abstract patterns.

AI Hunts For Stolen Harvard Coins

A museum curator and a computer scientist track down ancient coins taken in a legendary heist.

Woman with long hair, smiling, wearing a black sweater, in a textured beige background.

For This Poet, AI is a Writing Partner

Sasha Stiles trained a chatbot on her manuscripts. Now, her poems rewrite themselves.