Parents: As a football player myself, I received multiple concussions. In basketball I had another major concussion that affected me for months after. I have always wanted to protect others from this. This was my original drive in looking for something to eliminate concussions. When I was in Las Vegas this past year, I saw the guardian helmet caps, and thought we had finally made an advancement in preventing concussions. I got very excited. It made sense to me and so many coaches were endorsing them. I researched and all I could find was positive about them. I put them on here and parents responded greatly. I think we all want to protect our boys. A few parents contacted me and were leery, so in hopes of convincing them, I began contacting colleges and college professors to see there thoughts on the matter. I contacted multiple universities and was responded to by Penn State, Clemson, Wake Forest, and Idaho State. Clemson uses them for there lineman only in face to face practice. The others cautioned strongly against them. I talked extensively on the phone to one of the leading experts in the nation on concussions. She was just recently on ESPNs outside the lines. She STRONGLY cautioned against these for a few reasons. 1st- they have not been extensively studied to see results using scientific means. 2nd- she worried that the impact would transfer the impact from the helmet to the neck. 3rd- she told me that the majority of concussions are caused by rotational force not linear. So in other words putting pads on top of your helmets help little to eliminate rotational forces. She lead me to researchers and professors from Wake forest who recently did a study on after market products and helmets and what they found was that helmet technology alone is better than any aftermarket they have tested. SO, First I want to apologize for the debacle. I really simple wanted to help protect our kids. Second, I am going to be returning the guardian caps on Monday and refunding anyone who has already paid. I am sorry for the this. I was really hoping for a quick fix to our concussion problem, but no such luck. When I explained what we are doing to prevent concussions, many of the people commended our coaching staff for being aware and educated. I was glad to hear that we are doing all we can to keep them safe. I will attach a link at the bottom of the helmets that Wake Forest recommends. Also I wanted to publicly Thank Kristie Andersen for all the time and work she put in to this as well. If anyone has any questions please feel free to call or message me. Thank you!
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 23:28:51 +0000
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