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California Governor Gavin Newsom signed a new law on Wednesday limiting full-contact practices for youth football in the state.

The new law, which goes into effect in 2021 and is designed to reduce brain injuries, will directly affect many teams here in Humboldt County.

The new law will limit full-contact practices for youth football teams to no more than 30 minutes per day twice a week, a substantial reduction from the current 90 minutes per day twice a week, which is the same for high schools.

The high school teams will not be affected by the new law, which also bans full-contact practices for youth football teams during the offseason.

According to the Associated Press, “the law also requires a medical professional be present for all games and an independent person attend all practices with the authority to remove players who show signs of an injury.”

The bill also requires youth football team coaches to receive a tackling and blocking certification from a nationally recognized program annually.

The Six Rivers Youth Football Conference gets under way later this month.

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Ray Hamill writes at humboldtsports.com, where you can read lots more about sports in Humboldt County.