Football Equipment Guide

“Lighter shoes, tougher helmets, stickier gloves, and slicker uniforms; when it comes to football gear, nearly everything has changed with the times. Everything that is, except for shoulder pads.
In their early days of football, athletes didn’t even bother wearing shoulder pads, however, when the pads finally did make their first appearance, initial versions were merely made up of sewn together pieces of leather. By the time the 60’s rolled around, foam and hard plastic replaced the leather.
The good news was these pads finally began addressing shoulder and rib injuries. The bad news; the foam was the same material used to pad furniture. It was discovered it actually sped up the process of overheating the athlete. Decades later, a study by the National Trainers Association addressed the rise of heat related illnesses, finding that four highschool students died due to the heat while thirteen other highschool students were reported as injured due to heat issues.
This, in turn, led to the first innovations in shoulder pad design in thirty years, incorporating everything from air conditioners to astronauts.
In 2002, impact pads actually started using synthetic fibers designed for NASA to make new shoulder pads breathable and lighter.
The old furniture foam was replaced with a gel like material and covered with mesh fabric to allow moisture to be taken away from the body and therefore keeping the athletes cooler.
A second major innovation was introduced by Douglas, who in conjunction with scientists from the University of Florida, created the Temperature Management System which actually added an air conditioner to the shoulder pads.
While on the bench, players can be hooked up to an air pump that sends cold, dry air into the pads where air channels are built in.
Any number of players can be hooked up to the system, which uses a hose to force cool air throughout the pads, keeping body temperature down by stopping the radiating heat before it starts.
It may have taken thirty years but shoulder pads are starting to catch up to the ever changing world of gear designed to protect the players.
While the issue of heat injuries isn’t going away, protection will always be the key factor behind the next generation of shoulder pads.
Let’s just hope it doesn’t take another thirty years.”

“Research published in the February 2006 issue of Neurosurgery reveals that players wearing the Riddell Revolution were 31% less likely to suffer a concussion than those wearing a traditional football helmet. The study; conducted by the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, evaluated more than 2,000 high school football players over a 3 year period to determine the rate of concussions for players wearing Riddells new Revolution helmet versus traditional helmets.

The helmet design was based on extensive research funded by NFL charities. Since the launch of the Revolution, over 3/4 of a million football players have made the switch.
Now the best just got better.
Introducing the Riddell Revolution IQ helmet which combines advanced fitting and a quick-release face guard attachment.
The ideal fit liner system provides unsurpassed comfort and stability by a specially engineered inflation system that when inflated, pivots the true curve back-pad and cradling the rear of the head.
Combined with true curve front padding technology, ideal fit delivers the comfort and security that players demand.
In addition, the Revolution IQ offers a patented quick-release face-guard attachment system. This allows for rapid and easy player access by simply releasing 2 pins.
The combination of these 2 new technologies is the latest offering in state of the art football head protection pioneered by Riddell.
In 2005, Riddell introduced the head impact telemetry system, or H.I.T.S. as part of the revolutionary sideline response system.
The HITS equipped helmet uses on-board sensors and computing power to capture, record, and measure head impact acceleration.
Using wireless technology and special software, data is then transmitted real-time to a sideline computer, giving certified athletic trainers and team doctors extra eyes on the field.
Leading universities, including Oklahoma, Virginia Tech, North Carolina, Dartmouth, and many more are using the side line response system for the 2007 college football season.
Now Riddell is offering the same technology previously available as part of the integrated side line response system in an individual helmet.
Introducing, the Revolution IQ HITS. The first individual helmet that has all of the benefits of the Riddell Revolution IQ, plus it monitors and records every significant incident of head impact sustained during a football game or practice.
The system measures the location, magnitude, duration, and direction of head acceleration.
The Revolution IQ HITS brings the field to the training room or home.
Impact data, stored by the helmet, is easy to upload to your P.C.
A simple, interactive web-based application analyzes the data, identifies suspect impacts and then provides a clear call-to action.
Since 1929, Riddells proud history has been built on our passionate quest to improve athlete protection and out drive to advance state of the art technologies in athletic equipment.
This tradition continues with the new Revolution IQ.”

“In a game of tackles and tumbles; the helmet is essential equipment.
To make one, plastic pellets are suctioned into a machine that melts and molds them into a dome shape.
This fist-like device shapes the inside of the shell which hardens in just a matter of seconds.
A robot then collects it and tranfers it to a conveyor.
It’s quite a line-up.
The shells move into position for a trimming and the extra plastic from the molding is clipped off.
Next, a robot drills up to nine holes in the shell.
The holes will be used to attach a liner, face-guard, and various pieces of hardware.
This robot works far more quickly than a human can…performing all the drilling in just 30 seconds!
This is the ultimate in computerized precision.
A worker collects the drilled shell and moves a new one into position for the robot.
The outside of the helmet shell is roughed up with an orbital sander.
This preps it for priming and painting.
This factory uses a high grade brand of automotive paint and it takes three coats to make sure this paint job is rugged enough to survive a go on the gridiron.
The helmets cure in the open-air for up to eighteen hours.
During this time, a chemical reaction hardens the paint to a glossy finish.
Not every helmet is painted. Some teams prefer tinted plastic.
It all depends on the look the team is going for.
Labels are attached, including safety information, trademark logos, and the date of production.
This padding is made of vinyl and foam. Workers snap it in place in the crown of the helmet.
The padding for the side and back is made from the same material.
The back is reinforced with a plastic bumper.
A helmet from each production run undergoes an impact test.
It’s fitted on a head shaped form equipped with sensors which are carefully calibrated.
The technician presses a button and the helmeted head falls.
This mimics the effects of a players head hitting the ground during a tackle.
The computer then measures the force of the impact on the head.
Once the production run gets the okay, the face-guard is attached.
It’s made of plastic coated steel and has been custom produced at a different factory.
There are dozens of face-guard styles for the player to choose from.
This helmet is now looking pretty fierce, but it’s not ready for action yet.
It needs a chin strap and cup.
This machine uses heat to transfer a foil logo onto the polyester chin straps.
It also cuts them to the correct length.
Once a chin cup has been sewn to the strap; the assembly is loosely fastened to the helmet.
Later, it will be precisely fitted to the players head.
This helmet is now almost ready for kick-off.
Theirs a final inspection and then they wrap it up, complete with a manual and fitting instructions.
It’s taken less than a day to manufacture a football helmet that can withstand thousands of blows because in the game of football, protection against
head injury is a victory in itself.