UIL recommends changes to two-a-days

AUSTIN (KXAN) - The University of Interscholastic League Medical Board is recommending schools make serious changes to the way football teams practice before the season.

In a meeting Monday, the board recommended the following changes to practices:

1. On days when more than one practice is conducted, the rest and recovery time between the end of one practice and the beginning of the next practice will be increased to two hours. Current rules only require one hour of rest and recovery time between practices.

2. With the exception of volleyball, schools shall not schedule more than one practice on consecutive days in sports which begin practice prior to the school year, and student-athletes shall not participate in multiple practices on consecutive days.

3. During the four-day acclimatization period in football, if more than one practice is conducted on the same day, the second practice shall be a teaching period or walk-through practice only with no conditioning, contact activities or equipment permitted.

If these changes are approved by the Commissioner of Education, they would go into effect Aug. 1, 2012.