The St. Louis Rams have partnered with Shadowman Sports during the 2015 high school football season to enhance sports safety on the field. Shadowman Sports is a company that encourages smarter sports environments by providing innovative products to improve play and safety on the field.
Earlier this summer Shadowman Sports and USA Football announced a partnership to promote the Shadowman tackling system across America. The tackling system is utilized at the U.S. National Games that include Regional Development Camps, National Development Games, and the International Bowl.
The tackling system eliminates player-on-player contact by implementing new tackling tech that allows players to practice with full contact without the usual physical punishment that the game of football creates.
In order to help promote Shadowman equipment, the St. Louis Rams selected one local high school football game a week. The winning team’s school received a $1,000 grant from the Rams and the NFL Foundation, totaling to $20,000 in equipment and grants provided to local schools.
This commitment is dedicated to improving the safety of athletes on the field and does this in a motivating way for the players with the Game of the Week show down. Local fans were able to vote for their choice of the Rams Game of the Week on www.stlouisrams.com. At the end of the 10-week program, there were a total of 2.3 million online votes. The program not only encouraged players, but also created good spirit among local fans.
On top of just winning the game of the week, the program introduced even more plausible titles. Shadowman Sports created titles like Rams Coach of the Week and Coach of the Year, which will be announced during a banquet at Rams Park at the end of the season. In addition, the program introduced the #TopTackler program, to acknowledge the top tackler from each of the High School Game of the Week’s participating teams. This award included an official Shadowman Sports #TopTackler certificate, a T-shirt, and a congratulatory letter from Rams Head Coach Jeff Fisher.
“As our community’s professional football team, we take pride in being a leading advocate for the game of football at all levels and helping to further develop the game,” said Kyle Eversgerd, director of external football affairs, St. Louis Rams. “In Shadowman Sports, we saw an exciting opportunity to partner with an industry leader to deliver innovative training products to schools and high school athletes who could benefit from their technology.”