Latest Football News: Significant rules change from a safety standpoint will be at the forefront as formal preparations for the 2009-10 fall sports season begin next week for more than 110,000 students in eight sports at member schools of the Michigan High School Athletic Association.

Practice sessions begin on Monday in football with golf, followed by all other sports on Wednesday. Check out Football Betting Tips for more details.

A major change to the calendar that begins with the New Year is that all sports now have a required number of practice days before they engage in competition, to provide a framework that promotes conditioning and a legitimate window for team tryouts to be conducted in.

Practice in football must begin on August 10 for all schools wishing to begin regular season games the weekend of August 27-30.

Schools must have 12 days of preseason practice at all levels before their first game, which may not occur before 16 calendar days.

All football schools must also conduct at least three conditioning days of practice before beginning contact, and the conditioning sessions may not include any pads.

In golf and tennis, competition may commence no earlier than after three separate days of team practice, and not before seven calendar days. The first day competition may take place in golf and tennis is Aug. 19. In all other fall sports, contests can take place after seven days of practice for the team and not before 14 calendar days. The first day competition may take place in cross country, tennis soccer, swimming and diving, and volleyball in the fall is Aug. 21.

This year, two football dates, precede Labor Day, and Thursday varsity games will take place both weeks. In Week 1, 41 eleven-player games will be played on Thursday, 250 contests will be played on Friday, and 15 games will be played on Saturday.

The following weekend, 216 games will be played on Thursday, 86 games will be played on Friday, and 7 games will be played on Saturday.

The major football rules change by the National Federation of State High School for 2009 is that the horse-collar tackle has been added to the list of illegal personal fouls.

Effective this season, it will be illegal to grab the inside back or side collar of the runner's shoulder pads or jersey and subsequently pull the runner to the ground. The penalty will be 15 yards from the succeeding spot.