HAMILTON – Colgate Football added yet another layer to student-athlete safety for this year's spring practice with the implementation of Riddell's Insite Impact Response System for helmets.
 
The Raiders equipped 20 helmets with the cutting-edge technology, featuring sensors on different parts of the helmet that record impact data.
 
Coaches, equipment staff and athletic trainers not only get real-time alarms if a big hit takes place on the practice field, but they can analyze all of the hits after the fact to make sure players are tackling the right way and correcting mistakes that might lead to injury.
 
"It's been great," Raiders head coach Dan Hunt said. "We can study the data and ask ourselves if a drill needs to be tweaked and if there too much contact to the head, or if it's a case of an individual player who might be lowering his head too much and the bulk of the contact is on the top of his head."
 
In addition to safety, Hunt continues to strengthen his program's relationship with Riddell, and for good reason. Not only are Riddell's products tops in the industry, but company president and CEO Dan Arment '84 played for the Raiders, as did product manager Pat Friel '13.
 
Instant Information
The best feature of Riddell's new technology for Hunt is knowing right away if a big hit occurred during practice.
 
"We know instantaneously if a player sustained a large hit to the head – it sets off an alarm that the equipment managers and trainers have now. And then overnight, we can study how many contacts a player had and also where they are occurring."
 
The Raiders already purchased four of Riddell's Precision-Fit helmets. When those arrive – the team expects them any day now – the goal of the new headgear is to improve fit, stability and vision inside the helmet as well as overall player protection.
 
And Colgate under the direction of Vice President and Director of Athletics Victoria M. Chun '91, MA'94 was a leader in implementation of a mandatory practice protocol. It covers all varsity athletic programs with emphasis on sports where the risk is highest and injuries may be unavoidable – particularly basketball, football, ice hockey, lacrosse and soccer.
 
Player Safety Foremost
All of which fits nicely under Coach Hunt's model for playing excellence and student-athlete welfare.
 
"Obviously, player safety is foremost to us," he said. "We firmly believe we can be a physical football team but also practice smart and teach the game the right way.
 
"We also believe in using the technology that's available to us through our great connection with Riddell to ensure we are doing things the right way and keeping our players safe."
 
Hunt said the sensors in the helmet are undetectable and do not affect the safety of the helmet. The players know they have the sensors in their headgear, but the helmets fit and react just like regular ones.
 
"You would never know," Hunt said. "It doesn't affect the vision; it's just four or five sensors in the helmet and the information is downloaded every night, so we're able to keep a close eye on what we're doing and keeping our kids safe.
 
"It's been great to look at this information so far and hopefully for the rest of spring practice."