Pop Warner Football limiting contact between players

New safety rules go into effect for 2012 season

SAN ANTONIO – Citing concerns over player safety, Pop Warner Football announced new rules Wednesday that limit the amount of contact between players at practice.

Under the new guidelines, contact drills are limited to 1/3 total practice time. Players will not be allowed to tackle each other full speed if they are lined up more than three yards apart.

Chris Benavides, Commissioner of San Antonio Pop Warner Football, said the rules are designed to limit injuries, particularly head-injuries and concussions.

"What we've seen in Pop Warner across the nation is that a lot of these injuries happen in practice instead of the game, so what we want to do is minimize as many injuries as possible," said Benavides.

With the new rules, the oldest and largest national youth football organization becomes the first nationwide league to impose restrictions on player contact.