Staying healthy has always been a great reason to get involved in sport, but it’s safe to say that the NFL has been facing a brand crisis during the concussions saga- Will Smith even got in on the act in his latest movie. The list of ex-players diagnosed with CTE- a degenerative brain condition- continues to grow, as does the number of casualties in youth football. And, therefore, so does the need for a solution.
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NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell this week sparked an angry backlash, insinuating that the safety risks involved in youth football equated to those of ‘sitting on the couch’. His views were met with anger from the growing voice of concerned parents, one which now even includes LeBron James and President Obama. With the vast number of professional and youth football players at severe risk, what is the answer?
A team of five 7th graders think they have it.
Within the walls of a Florida middle-school, they have developed a football helmet accessory which monitors impacts in real-time. The system is synced up to a smartphone and computer app, and is effectively an alarm system to warn onlookers of potentially serious head injuries. The hope is that by knowing the severity of each contact, playing time can be managed more safely.
The idea is being allowed to flourish with the team winning $20,000 from Verizon’s Innovative App challenge, beating off competition from a range of other schools. Their ambition isn’t just limited to football, though. “Our hardware could go in any type of helmet because all you have to do is put the sensors in,” M.E. Gabrielle, one of the students who built the prototype, explained. With this in mind, it has even been suggested as a potential attachment to bicycle helmets.
For their next step, the team will work with designers from MIT to further their impressive technology. The kids’ immense success does, however, beg an important question: What were the rest of us doing in 7th grade?