Soccer

Weekly Announcements

August
20

Player Equipment
Enforcement of player equipment rule (4-1 and 4-2) begins with the players wearing only legal equipment. Coaches, as the adults of their teams, must work with their players and officials to ensure that player equipment is safe and legal. Officials must also emphasize player safety and legal equipment throughout the match.

Equipment Changes
It is now required that the NOCSAE seal and height range shall be permanently marked on the front of the shinguard. Goalkeepers are now required to have numbers on the back of their jersey and on the front of their jersey or pants/shorts. Beginning with the 2013 fall season, the home team shall wear solid white jerseys and solid white socks, and the visiting team shall wear dark jerseys and socks.

Coaching During an Injury
When a coach or appropriate health-care professional is called onto the field to attend to an injured player, neither coach shall give instruction to his or her players. The coach may give instructions to a substitute who is entering the game during this stoppage. The rationale for this is to make sure that no advantage is given to the team of the non-injured player.

Goals
Schools, coaches and officials are reminded that all soccer goals shall be adequately anchored, secured or counterweighted to the ground for the safety of all involved.

Concussion Management
The NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee has noted an increase in reported and diagnosed concussions in the 2010-2011 National High School Sports Related Injury Surveillance Study. The position of the NFHS Sports Medicine Advisory Committee is that no athlete should return to play or practice on that same day after suffering a concussion. Studies have shown medical professionals that the school-aged brain does not recover quickly enough for an interscholastic athlete to return to activity in such a short time. No athlete should return to sport or other at-risk participation when symptoms of concussion are present and recovery is ongoing. Please see the “NFHS Suggested Guidelines for Management of Concussion” at www.nfhs.org for further information. (See NFHS Soccer Rules Book Page 106)