Youth Football Clinics Try A New Angle To Prevent

Concussions
May 10, 2014 4:30 PM ET
by JANE HAMMOND
from GPB
Listen to the Story
All Things Considered 3 min 53 sec
Kike Calvo/AP Images for National Football League
i
On a windy day in in Macon, Ga., dozens of second-graders are standing on a university football
eld, crowded around Atlanta Falcons rookie Terren Jones.
Jones is helping to lead a Heads Up Football clinic, one of hundreds held across the country this
spring by the nonprot USA Football. Primarily funded by the NFL, these clinics teach parents
about proper helmet and shoulder-pad tting, and kids as young as 6 learn how to avoid
concussions from pros like Jones.
"Nobody wants to get concussions, because it sucks, and it's not fun," says Jones. "I've had a
couple."
The Heads Up approach is simple. First, it modies the typical stances players take when they're
lined up before the snap: feet wider than usual; shoulder blades squeezed back and down;
stance sunk into a low squat, with hands forward and backs at 45-degree angles to the ground.
Normally, players dip lower, diving head rst into the opponent. With heads upright, even the
sound of the impact is different.
Not everyone is convinced that the training will actually prevent concussions. Former NFL tight
end Nate Jackson says it might work in practice, but the tips will all go out the window in a real
game.
"They can easily talk about these steps and techniques to making a safe tackle, but really the
most effective way to hit and to tackle is to shoot yourself into them with your head," Jackson
says. "When there's a game happening, and you get put in that survival mode, you react and you
go headrst. You go with the most effective way to do it."
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Still, doctors and scientists are hopeful the techniques will
stick. Gerard Gioia, a neuropsychologist at the Children's
National Medical Center in Washington, D.C., says if kids
learn these techniques early, they will become instinctive.
"You've been taught how to do this all along, and the same
way we learn any kind of skill," Gioia says, "with enough practice and with enough appropriate
coaching along the way, your best way of winning is to keep yourself in the game and to do this
properly."
At the Heads Up drill, Tracey Weekley is watching her 12-year-old run into a tackle dummy twice
his size. She says her son has already suffered two concussions while playing recreational
football.
"I wish that every youth football, from middle school, high school and rec, would have to take this
seminar," Weekley says. "But you have coaches that are teaching the way they were taught when
they were playing football. So they're teaching, harder the hit, the better the hit."
Many coaches are getting the message, though. After pilot testing two years ago, more than
2,000 youth leagues have signed up. Thirty-ve high schools nationwide are using the technique,
and two of those teams won state championships.
Even the pros are buying in theoretically. The NFL has added rules that mirror the Heads Up
fundamentals, but the safest methods may not reach the professional level until the kids at Heads
Up clinics grow up.
2014 NPR
12/31/13, 7:01 PM All-Middle Georgia: Albright carries Tattnall to GISA softball title | High School Sports | Macon.com
Page 1 of 3 http://www.macon.com/2013/12/26/2850488/all-middle-georgia-albright-carries.html
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All-Middle Georgia: Albright carries Tattnall to GISA
softball title
By JANE HAMMOND
sports@macon.comDecember 26, 2013 Updated 12 hours ago
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Tattnall Squares Kirsten Albright, who posted a career ERA of 1.02 and career batting average of
.420 with the Trojans, is The Telegraph All-Middle Georgia Softball Player of the Year.
BEAU CABELL bcabell@macon.com Buy Photo
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All-Middle Georgia softball team
Whether winning, losing or practicing on the diamond, Kirsten Albright usually has a smile on her face.
That grin was never bigger than when the senior led the Tattnall Square Trojans to their rst GISA fastpitch
12/31/13, 7:01 PM All-Middle Georgia: Albright carries Tattnall to GISA softball title | High School Sports | Macon.com
Page 2 of 3 http://www.macon.com/2013/12/26/2850488/all-middle-georgia-albright-carries.html
softball state championship on Oct. 19. Albright pitched all 21 innings of the best-of-three series against
Westeld, closing out the nal two games with 10 dominant shutout innings after a 4-0 loss in the rst game.
Albright is The Telegraphs All Middle-Georgia Softball Player of the Year.
She knew that we had a good shot to accomplish our goals of winning our last ballgame if everybody came
together, Tattnall head coach Joey Hiller said. We denitely had the talent, but shes the one that helped pull
everything together.
The championship capped o! a tremendous career at Tattnall. Albright went 53-4 on the mound, including an
all-time high of 22 wins in the 2013 season, and she is the career ERA leader at 1.02 and regular season ERA
leader at 0.55.
