Youth Football Teams Turning To Safer Helmets, Techniques
By Paul Kurtz
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - As youth football is heating up throughout the area, coaches and league officials are emphasizing attempting to take further steps to prevent head injuries.
They may be small, but kids wearing pads and helmets can still deliver violent blows. With concussion concerns increasing, youth leagues are searching for the safest helmets they can afford.
Jerry Bartholomew, the Roxborough Eagles Keystone State League rep, says the new helmets are layered with gel pads and have a different look:
"Just look at the elongatedness of the helmet, whereas before, the helmet was rounded. They are a little bit bigger, but on the inside they're a little bit smaller to help the kids keep their heads in there."
Bartholomew says they are also attempting to avoid helmet-to-helmet contact by teaching proper technique:
"Keep your head up using your chest more so than your shoulder. You're throwing your chest into him more like a Sumo wrestler than you are a football player as of old. You're not lowering your shoulder so you're keeping your head up."
There could be more changes ahead as safety advocates are pushing for rule changes that outlaw targeting the head and placing time limits on full contact practices.
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