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

Rassey returns to Cambridge from Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Harvard graduate and NASCAR racer Patrick Staropoli on pedals, attention, and fearlessness.

How Women Are Changing the NBA

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

Most popular

The Supreme Court Affirmative Action Rulings: An Analysis

The underlying arguments project clashing worldviews of race and appropriate remedies.

The Secrets of Haiti’s Living Dead

 A Harvard botanist investigates mystic potions, voodoo rites, and the making of zombies.

An animal’s journey from grief to love shows how much humans need each other, too.

Explore More From Current Issue

Label showing the anatomy of a worker bee, featuring a detailed illustration.

Science and art capture the microscopic natural world.

Aerial view of modern high-rise buildings surrounded by greenery and city skyline.

In a sea of red brick, the Science Center and Peabody Terrace make their mark.

A blue refrigerator covered with animal pictures, notes, and drawings, surrounded by greenery.

An animal’s journey from grief to love shows how much humans need each other, too.