And she can hit, too. As the cleanup hitter for the Trojans, she holds the record for career batting average at .420
and RBI at 115. She had 55 hits, including eight home runs, this season.
The senior enjoys being a dual threat.
I guess it really depends on the day. When Im hitting two home runs, I love hitting, Albright said. But I love
pitching. Ill always deny that, but I do. I like the team looking up to me and being able to control the game.
After transferring from CFCA in ninth grade, she expanded her pitching repertoire and skills.
When I got to Tattnall, they helped me tremendously on what pitch to throw on what batter on what count, stu!
Id never even thought about, Albright said. They helped me with the details, which are sometimes the biggest
part.
She watched as the Trojans made it to the playo!s several times but never won it all.
I think this years team knew failure from years past, because our juniors played varsity in eighth grade, and
we knew how awful it was to end our season short, she said. Weve always worked hard, and were glad it
nally paid o!.
Albright will take her game to GMC, where she will continue her softball career in the spring of 2015.
My mom has always drilled into me, If youre not doing your best, why not do it? she said. I gotta do my
best. I guess Im kind of a perfectionist when it comes to softball.
That perfectionism always comes with a smile on the eld.
Shes somebody that just every day she shows up with a big grin on her face, like, Man, Ive been waiting all
day to do this, Hiller said. She plays the game with love and passion for the game and just purely enjoys
playing and working with softball. Shes just extremely easy to coach, because shes so talented, a great leader,
and shows up and works extremely hard while shes got that smile on her face.
Albright is usually too busy focusing on playing her best to realize how often she smiles.
I dont ever really notice it until people point it out, she said. I guess, what is there not to smile about? Its just
knowing that Im out there and working for my team.
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Rutland bounces back, beats Central
By JANE HAMMOND
Center for Collaborative JournalismJanuary 18, 2014
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BEAU CABELL/THE TELEGRAPHWith just seconds on the clock, Rutlands Jaylon Tyson, right,
draws the defense of Centrals Charquez Jackson (11) and Derrick Evans Jr. (14) before passing to
Dallas Smith (13) for the game-winning basket Saturday at Rutland.
BEAU CABELL bcabell@macon.com Buy Photo
Rutland had little time to recover from a tough loss to Veterans on Friday night before it played rival Central on
Saturday afternoon.
But the Hurricanes held a team meeting between the games, and senior Shakenneth Williams said it helped lead
Rutland to a 75-73 victory over the Chargers.
It was very important to everybody, said Williams, who led the Hurricanes with 16 points. Everybody felt that
we had to come in, work hard for this game. We cant let (Friday) night get in the way of that, so we all just had
the mindset that we had to come in and play this big rivalry game and get back on top.
Rutland head coach Ron Christian agreed that the meeting helped his 14-3 Hurricanes come together for the
win.
Our rst key to victory was let (Friday) night go, Christian said. And the next thing was the passion and not
the poison. We talked about them having the passion for the game and for basketball. Dont poison it by doing
the little things that are gonna hurt us.
The win didnt come easily as Rutland saw a 19-11 rst-quarter lead evaporate to only a two-point lead at
halftime, thanks in part to 15 second-quarter points from Centrals Terry McCoy.
We played with a lot of passion in the rst half, ... but we overpassed a little bit, we threw the ball out, and the
guys got a little frustrated with themselves, Christian said.
Central (14-4) jumped out to a 52-42 lead midway through the third, until the Hurricanes went on a 13-4 run to
close out the quarter only down one.
When we tried to rein it back in right after halftime, they went up on us, but then we got back into our groove
and started playing again, Christian said.
The teams traded leads throughout a tense fourth quarter until a layup by Dallas Smith secured the win for
Rutland with 2.6 seconds remaining.
The girls game was down to the wire, as well, with Rutland holding o! Central for a 36-34 victory.
Central led 27-23 at the end of the third quarter, but balanced scoring in the fourth from the Hurricanes put the
Chargers away.
Rutlands Eboni Watts and TyAsia Grayer had 8 points each, while Jarfaith Jones led the way for the Chargers
with 14.
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2/5/2014 FPD's Samuel signs with North Carolina | High School Sports | Macon.com
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FPD's Samuel signs with North Carolina
By JANE HAMMOND
Center for Collaborative JournalismFebruary 5, 2014 Updated 6 hours ago
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First Presbyterian offensive tackle Caleb Samuel speaks in the school's gymnasium prior to
signing a national letter of intent to play at North Carolina Wednesday.
JASON VORHEES jvorhees@macon.com Buy Photo
Dressed in a baby blue shirt and a North Carolina tie, Caleb Samuel showed no signs of a last-minute
National Signing Day surprise.
