Spring Football or No Spring Football

Most of the high schools if not all high school across the great state of Pennsylvania do have Spring Football but it is without full fledged equipment and live contact. The teams are in shorts and work on fundamentals and skill development in an orderly fashion. They also are in the weight room working on strength training activities. This format is a continuation of the process of player development and improvement. Most of the time it occurs after the Spring Sports are completed at each individual high school. "Live Contact"Spring Football can work also but I feel comfortable with this alternate plan. In numerous high schools across the state, many high school athletes participate in multiple sports throughout the year. There bodies are spent and they need adequate rest. A proposal that has gone through my mind is as follows. Instead of Spring Live Contact Football, start the summer football camp 5 days earlier. Move it up from the normal old starting date of August 15 to let's say August 10. This will give each program 10 more live contact sessions which would have occurred in the Spring. Then allow each team to compete in a third scrimmage instead of the standard 2 scrimmages. This gives a program a different type of competition rather than banging heads with the same people everyday. Least we not forget, some school districts are beginning school earlier in August so therefore some schools have 2-a -days for one week only. This earlier starting period will establish a more thorough continuity in a football program. The players and their families can make the adjustment to an earlier starting date and hopefully the athletic powers in the state would agree to this change of moving Summer Football Camp up 5 days.