This year, as a joint commitment to player safety, a group
of sports equipment manufacturers and football organizations have partnered to
create a youth football safety and helmet replacement program. Any helmet that
is over 10 years old will be replaced free of charge for a brand new state of
the art helmet by one of the several football helmet manufacturers. As of this
year, no helmets 10 years of age of older will be certified as safe enough for
youth football players among the partners involved.
A part of this program is that it will also educate coaches
and parents in player safety and warning signs of symptoms for concussions. The
helmet replacement program is backed by the NFL, NFLPA, and the NCAA as
concussions become a very serious issue at the highest levels of football, both
college and professionally specifically.
As athletes everywhere become bigger, faster, and stronger,
the hits have also become bigger. This has resulted in an increase in injuries
across the board. Concussions have just recently come into the limelight as
research comes out about the devastating impact of concussions later in life.
Because of the concussion issue, companies have been pressed to come out with
better helmets to help protect players from concussions. This is where the
engineers come into play.
Since football was first played with leather helmets, the
headwear worn by players has improved dramatically and quickly. Even the
helmets that many of us used in youth football and high school less than 10
years ago are now considered vastly out of date and are no recommended for use
by equipment companies. Those helmets include the Schutt Air XP which was the
most common helmet in both college football and the NFL for many years. It is
made of a hard outer shell made up plastic with an iron facemask covered in
rubber. The inside of the helmet is hard foam with an aid bladder that can be
adjusted to fit the head of the player.
The newest model Schutt has is the Vengeance. It is made
with impact reducing foam of 2 different degrees, one for minor hits and one
for large hits. It also has 2 different air bladders to distribute the air
based on the different head shapes of the players. There are several different
cosmetic effects but for the most part the differences between the newer
helmets and the older ones are the impact reducing foam and the improved
quality of air bladders in the helmets.
As a result of the new demand for football helmets that can
reduce the occurrence of concussions, engineers have been pressed into developing
better helmets that are also more comfortable to the wearer. While no helmets
are “concussion proof” there are some that are better than others. All of
Schutt’s new helmets are made with impact reducing foam.
The best helmets Schutt has to offer cost upwards of $400
while other helmets they produce cost around $200. The challenge for the
Industrial engineers is to come up with better ways to make the expensive
helmets so that they can be sold at the lower cost. This will allow more teams
and players to afford the best helmets on the market and thus prevent more
injuries.
I think you did a good job on this post, I liked how you described the different types of helmets, making it clear what are the characteristics that make a good helmet, also I liked how you took into consideration the production costs and sub-sequentially the cost to the public.
ReplyDeleteYou did a good job of explaining detail; this made it easier for someone that is not completely familiar with football helmets to still understand what you are talking about. For me, it would have been more beneficial to keep with one type of helmet change, such as the Schutt, and just focus on the changes and details that have improved the Vengeance. Talking about the cost was also a good point, but you only stated how much more it costs never an actual cost for the helmet. Overall, you did well and the background at the beginning of the article was really interesting and helpful.
ReplyDeleteReally enjoyed how in-depth you went with the details. I just thought there was a standard helmet and that's it. Very informative. Good job.
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