Aiming to reduce the number of preseason injuries, CIF established a new rule for football this season that removes contact during the off-season.

“The state of California is adapting a new rule, that there is no contact during the summer, which for us was up until August 10. If you put helmets and shoulder pads on you aren’t allowed to go full speed, have contact, and what is deemed at ‘live’ or ‘thud’ tempo,” said varsity coach Mr. Jason Adams.

Multiple teams misunderstood and violated this rule, and as a result were given sanctions.

“There have been a few teams in our section and league, some team rivals, that have had some practices taken away, showing teams they have limited their usual practice times [which may affect their overall precision]” adds Adams.

Rocklin rival Del Oro was one of the heaviest sanctions from this new rule with six practices taken away. Other teams engaged in less physical play and lost four or less practices.

Although this rule was originally set to prevent injuries, coaches and players believe that it may ironically increase the number of injuries at the beginning of the season.

“Kids are gonna be going full speed with less repetition; in consequence, players may not be quite used to this type of play,” says Adams.

Now that the first game is approaching, the players and coaches are beginning to visualize the upcoming season.

“I expect us to be one of the best teams of the section. We have a tremendous amount of talent and good leadership,” adds Adams.

Rocklin varsity football had their first scrimmage against Grant this past Saturday Aug. 22 at home. The game received a lot of publicity because multiple fights occurred throughout.

“The first fight was initiated because Grant in their away game pre-games go jump around and dance on the opposing team’s symbol on the center of the field, which is very disrespectful and we didn’t like that so we kind of charged them” says varsity center Noah Young.

The coaches were understanding of the players fighting to defend their name and honor, but made it clear to the players that their aggressive behavior will not be tolerated when season starts.

After last year’s season, the Thunder are ranked at number five in the section and are expected to do great things in this upcoming season.