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A system used at Westlake High and 11 other high schools on a trial basis this season features sensors in helmets that issue alerts triggered by high-impact hits.

New concussion alert technology is aimed at reducing injuries in young players: One of the biggest topics in football today is head injuries. And it’s become more important than ever to find ways to make the game safer. Solutions have ranged from stiffer penalties for head hits in the pro game to teaching safer tackling at the youth level.

Riddell's new InSite system uses technologically advanced helmet inserts to alert sideline staff when football players suffer head injuries.

New technology from the sport equipment manufacturer will help identify possibly injured players on the field. The growth of concussion and head trauma awareness in football over the past decade has led to a slew of procedural changes in an attempt to curb occurrence. Defenseless receiver rules, helmet-to-helmet violations, and moving kickoffs up to the 35-yard line are all attempts to make football safer by reducing high-impact hits on players’ heads. Even so, head trauma can still occur without players and trainers even knowing, which only compounds its severity. Hopefully, InSite can change that.

"This is not a diagnostic tool." That's what Riddell, the country's largest manufacturer of football helmets, kept emphasizing during a presentation of its newly developed InSite head-impact monitoring system. The fact it would throw this disclaimer out there isn't surprising, really. After all, the topic involving concussions in the NFL is one that's been massively debated by many different entities, inside and outside of the sport, over the past few years. Most recently, PBS debuted a documentary titled League of Denial: The NFL's Concussion Crisis, in which it delved deep into the "hidden story" between brain injuries and the National Football League.

With growing concern over the danger of concussions within the sport of football, helmet maker Riddell unveils technology that allows high school coaches to track player head impact through sensors inside the helmet.

It didn't take long for most sporting goods companies to flee the football helmet business 20 years ago. After waves of lawsuits alleging the failure to warn about the dangers of the sport and that helmets were ineffective in preventing concussions, the number of companies making them dropped from more than a dozen in the late 1970s to only a couple of major names by the early 1990s.

Morningside's cash-strapped football program is scheduled to be given 80 helmets, shoulder pads, knee pads and other equipment from Riddell, saving the program, according to Coach Derwin Henderson. "It's a life saver," Henderson said.

Violent collisions in the NFL are getting more attention from players, journalists and medical professionals — and for good reason. We're just beginning to grasp the effects that repeated big hits can have on the brain, and a troubling series of violent deaths of current and former pros has only raised the stakes for trying to understand how to manage the damage players do to themselves and one another. But what about tackle football at the youth level? Surely, slamming into one another over and over can't be good for growing bodies either, right? Well, longtime helmet-maker Riddell may have just come up with an innovative solution to track and minimize the damage to young players' brains.

The NFL has tried a number of tactics to help reduce players’ head injuries and concussions, including pushing kickoffs up five yards and requiring medical clearance before game time. It was only a matter of time before technology could step in and make a difference. Now, it looks like that time has come, at least on the youth level. Riddell, maker of the official helmet of the NFL, has announced its latest innovation, and it could be good news for football players across the country.