In Pennsylvania: Trying to Make Football Injury-Free

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Dr. Verbruggen, who took over as team physician two years ago, believes clean play can cut injuries dramatically. "My favorite play is an incomplete pass," says he. "Nobody ever gets hurt in high school on an incomplete pass because there's no hitting. In the pros, receivers get pounded whether or not they catch the ball." Racking up the empty-handed receiver is just one practice in the N.F.L. that angers and frustrates Verbruggen and Pleasant Valley's coaches, because it invites imitation. Spearing (the vicious ramming of a downed player with the hardshell helmet), late hits, chop blocks, open taunts and intimidation are regular fare on Sunday-afternoon TV. Says Assistant Coach Gary Bruch: "We're out there five days a week trying to teach high school kids to be good sports, working on the right ways to tackle and block. Then they go home and watch television, and what do they see? Pro players dancing in the end zone and spiking the ball to humiliate opponents, spearing, taking cheap shots."

One way to correct that kind of example and avoid injury is strict rules, strictly enforced. New rules for high school football in Pennsylvania call for automatic ejection for spearing, but coaches and players say referees either rarely see spearing or else fail to enforce the rule. Other ways to reduce physical damage at Pleasant Valley, thanks largely to Verbruggen, involve careful medical checkups and new and better ways of conditioning. "We don't even do traditional calisthenics any more," says Head Coach Tony Caracio. "One of the drills-walking 20 yds. on the inside of your feet, then 20 yds. on the outside to build ankle strength and flexibility-looks so weird that we're embarrassed to do it before a game, where people can see us. But we haven't had any ankle injuries since Doc told us to try it."

The Bears do, indeed, forgo the mincing ankle exercise this night. But a visitor also notices that the rest of their pre-game ritual would be more familiar to Mikhail Baryshnikov than Don Meredith Pairing off to use one another's backs as ballet bars, they stretched and flexed their legs, loosening hamstring and groin muscles that are always vulnerable to injury. In slow, progressive steps, they worked kinks out of their necks and backs. A perfunctory round of jumping-jack hops is the only recognizable survivor from football calisthenics past. "The wrong kind of exercise can cause injury," Verbruggen notes. "Deep knee bends alone are all right, but those duck-walks you always see teams doing will tear more cartilage in the knee than any game."