In the past year, Riddell has taken steps toward increasing player safety by creating a helmet that helps minimize the impact of a vicious hit by diffusing the energy of the hit throughout the helmet and using sensors inside the helmet to alert the sideline of a possible concussion.
USA Football’s grant program has accomplished the following since 2006: Awarded $6 million in equipment grants through 2013 Benefitted more than 4,500 youth and high school football programs in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Helped more than 150,000 youth and high school football players through new equipment
When one object meets another with significant force—say a strong safety missiling into a receiver—something’s got to give. The sports equipment company Riddell has determined it should be the helmet. While traditional football helmets have encased the head in a rigid shell (remember the old term brain bucket?), Riddell’s new SpeedFlex helmet is designed to flex in a way that directs the force of impact (that incoming strong safety) away from a player’s head.
Not long ago we got a glimpse of specially designed helmets being used by a couple of different college football programs this fall with a camera built-in to the helmet. As cool as it is to see technological enhancements be implemented in to the helmets to provide for new coaching and film study methods, the helmet is still primarily used to protect the player’s head. Arkansas is using a new helmet design to hopefully reduce the risk of concussions this spring.
In other words, the helmet's design can help reduce the number of concussions, and it also alerts coaching staffs when a concussion may have occurred due to the kind of impact players are taking. It's hard to argue against equipment that tries to keep a player safe, and should these helmets work, I'm guessing we'll see a lot of teams wearing similar helmets in the very near future.
