Erin Hanson was leading a revolution. For years, only she and her husband Lee knew it. Their company, the Hanson Group, was a chemical engineering firm that had provided materials for everything from the Atlas 5 booster rocket to the coatings for Max Fli golf balls.
But this side project — this revolution — was going to be big. Really big. All it took was convincing the sport of football to fundamentally alter its most crucial piece of equipment, the helmet.
The Guardian Cap was born 14 years ago out of innovation and necessity. Both the NFL and NCAA had lagged at times in protecting its players’ heads. At least the mounting lawsuits said as much.
“Critics would say, ‘They’re making money out of scare tactics,” Erin Hanson said. “We were somebody who just truly has a mission … and then they’re like, ‘You’re trying to make money off of kids. You’re trying to scare parents.'”
You’ve probably seen the Guardian Cap, worn mostly in practice in college and the NFL until recently, where it has slowly broken through to gameday. It is a soft shell cap attachment made of foam padding that attaches to the helmet and disperses impact. Its price per unit is $55.
Rules, requirements for Guardian Caps at NFL level
The NFL recently gave players the option of wearing them in games, citing research that has shown a 46% reduction in concussions.
Quietly, the NCAA has essentially allowed their use as well. Virginia Tech lawyers met with NCAA lawyers before the 2023 season to hammer out a solution when coach Brent Pry’s football program wanted to use a version of them in games, CBS Sports has learned.
At the high school level, the safety of the sport came again came into focus when eight teenagers who played football in the U.S. died in August, including three from suspected brain injuries.
So far a total of 10 players — eight in the NFL this season, two at…
Source link : https://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/guardian-caps-helmet-add-ons-could-reduce-concussions-by-nearly-50-so-why-isnt-everybody-wearing-one/
Author : Dennis Dodd
Publish date : 2024-10-07 15:18:18
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