Millions of people love and take part in the popular sport of football; however, some people are growing more concerned about recent medical studies that identify the sport for one major potential injury — concussions. As more evidence emerges regarding the long-term effects athletes suffer after many vicious and repeated hits to the head, concussions have become a prominent topic in sports lately — both professional and amateur. In the last season, the National Football League has had 160 players go down with a head injury. In that same timeframe, there are approximately 67,000 diagnosed concussions in high school football. The NFL and other organizations are doing all they can to help protect the players without compromising the competitiveness of the game. In the search for a compromise that does not change the rules of the game, there appears only one area for improvement: helmets.
From youth to professional football, thousands of athletes — some coming locally at Needham High School — have started wearing new, improved Xenith helmets. Xenith, LLC has teamed up with Salus Capital Partners, LLC, a local commercial finance and asset management company in order to donate 55 Xenith Football Helmets to the Needham High School Football program. Salus Capital Partners actively works for the community and strives to foster youth football participation and also promote safety in the local community. Now, thanks to Salus Capital Partners, the Rebel Football Program will also become another high school that plans on wearing the helmets in their upcoming 2013 season.
Back in 2004, former Harvard Quarterback Vin Ferrarra decided to take a stand and do something about the rampant concussion problem in football. Ferrara started the company Xenith LLC,which creates high-tech football helmets in order to of minimize the possibility of concussions in football. Ferrara and his team have been able to create these new helmets after performing thousands of lab tests where they simulated realistic hits football players endure. Conventional football helmets rely on foam padding but Ferrara’s helmets use air filled disc shaped pads that act as shock absorbers. Each helmet contains between 12-18 absorbers placed at precise locations. Xenith’s Adaptive Head Protection is a system of integrated technologies designed to reduce the sudden movement of the head during impact.
Regarding the decision to support local organizations, Mr. Andrew Moser, President of Salus Capital Partners said, “I hope that parents, students and educators all appreciate the donation but as I say, first and foremost our commitment as a company, is to support the towns in which we work and live in any way we can through either charity or volunteerism.”
Mr. Moser, a Walpole resident, wants to benefit the program in his own town and said, “We embrace the commitment that Xenith has made to safety in youth sports and we feel that with our donation not only are we able to benefit Walpole through a commitment to safety in youth sports but to also help alleviate some of the burden on the budget constraints on so many local youth sports programs.”
Walpole Football has had a successful program for many years; In regards to the concussion problem in Walpole Head Football Coach Barry Greener said, “We have had few concussions but overall we have been lucky in this area [but] concussions are a major concern to all coaches of contact sports including football and the key today is prevention and being proactive. The techniques of blocking and tackling have been changing to prevent players from using the crown of the helmet.”
In the near future, Xenith and Salus Capital Partners will soon begin the process of getting the helmets to the Walpole Football Program. Moser said, ” We have worked closely together with Walpole and Xenith to see that Walpole could fill a complete order of new helmets for their upcoming season.”
Coach Greener said, ” We have asked for thirty new helmets and I hope to start the process in the next several weeks.” Greener said that once meetings with the Xenith team are done, “We can begin the final process — helmet color and decisions of sizes are the key step.”
Walpole’s football program will soon welcome the new Xenith helmets and Greener said, ” The entire Walpole Football Family is elated and grateful for Mr. Moser and Salus Capital Partner’s generosity and concern for the safety of our players. The benefits of this generous donation are many. Not only does this program put thirty players in new, high-tech, helmets but it also frees Grid Iron Funds for new shoulder pads which are the second most important piece of football equipment.”
Xenith football helmets have started becoming a part of football all around America and have proven to reduce the amount of concussions in all levels of football. While concussions and the possibility of injury will forever be intertwined with the aggressive nature of football, these helmets (in addition to greater awareness of risks, changes to tackling, and updates to rules) should keep Rebel athletes on the field for years to come.
