Prep Football: Major Impact
In an era of football where the main concern for players' safety stems from concussions, Harrisburg High School is taking preventative measures to monitor its players.
The way they are doing so, comes in an age of high tech devices that don't come cheap.
Harrisburg High School recently purchased 18 new helmets from football outfit Riddell. The inside of each player's helmet is equipped with multiple sensors that can track any impacts to their head.
Each helmet has its own serial number that is assigned to a player at the start of the season. The helmets have to be properly worn on the head to activate the sensors to be able to measure any impacts.
Christina McCabe, long time athletic trainer for Harrisburg High School, said the new technology - although it cannot yet diagnose a concussion - still helps give her a better understanding of cranial impacts.
"The Riddell InSite has been around since 2004 and since then, Riddell has used technology to monitor and record head impacts during practice or a game."
McCabe will also personally monitor hits or impacts with a hand held device that will show all the helmets in use.
How it works is where the technology aspect comes into play. The impact level that a player takes with the helmet on is based on a threshold that tops out at what could be considered a concussion. When the reading comes to McCabe on her hand held monitor, she will then check that player for concussion like symptoms.
"I have the added advantage with a hand held monitor that will alert me when a head impact reaches a pre-programed threshold based on skill level.
These impacts can be registered from both a single impact or multi-directional impacts during a week. The alerts are then downloaded to a computer and can be saved for a season or multiple seasons by players' names. Each year, like normal helmets, the ones with sensors will be re-conditioned."
As someone who has been on the sidelines for the better part of 18 years and has seen first hand how rampant concussion protocol has become, McCabe believes the pros of using the new tech outweigh the cons.
"In a game and practice not every hit is visible due to positioning, caring for another injured player or various other reasons. So this is another tool to help us be alert to possible concussions."
Some even call it a fashion statement as Bulldog senior Austin Hefner says the new helmets are much more comfortable than ones he has worn in the past, but he also understands the importance of what he is strapping to his melon.
"It's going to help a lot," Hefner said. "Most of the times guys aren't going to say when they actually have a concussion because they want to continue to play, but now you don't really have a choice. As much as it's going to make some players mad, it's going to help them, too."
Harrisburg athletic director Greg Langley echoed many of Hefner's sentiments, saying there is no way of hiding things now.
"We have a monitor that Tina carries and when it goes off, it's already assigned to that player. It doesn't necessarily mean that, 'hey this kid has a concussion' but it's something that we can rely on instead of the kid coming and telling us. It's another step in making our program as safe as possible when it comes to this issue."
Langley, along with superintendent Mike Gauch came up with the funds to purchase the helmets and for head coach Al Way, it couldn't have come at a better time when the issue is prevalent at nearly every level of football.
"It's definitely a concern," Way said. "I think in some cases, it's blown out of proportion because they try to compare professional football to high school football. It's not the same and don't get me wrong, you get concussions in high school and you have to be sure that you take care of it and don't have anyone with serious injuries.
When the season opens on August 26th, Harrisburg will be just one of two other schools in southern Illinois, joining Carbondale and West Frankfort that uses the Riddell InSite helmets. Carbondale and Harrisburg each have 18 registered helmets. West Frankfort currently has nine registered helmets.
Michael Dann covers prep and college sports for the Harrisburg Daily Register and Eldorado Daily Journal. Follow him on Twitter: @spydieshooter.