Smart helmets changing approach to player safety

Faced with growing alarm among parents about concussions and injuries, Niwot football coach Jeremy Lanter decided to be proactive.

“I’ve sat in 20 different homes for 20 different meetings with parents, and one of the biggest concerns is the safety piece,” he said. “Addressing that with them and listening to their concerns, and finding out what we can do, is a step in the right direction.”

To that end, Lanter has embarked on a two-pronged approach to player safety ahead of the 2018 season, one old-school and the other decidedly the opposite.

First, he made his conditioning smarter, by consulting trainers and other experts who helped him devise workouts and training plans designed to prevent on-field injuries and keep players concussion-free during the rough and tumble three-month football season.

“We’ve been trying to implement some of those things this spring, particularly around the neck and shoulder area,” he said. “The concussions that we suffer come as kids fall backwards and hit their heads on the ground, so we’re trying to address the neck stability piece.”

Now he hopes to make his players’ equipment smarter. Lanter has designated 2018 The Year of the Helmet, and hopes to place as many players as possible in headgear wired with the Riddell Insite, an impact monitoring system that records data about frequency and intensity of contact for individual players and notifies coaches in real-time.

“We can then focus our training down to a player by player basis to tailor who should be involved in certain drills and live time throughout the week,” Lanter said. “It really is an incredible system that is changing the way that we help keep kids as safe as possible. The more information that we have about what we do will allow us to better serve families.”

Needless to say, that technology comes with a pretty hefty price tag, but an anonymous donation to the program has helped provide 25 state-of-the-art-helmets. Lanter and the Cougars are hoping to raise money for the remainder at the fifth annual Cougar Classic Golf Tournament, coming up on Friday, Aug. 3 at Twin Peaks Golf Course in Longmont. Former CU head football coach Gary Barnett will be on hand to lend support for the program.