The FPD senior made his April 10 commitment official and signed his national letter-of-intent for North
Carolina on Wednesday morning.
Samuel had several offers from other major-conference programs, including Boston College, Kentucky,
Louisville, Miami, Mississippi State, Mississippi and Temple, but ultimately North Carolina won out.
I thought about it for a long, long while. I was battling in my mind, Samuel said. But I talked it over with
my parents, and I really just get the best of both worlds going to North Carolina. I get a really good
2/5/2014 FPD's Samuel signs with North Carolina | High School Sports | Macon.com
http://www.macon.com/2014/02/05/2917756/fpds-samuel-signs-with-north-carolina.html 2/3
education, and I get to play really good football, so it made sense.
I like the coaches, I like the team, I like the campus. I could see myself there for a good while, so it was
an easy choice for me.
Samuel, surrounded by his parents, sister and senior teammates, signed his letter of intent after remarks
from head coach Greg Moore and offensive line coach Ken Garvin.
Moore listed off Samuels various rankings and accomplishments, including a selection to the AP All-State
team and The Telegraphs All-Middle Georgia team, then added, Youre gonna see this young man play
on Sunday one day.
Caleb Samuel is a positive influence and has a great impact on his team, Moore said. On the field,
certainly, but also in the locker room and away from the practice field and the game. It didnt matter if you
were a senior or a freshman, he had something positive to offer you as a teammate.
Samuel started on both sides of the ball for FPD, playing left tackle and end. He racked up 43 total tackles,
including five for loss and four quarterback sacks.
Samuel is projected at left tackle at North Carolina, but he was hesitant to pick what he prefers.
I like (playing left tackle), Samuel said. I like it a lot. I like both sides of the ball, so Im just gonna do what
they tell me, really.
That will include adding some bulk to his already 6-foot-7, 265-pound frame. Itll help that he intends to
major in exercise and sports science.
Im just gonna go up there and work as hard as I can, Samuels said. Eat whatever they tell me, gain a
couple of pounds. Im just gonna do what they tell me and see what happens from there.
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1/12/14, 2:37 PM New league starts for independent schools | High School Sports | Macon.com
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New league starts for independent schools
By JANE HAMMOND
Center for Collaborative JournalismJanuary 11, 2014 Updated 16 hours ago
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Gene Harper has worked in athletics for years, so he understands schools joining a startup league are taking a
risk.
Youve got a lot of schools that have been in other associations for a long time and are willing to come and be a
part of it, said Harper, the executive director of the Georgia Independent Christian Athletic Association. To me,
we have to do it the right way because theyre stepping out in faith.
Several Middle Georgia schools already have taken that step, composing some of the 74 schools that make up
the GICAA, which began play this school year with hopes of expanding for the 2014-15 school year. A number of
former GISA members have joined the new league.
CFCA will leave the GISA after this school year to participate in the GICAA in all sports. Covenant, John
Hancock and Twiggs Academy hope to play in both organizations. Westside Christian Academy in Warner
Robins, Skipstone Academy in Gri!n and Vidalia Heritage Academy will also participate in the new league.
Harper said the associations big draw is the ability of members athletics directors to meet and set rules for
competition.
You decide how many games youre gonna play and how youre gonna do it, said Harper, who served as the
football head coach at Gatewood, Putnam County and Nathanael Greene. People just wanna have a voice, and
we feel that by doing that, some people have been seeing that thats something that they have wanted.
That member-driven approach lets smaller schools, such as CFCA, play closer teams instead of opponents in
big regions in the GISA.
Weve already got 11 football games scheduled, CFCA football head coach Chris Oxford said. Were excited
about the freedom we have to schedule anybody.
Oxford said CFCA joined the GICAA primarily for travel reasons. He said his school would have traveled more
than twice as many miles in the GISA for region contests.
The GICAA has sanctioned 12 sports so far for its members, ranging from football to swimming, and will give its
members some additional exibility by o"ering soccer and softball in both the fall and spring.
The league, headquartered in Cumming, began in early 2013. President and founder Todd Hannon got a group
together in January and talked about what it would take to form a new athletics association in Georgia.
Harper said it all started with a foundation of fair play and good sportsmanship.
The goal was to create an environment where students could compete at a high level and still be encouraged to
1/12/14, 2:37 PM New league starts for independent schools | High School Sports | Macon.com
Page 2 of 2 http://www.macon.com/2014/01/11/2874304/new-league-starts-for-independent.html
grow in their faith, Harper said.
With a full slate of new schools on board for the next year of play, the GICAA is still looking to expand. The
league will schedule and sanction a middle school program by the 2014-15 year.
