This August, many players on the Varsity Football team were chosen to wear and review a new protective helmet cover called a Guardian Cap. Athletic Director Jason Edwards and the coaches gave the caps out during August camp, but by the start of school, these caps were nowhere to be seen on the field. So why were the players not fond of the Guardian Caps, and are they effective in protecting high school athletes?
If you have watched any professional football practices, you may have noticed the players wearing a padded outer helmet called a Guardian Cap. As the company Guardian says, the cover helps in a multitude of different areas including impact, insulation, prevention, and energy reduction. These caps were made mandatory in the NFL preseason and some players have worn them in the opening weeks. As they gain traction among contact sports, Hackley has now adopted them and offered them to players as an extra layer of protection during practices.
Varsity football players were given a Guardian Cap as a trail-based exercise to see if these caps have a difference on the field at the high school level. These caps were not mandatory to wear and many players did not go on to wear them.
“They aren’t perfect…The caps cover the vents of the helmet making the inside hot and uncomfortable,” said right guard and senior captain Thomas O’Brien.
Thomas also stated that he could not imagine using the caps in a game scenario; the straps to attach the cover block the upper view of the helmet’s face mask. NFL players are very split on whether they should or should not be wearing Guardian caps. Players like Seahawks Tight End Noah Fant and former Defensive Edge JJ Watt think that the Guardian Caps are useless even at their level.
Noah Fant told reporters, “ I dislike them a lot…I’m not a fan of them… I understand why, it’s just kind of bulky and I can see the little straps on my facemask and stuff which bothers me a little bit.”
As players in both the highest and lowest levels of football express their opinions on the Guardian Caps, it has been shown that they are not as comfortable as their marketing suggests. Though they do have an impact on the field, players would rather play without them.
With all this backlash, players from all levels started to wonder why they were given these protective covers, whose decision was it to wear them, and if there was any research behind it. According to Mr. Edwards, each school can decide what precautions to take for their players. For example, Hackley offered the Guardian Caps to wear for practices while other schools like The King School, one of Hackley’s regular opponents, made it mandatory to use them for practices and during games. They feel the cap provides an extra layer of protection to keep their players safe.
Even though each school makes its own decision, it uses a “Concussion Legacy Foundation” that helps the schools make informed decisions on player safety and ways to keep players away from injury. In addition to the foundation, Hackley’s football league, the Metropolitan Independent Football League, has taken inspiration from the NFL to start using Guardian Caps. The NFL uses the caps in practices as another way to protect their players. These caps have not undergone a significant amount of testing yet to see if they really work at the highest level.
Director of Athletics Jason Edwards was asked about his opinions on the guardian caps in terms of protecting the players and he agrees Hackley players do not see the level of contact for the cap to serve a purpose.
“What [NFL players] are doing during practice and what we are doing during practice are completely different,” he said. “We don’t really have any contact, whereas they are doing it all the time.”
This lack of contact in practice means that there is no reason we should be wearing useless and overly protective gear. Mr. Edwards agrees that our practices do not need any protective gear because of our lack of contact.
As coaches and players come out and speak about their opinions on the Guardian Caps, we begin to see that this protective cover is not as comfortable or useful as it is marketed. We have heard from Mr. Edwards that these caps make a minuscule difference in high school football. We have heard from players at all levels that these covers are bulky, hot, uncomfortable, and overall a distraction on the field. Though these helmets are a precautionary measure to keep players safe, we don’t need them, and they are only creating more worry for players on the field.
