TAMPA - Baseball may be America's pastime, but football has reigned king in high school sports for years. However, that all changed around 2009, when the NFL confirmed the long-term effects of concussions for the first time.
The impacts of their annoucnement were felt immediately on a national level, with participation numbers dropping steadily. In Florida, however, the impact wasn't felt until 2012. Between 2011, and 2012, the number of kids playing football in the state of Florida dropped nearly six thousand, a fifteen-percent drop. That caught the attention of the Florida High School Athletic Association.
"What went through a lot of people's minds is 'oh my gosh, nobody's letting them play football,'" said Corey Sobers, spokesman for the FHSAA.
"This could be a trend where it's starting to go down; this could be a problem."
As a result of the drop, the FHSAA changed a number of rules and policies. Two major changes included mandating that all paid high school coaches take a concussions awareness course online, and in 2014, they began penalizing players for 'targeting' - simply, players can not lead with helmets when tackling, and cannot hit opposing players above their shoulders.
Shortly thereafter, a change happened, and happened quickly. By 2013, the participation numbers were back on the rise for the first time since 2008. It may be too soon to say why exactly that is, but coaches would like to think it's a result of the new safety rules and tackling approach.
"I'd like to think the coaches and teaching helped," said Tod Creneti, Head Coach at St. Stephen's Episcopal School. "We've talked about concussions for so many years that it's really become a weight. But coaches are willing to fix that, and I'd hope people are seeing that and willing to let their kids play, and we're seeing that around here."