Future goals include growing smaller sports once more schools make the switch to the GICAA.
Once you get to 125 schools that are participating in athletics, you basically just have to continue to do your
job, Harper said. Once you have that base, say your smaller sports like swimming and wrestling will start to
develop and get bigger.
For now, the GICAA is handling a robust rst year of signups thanks to a mix of advertising and worth of mouth.
Obviously there was a need for (the GICAA), to grow from zero to (74 members) in 11 months, Harper said. I
just know that I feel like were doing it the way we should do it.
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personal comments and remarks that are o" point. Thank you for taking the time to o"er your thoughts.
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Mount de Sales wins second straight
By JANE HAMMOND
sports@macon.comSeptember 19, 2014
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Keith Hatcher nearly got knocked down Friday night.
The Mount de Sales head coach tried exiting the field as usual after a 28-14 win over Strong Rock, only to
be run into by his exuberant players celebrating the victory.
It wasnt enough to shake Hatcher of his own enthusiasm following the win.
We had a lot of questions that we needed answered over the last few weeks, Hatcher said. We showed a
lot of improvement (last week) up front on both sides of the ball, and to see it carry over to another game, is
really positive moving forward.
The Cavaliers (2-1) were led, like last week in a 34-7 victory over GMC, by senior Keith Farris. Farris scored
twice as he ran the ball 95 yards on 23 carries, making up a big chunk of Mount de Sales 159 rushing yards.
Im just playing to the best of my ability to do whatever I can do on the field to help my team win, Farris
said. My offensive line is opening up holes for me. Thats all they gotta do, and I do the rest.
The Patriots hung close with Mount de Sales, totaling 139 rushing yards and 93 passing on quarterback
Ryan Butterfields 10 completions in 19 attempts. But 90 yards of penalties slowed down Strong Rock, and
it only managed 11 first downs to the Cavaliers 20.
Mount de Sales got on the board early with Farris first touchdown. His 10-yard run capped a nine-play, 80-
yard opening drive, coming with big assists from quarterback Carson Leatherwood.
The senior ended the night with 12 completions on 17 attempts for 97 yards. Fifty-two of those went to
Bailey Michael, who had five catches, most coming in key first down-producing plays.
(Leatherwoods) done a good job of taking on that quarterback role, learning the game, Hatcher said.
(Michael) is definitely his favorite target. Those guys have got a good chemistry, and were going to
continue to build on that as we move on.
The Patriots scored early in the second quarter, as Butterfield completed a 6-yard scoring pass to Zach
Jones. The two-point conversion was good for an 8-7 Strong Rock lead, but it was back in the hole on the
next Mount de Sales possession.
The Cavaliers scored three more times in the half, coming on Leatherwood and Farris plays. A 20-point
halftime advantage was dampened briefly by an 11-yard scoring run by Derek Albert early in the third,
resulting in the final score, but neither team threatened again.
The evening marked Hatchers second victory with the Cavaliers, leading to an interesting matchup with
Aquinas next week.
The past few years we havent played our best, so it feels great to have a winning record, Farris said. The
confidence is high. Were together more as a team. I feel like we can compete with them and come out with
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Ward leads Tattnall Square by Wilkinson County
By JANE HAMMOND
sports@macon.comOctober 3, 2014
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Jonathan Ward had a weird feeling while suiting up Friday night. Going into Tattnall Squares game against
GHSA Region 7A-A opponent Wilkinson County, Ward could sense his teammates were feeling unfocused.
The hunch continued through the rst possession for the Trojans as three mediocre plays forced Tattnall to punt.
Ward took to the sidelines, yelling at his teammates to wake up.
Wake up they did, as the Trojans went on to beat the Warriors 27-16 in a game that Tattnall controlled after the
rst quarter.
Thats what I think I can do for this team, Ward said. After that rst possession, I felt I had to do something.
They listened, and we hit them in the mouth the rest of the game.
Ward was a big part of the o!ense, totaling 253 yards on 18 rushes. Tattnall (5-0, 1-0) garnered 400 yards of
o!ense and put together a complete performance in its rst sub-region game.
After the lackluster start that included a safety gave Wilkinson County a 2-0 lead, Ward ran up the middle for a
63-yard score to give the Trojans a lead that never disappeared.
The Tattnall defense then went to work, holding the Warrior scoreless the rest of the half. Wilkinson County only
totaled 136 rushing yards, mostly on the legs of quarterback Kentavious Waller. Waller was also held to 62
passing yards, which came on just seven completions in 18 attempts.
