skip navigation

Heads Up on the Gridiron

By Tom Schardin, 08/19/14, 2:15PM CDT

Share

This past summer, the Prior Lake youth and high school programs became Heads Up.

Led by Lakers coach Matt Gegenheimer, football in Prior Lake has adopted the Heads Up program, which is an initiative by USA Football and the NFL to certify all youth coaches in tackling, equipment fitting, concussion awareness and heat and hydration.

The safety of football has rushed to the forefront in recent years with concussions taking center stage. The Heads Up program is a "national initiative to help make the sport of football better and safer."

Gegenheimer is on board. He's now a spokesperson for USA Football as a master trainer in the Heads Up program. This past sumer, he traveled to different areas of the country, including Seattle and Las Vegas, to help certify youth coaches.

"I think we will be the first community in Minnesota to be Heads Up certified from our youth to our high school (programs)," said Gegenheimer. "This is something we are extremely proud of and to show we are doing everything we can to try and keep kids safe and do whatever we can to be a complete top-notch program from youth to high school. We really believe we are all one program."

Gegenheimer has three boys starting out in tackle football, which is another reason he wanted to launch the program at Prior Lake as well as become a master trainer.

"I want to do everything I can to help them learn proper technique and to be safe," said Gegenheimer. "This really hits home for me with my three sons, my position as head coach and my involvement at the youth level. I really felt like I have a lot to share from my experience and if I can get out there and share it with other coaches the game will continue to get safer and better."

Gegenheimer's goal is to have every football coach in Prior Lake Athletics for Youth (P.L.A.Y.) Heads Up certified. He credits Gerald Raddatz, the vice president of P.L.A.Y. football, for bringing the Heads Up program to his attention.

"He does a phenomenal job at our youth level," said Gegenheimer. "I'm very involved with our youth program in terms of development and building blocks from year to year, so I agreed this was something that would be good not only for our youth program, but also the high school program."

Some programs across Minnesota have seen a drop in youth numbers due to concussion fears. That's why the Heads Up program is so important. Not only does it teach proper and safer tackling technique, but it's an educational tool for parents.

"Concussions aren't going away," said Gegenheimer. "It's not a boy thing or a football thing. It's boys and girls and numerous sports have concussion issues. There are many other sports and activities that have a higher rate of concussion, but football seams to be the most highlighted sport, so many think its mainly football."

Gegenheimer said there are other factors that have affected participation in youth football.

"I think the even bigger issue is that there is too much pressure from sports that are played year round, which are affecting sports like football," said Gegenheimer. "Kids are specializing way too early and more and more kids are picking sports that can play year round.

"Football is not one of them, so that hurts us," added Gegenheimer. "The requirements other sports have year round are becoming extreme and now many sports don't have an offseason. This really hurts us at the high school level because we used to get more two- and three-sport athletes. Now most kids are only playing one sport."

Gegenheimer said the Minnesota State High School League needs apply more regulation for what kids can do in the summer at the high school level and make it consistent for all sports.

"Currently, the MSHSL has implemented a black-out period of when athletes are off during the summer months, but outside of that, its pretty much free reign," said Gegenheimer.

For more on the Heads Up program, go to: http://usafootball.com/headsup.