LINCOLN, Neb. -- Nebraska safety Nate Gerry was ejected from back-to-back games last season because officials ruled he targeted receivers above the shoulders when tackling them.This year, Gerry and his teammates are transitioning to a tackling method whose objectives are to eliminate dangerous helmet-to-helmet contact while making defenders dominant tacklers.Nebraska is the latest program to adopt rugby-style tackling. As in rugby, where players wear no helmets, the tackle is made by driving a shoulder into or near the ball-carriers hip, wrapping him up and taking him to the ground. Though the hip is the ideal target, it could be anywhere between the knees and armpit. All the while the defenders head remains to the side of the ball-carriers body, away from the tackle contact zone.In a sport beleaguered by concussion concerns, rugby-style has been touted as a safer way to tackle, and teams can practice it with or without helmets and pads.Traditionally, defenders in football have been instructed to put their heads across the body of the ball-carrier to stop forward momentum.It takes a while for us to get the basics down to where it comes to muscle memory, Gerry said. The science behind it, the explosion of power and using your hips more ... I like it. Its supposed to be just as violent but safer than what weve been learning.Seattle Seahawks coach Pete Carroll was among the first to promote rugby tackling in football. He and assistant Rocky Seto worked with rugby great Waisale Serevi to develop what became known as the Hawk Tackle, the technique thats subject of a popular 2014 video that circulated through coaching circles and was updated last year .Serevis Seattle-based company, Atavus, was founded in 2010 to promote and develop the growth of rugby in the U.S. It added a football division in 2015 to partner with college, high school and youth programs to teach rugby tackling.Nebraska joined Ohio State, Washington and Rutgers as Atavus college clients. Nebraska is paying $100,000 in 2016 and $80,000 in 2017. Atavus is providing 400 hours a year of services, including the training of coaches, designing drills, detailed analyses of tackling execution in practice and games, and access to an online portal where staff can obtain reports and other materials.Neuropsychologist Art Maerlender, a concussion specialist and associate director for Nebraskas Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, said keeping the head to the side when tackling is a no-brainer. A former rugby player and coach, Maerlender said he told a Nebraska athletic administrator about Atavus. Football coach Mike Riley already knew about rugby tackling from watching Carrolls video. The Huskers signed on and began implementing the technique during spring practice.Riley said he saw effective rugby tackling in the spring game.Not every situation is perfect, he said. Sometimes tackles are ugly because you just have to get them down. The only way you can change old habits is tons of repetition. Yes, therell probably be guys who revert. In the end, one of the main goals is to keep the head out.I think they are embracing it. When you tell players the two words `safer and `better, theyll buy into it.Erik Swartz, a kinesiology professor at the University of New Hampshire, said more research is required before rugby tackling can be definitively deemed safer at all levels of football. Variables such as a players physical and mental maturity, experience, expertise of his coach and nature of prescribed drills could affect the players ability to control his body while making a tackle.But Swartz has seen encouraging signs. For two years, he has studied how performing tackling drills without a helmet affects a players behavior when that player puts on his helmet in contact practices and games. He had 25 players on the New Hampshire football team go helmetless during tackling drills and 25 others go through normal football activity.In 2014, among the players who were helmetless for tackle drills, there was a 28 percent decrease in head impacts in full-squad contact practices and games from the start of the season to the end. Compared with the control group that same season, the helmetless group had 30 percent fewer head impacts. Results have not been published for the 2015 season, Swartz said.Last year he began a similar two-year study involving four high schools in New Hampshire.Inevitably, if you decrease head impacts, that decreases your risk for concussion, right? Swartz said. But until we have a larger sample size with the high school study were currently doing ... were not saying were reducing concussions until we can actually demonstrate through research that we have done that.Atavus president Ron Lloyd said football carries an inherent injury risk but that anecdotal input from client coaches has indicated fewer head injuries.USA Football, the sports governing body for amateur players, began teaching a below-the-waist tackling technique for the first time as part of its 2016 high school coach certification program.Its a skill and technique that coaches have success with, said Andy Ryland, senior manager of education and training. Not every coach teaches it, not every coach believes in it. We felt it was something we needed to teach our constituents as a technique that is in the market and, if our coaches want to do it, well provide them best information out there on how to teach that technique.---AP college football website: http://collegefootball.ap.orgSoccer Jerseys China . 1, meaning problems for the doping controls at both major international sports events next year. The World Anti-Doping Agency provisionally suspended the Moscow Antidoping Center on Sunday, saying its operations must improve or a six-month ban on the facilitys accreditation will be imposed. Replica Soccer Jerseys .C. United of Major League Soccer. United chose the defender in the second round of the 2013 MLS re-entry draft. https://www.soccerjerseyschina.us/ .Y. -- Vancouver Canucks goaltender Roberto Luongo had little trouble picking up his first shutout of the season against a Buffalo Sabres team thats having trouble scoring goals. Stitched Soccer Jerseys . Its 1987 and a Brazilian playmaker, known as Mirandinha, is being paraded around St James Park to the passionate Newcastle fans. Cheap Soccer Jerseys Authentic . James, who turned 29 on Monday, injured his groin Friday during the Heats overtime loss at Sacramento. He sat out the following game, a 108-107 win Saturday in Portland, before coming back to help send the Nuggets to their seventh consecutive loss.The National Hockey League Players Association announced the names of 42 selected bantam-aged players who will participate in the third annual Allstate All-Canadians Mentorship Camp. The invitation-only camp will be held at the Hershey Centre in Mississauga, Ontario from August 6th to 10th, 2013. The intensive five-day camp will conclude with the Allstate All-Canadians Mentorship Cup on Saturday, August 10th at 1pm et/10am pt (TSN and TSN Mobile TV). "The NHLPA has made a strong commitment to sharing the Players knowledge and experience with Canadas youth through the Allstate All-Canadians program. This is our third year in working to develop a program that will help educate not only the 42 bantam-aged players that are directly involved, but also parents and young hockey players across the country," said Mathieu Schneider, NHLPA Special Assistant to the Executive Director. "The NHL Players and the ambassadors involved are true professionals and have an enormous amount of experience to share through this program." Players attending the five-day camp will learn the necessary steps to support budding hockey skills through fundamental factors including appropriatee nutrition, fitness, on-ice training and mental skills.dddddddddddd Throughout the camp, the participants and their families will have the opportunity to learn from some of the NHLs brightest stars, as well as camp ambassadors such as Dr. Paul Dennis (Sport Psychologist), Dave Lewis (NHL Assistant Coach), and renowned off-ice training expert, Gary Roberts. "Each year I look forward to sharing my story and experiences throughout my 21-year NHL career and the role that fitness and nutrition played in my success," said Gary Roberts. "I feel strongly about the importance of educating young players and their families about developing skill sets that will improve performance both on and off the ice and advance them to the next level in their careers and I look forward to continuing this tradition." Last years camp featured 22 first-round draft picks from the OHL and WHL, including first overall picks Connor McDavid, Travis Konecny and Mathew Barzal . The QMJHL draft is set to take place on June 8th, 2013, and will feature eight eligible All-Canadians players from 2012, including, Nicolas Roy, the number one rated prospect by QMJHL Central Scouting. ' ' '
