USA Football, 4 NFL Teams Staging Health Clinics

AP (New York) — USA Football wants to drive home the importance of player safety with a “Protection Tour.”

The governing body for youth football in this country will stage the tour at four NFL team facilities, focusing on educating players and their families, coaches and others on preventive safety measures for young athletes.

The tour begins July 21 at the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts training complexes. On July 24, it will visit the New York Giants facility, and four days later will be hosted by the San Francisco 49ers.

Held in conjunction with helmet maker Riddell, Chartis Insurance and the NFL, the tour will include as many as 1,500 youth football players, parents, coaches, medical and training personnel. It will feature proper tackling drills, helmet fitting, concussion awareness and management sessions.

“The front end has to be about proper education and equipment fitting and understanding concussions, and making sure you clearly understand how to teach tackling,” said Scott Hallenbeck, executive director of USA Football. “It all starts to come together and now we are talking about a comprehensive solution. That will give us a real chance to protect this game and see it prosper.”

For the complete Associated Press story, click here