Exeter's investment in new high-tech football helmets help avoid/detect concussions.

Mike Drago: So far, Exeter's high-tech helmets are a success

Manny, a lineman at Exeter, thought nothing of the hits he absorbed during one-on-one drills the other afternoon at practice.

Then Audrey Dickman, Exeter's certified athletic trainer, showed up and pulled him off the field.

The hand-held monitor Dickman carries each afternoon during practice alerted her that Manny (not his real name) had sustained a potentially risky hit to the head.

The monitor receives signals from each helmet, which are equipped with Riddell's InSite Impact Response System. When a player sustains a hit that exceeds a preset impact threshold, the monitor sends out an alert.

And Dickman goes to work.

"If we can catch one or two kids who would (not normally) report symptoms, by having this (system), that's a win," said Dickman. "That's a win for everybody."

Until just a few years ago, few people paid much mind to concussions. They were, many felt, just part of the game.

Now we know better.

Now we know that concussions are really traumatic brain injuries, and that's a scary thought.

No more "shaking it off" so you can get back in the game.

The PIAA got serious about concussions several years ago, mandating protocols that get brain-injured athletes of all sports off the field - and keep them off - until they show no signs of impairment.

The Exeter school district has taken that one step further with the purchase of 145 Riddell SpeedFlex helmets, equipped with the InSite monitoring system.

The district ponied up more than $55,000 last spring to equip all of its high school and junior high players with the latest technology. It seems to be money well spent.

It's far too early to tell what kind of impact, if any, the new helmets and the monitoring system are making. It will take several years' worth of data to draw solid conclusions.

Six weeks into the season, the results are promising.

Before the season began, Eagles coach Matt Bauer estimated that, on average, 10 or more players in his program sustain a concussion each year.

So far this season? One.

We can't be quick to draw a conclusion from that number. Average baseball players go 4-for-4 all the time, but none will ever bat 1.000. Or even .500.

Still, Dickman said, the results are encouraging.

"It could be a lucky year," she allowed, "(but) it's pointing in the right direction."

Exeter's positive results to date could simply be good fortune.

They could be a result of changes Bauer has adopted in daily practice to reduce live hitting.

It could be the helmets, which are designed to disperse energy and reduce the risk of head trauma.

Dickman, a Temple grad with a master's degree from Alvernia University, believes it's a combination of all of the above.

"Matt and his ability to alter practice has really decreased things," Dickman said. "That doesn't account for (the reduction during) games: Kids might be playing a little smarter.

"The helmets are definitely working. I can't tell you that's a fact, because there's no data on it, but I feel it is."

To read the rest of the story, please go to the Reading Eagle website: http://www.readingeagle.com/sports/article/mike-drago-so-far-exeters-high-tech-helmets-are-a-success?