THE FRONT ROW with Mark Nelke July 25, 2013

You see helmet-to-helmet hits in the NFL, and sometimes in college.

Not so much at the high school level, but with the younger kids naturally trying to emulate the pros to some degree, USA Football wants to make sure it stays that way.

"Everybody loves the big hit," said Jeff Hinz, Post Falls High football coach.

Hinz was nominated to represent Idaho last week at a youth summit in Canton, Ohio, hosted by the NFL Foundation and USA Football - the national governing body of American football at the youth and amateur levels. One high school football coach from each of the 50 states was invited.

One of the big messages was ... heads up!

Not as in "look out!", but as in, tackle with your head up.

"They're trying to keep the head out of the game," Hinz said of the summit, which also included speakers on concussions, character, heat and hydration ... and, as a little bit of a break, a trip to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, where soon-to-be Hall of Famer Dave Robinson shared stories of his legendary coach with the Green Bay Packers, Vince Lombardi.

"I really felt honored," Hinz said of the opportunity.

MOST CONCUSSIONS at the high school level, Hinz noted, still happen through the natural course of the game - from just a real hard hit, or perhaps the head snapping back when the player hits the ground.

But every now and then a defender leads with his helmet - "probably just habit," Hinz said, "and we've got to break the habit ... hit with the shoulder, and try to keep the head out of the tackle."

In addition of reinforcing that idea with his high school team, Hinz said it also will be important to get the word out to the younger programs and coaches of those programs - Junior Tackle, etc. - and videos are available at USAFootball.com that show the proper forms of tackling.

"Our goal is to keep teaching the kids the safe and proper ways to play football, and that was the point of the summit, and for us to spread the word," Hinz said.

They listened to Dr. Stan Herring, team physician for the Seattle Seahawks, who pushed for what is called the Zackery Lystedt Law for concussion treatment. Lystedt, at the time a middle school football player in western Washington, suffered a head injury during a game in 2006, but returned to action later in the game. He later collapsed, and needed two emergency brain surgeries afterward. He is permanently disabled.

Idaho has adopted a similar version of the Lystedt Law. Once a concussion is diagnosed by the team trainer, a player's return to action is totally up to the medical staff.

Roughly, after the concussion is diagnosed, there's a 48-hour waiting period, and if there are no recurring symptoms, the player can attempt light exercise on Day 3, sports-specific exercise the next day, non-contact training the following day and full-contact training the next day. If all systems are still go, the player could return as soon as the following week's game. But if the symptoms don't go away, or reoccur, then the player is sidelined until they go away - then the process of light exercise, then sport-specific exercise, etc., begins again.

"The sad thing is, when you have a broken arm, the doctor reads an X-ray, and this is how we're going to fix it," Hinz said. "The analyzation and data with concussions is still an unknown. They're still finding out information about it. Dr. Herring said most of the information they've found about concussions and how to treat concussions has come from research in the last 4-5 years."

ANOTHER SPEAKER talked of character development - an issue in the NFL these days with the Aaron Hernandez situation, among others.

That hit home with Hinz.

"One of Post Falls' motto is 'Character counts,'" he said. "That's one thing we'll keep preaching to our kids is high character."

One eye-opening part of the summit, Hinz said, was the revelation that participation in football at all levels is declining - as well as participation in other sports.

"Everyone loves the game of football, and we've got to do a better job of keeping kids out," Hinz said. "We want to keep kids playing sports because of all the life lessons they learn do good things for our kids."

Mark Nelke is sports editor of The Press. He can be reached at 664-8176, Ext. 2019, or via email at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter at CdAPressSports.