Should Football Helmets Be Conditioned?

A news report found out that many High Schools use old football helmets for their football teams - some as old as 10 years. Each helmet has a 10 year old warranty and should get reconditioned & recertified every year. It doesn’t mean that a 10 year old helmet isn’t up to code. It just means you can’t use it because you can’t get it recertified. Helmets that were recertified have lables inside them showing the last recertification date.http://www.kshb.com/news/football-helmets-up-to-10-years-old-still-in-use
Let’s face it. Football will always be dangerous. But it doesn’t have to be a sport in which helmets are tackling devices and 250 lb men are used for destroying quarterbacks and receivers with them suffering from possibly life threatening
One thing is that currently, if a player has an concussion, he must pass an simple test before returning to the field. But that test isn’t the most effective way to diagnose a concussion. Every player gets a shot at the test when he’s 100% at the beginning of the season. So if he doesn’t get to that point, you bench him. The better way to do it is to bench him after sustaining a concussion. No test, no coming back in. (This rule was put in the concussion protocol) Another way to make the game safer is to make mouth guards mandatory. Impacts to the jaw can cause an concussion just as easily as a impact to the brain. So why don’t we use mouth guards? That is the question. Also they could eliminate kickoffs. (WHAT?!?!?!?!) Now hear me out! As much as a great kickoff return thrills fans, evidence says that getting rid of them would lower the probability for a concussion altogether. When they moved kickoffs from the 30 yard line to the 35, more touchbacks occurred and therefore, less concussions. Therefore, people think that one team should simply start at the 20 yard line. Another thing is to make licensing boards like boxers have to face before stepping into the ring. Maybe football players should do the same. The players should re-take the test every 12 months and if the results are really declining, they should have to be benched an few games--with full pay--until he’s declared OK. They could also put doctors on the
There was a football player named Von Gammon who was a great football player a long time ago in 1896-1897 for Georgia when helmets were made of leather and you weren’t forced to wear an helmet. Unfortunately, on Oct. 30 of his sophomore year, his Georgia team was playing Virginia. Von took his place on the defensive line. A lot of offensive linemen blocked Von and he met them with just as much force. The play ended up with an mountain of bodies. One by one, Virginia players got up. Von didn’t. He was rushed to the hospital by an ambulance and later died. An Atlanta Journal headline read “The Death Knell of Football.” Von’s death nearly led football to be banned in the state of Georgia. However, Von’s parents didn’t want it outlawed because “It was the most cherished object of his (Von’s) life,” So it wasn’t outlawed. From Fourth Down and Inches pgs.