(Fridays) game was a great measuring stick for us, Tattnall head coach Clint Morgan said. (Wilkinson County)
has a very, very good football team, and they came out and hit us hard and hit us early. We never backed down.
We continued to ght, and I cant say enough about the guys down in the trenches and how hard they worked.
They stayed at it the whole time.
Quarterback Ian Herndon capitalized on a 42-yard run by Ahmad Barron early in the second that put the team
within scoring distance. A 5-yard scoring run by Herndon sent the Trojans into halftime with a 14-2 win and
helped ensure Tattnalls fth double-digit win in ve games.
The third quarter was another scoreless one for Wilkinson County (1-4, 0-1), with the only score coming from
another run by Herndon, as he dashed 15 yards while escaping a handful of would-be tacklers.
The Warriors got close in the fourth after recovering a late third-quarter fumble by the Trojans. Quantavious
Jones ran in to score from 4 yards out, and Waller completed a two point conversion to cut the Trojans lead to
20-10.
But Ward was at it again, running down the eld 85 yards to put the nal nail on the co"n. Still, Wilkinson
County had the nal say in a late 8-yard touchdown pass from Waller to Keldrick Anderson in the nal three
seconds of play.
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Ex-UAH head basketball coach Roy Heintz will be taking on a different coaching role than when he was with the Lady
Chargers. (The Huntsville Times / Bob Gathany) (Bob Gathany)
(http://connect.al.com/user/janehammond/index.html) By Jane Hammond | jhammond@al.com
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on July 23, 2014 at 4:42 PM, updated July 25, 2014 at 2:28 PM
HUNTSVILLE,Alabama(http://al.com/huntsville) -- Roy Heintz isn't quite
done with basketball.
The former UAH women's basketball coach, who resignedafterfiveseasons
duringwhichheturnedtheprogramaround
(http://www.al.com/sports/index.ssf/2014/07/roy_heintz.html), still has
some coaching tricks up his sleeve.
Heintz, along with six other members of Asbury United Methodist Church in Madison,
is traveling to Romania to take part in a mission trip from July 25 to Aug. 3, teaching
basketball to an impoverished region hungry to learn the sport.
Groups from the church have been teaching Vacation Bible School camps for several
years in the area, but this summer marks the first basketball-focused camps.
"When the group got back last year," Heintz said, "a couple of my friends were in that
group, and they said, 'Basketball is just a passion for these kids. Really would be neat if
you would come over and do basketball camps,' and I said, 'It's a no-brainer.' "
One of the members was John Shaw. Shaw has visited Dorohoi, the city in northern
Romania that's home to the camps, several times through Asbury UMC.
He knew the impact Heintz could have on the community and was one of the
proponents of adding a basketball camp to the church's missionary lineup. After regular
Bible lessons, the underprivileged children clamor to play basketball, barely
understanding the basic rules while playing haphazard 12-on-12 games.
The groups the church has sent have
always been large. Eighty
children signed up for this summer's
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VBS but attendance ended up being
closer to 120, so the basketball
camp has similar expectations.
Three different age groups, including one specifically for oprhans in a local home, will
have separate camps throughout the week, with Heintz providing direction to the
children. Some local coaches will also work with him to improve their skills, something
that Heintz hopes to build upon in future trips.
He'll be teaching the kids through an interpreter, plus help from an eighth-grade church
member making the trip who can help demonstrate the X's and O's. Heintz
went through a similar thing seven years ago, with a group of players he coached at
Covenant College.
"We were there for two weeks, and that was during the heyday of Yao Ming, and if you
didn't know how to say basketball in Chinese, all you had to do was say Yao Ming and
make a motion like you're shooting the basket," Heintz said. "They love it but weren't
very skilled. From what I'm told, it's very much the same way (in Romania), but
probably worse. They love the game but don't have a lot of fundamental skills."
Heintz has the pedigree and skills to teach what the kids are desperate to learn. During
his time at UAH, he turned around a dismal program into three consecutive NCAA
Division II tournament berths, including a 2013 Gulf Coast League title.
There will be baskets scored and free-throw forms corrected while in Dorohoi, along
with daily teachings from the Bible. But ultimately, for Heintz and the group, the real
payoff will be bringing happiness to children who usually don't have much of it -- along
with boxes of T-shirts and basketballs.
"To be able to use (basketball) as a vehicle to maybe bring a smile to somebody's face, to
bring a bit of light into their world," Heintz said. "From what I've been told the
orphanages over there have just been like many places around the world, deplorable.
Kids without a lot of hope.
"I really hope to give them some enjoyment and a time of hope. That's always fun. We
get to use a piece of rubber filled with air to go to another part of the world."
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