When I played high school football chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE) wasn't a thing. The harder you smashed your head into an opponent the greater the coach's praise.
Players were discourage from drinking water - it would give you cramps.
You were not allowed to breathe with your hands on your knees when out of breath - despite it being a natural response - not sure what that one was all about. We have known for some time that with your hands on your knees, your lungs can fill with a greater volume of air. This in turn supplies more oxygen to your body so you can recover more quickly. Apparently the football coaches didn't get the word.
Hydration was not just a test of toughness or a way to identify weaklings trying to sate thirst, but instead was and still is essential, and potentially life saving.
Today, CTE is real, and it's not just about the number of concussions players get. We can't fix it with special helmets and/or taking people out of games after getting a concussion as is the common belief of modern day coaches. We now know that playing football at all, even if just in high school, can lead to depression, impulsivity, Parkinson's disease, dementia, and early death later on, and that the number of concussions doesn't necessarily correlate with the severity of CTE.
Football coaches - stupid then, stupid now.
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