With every new report involved with the risks that concussions can bring, coaches and parents must do everything in their power to ensure the safety of their players and kids. Within the confines of soccer, using one’s head is normally confined to the headers that players execute during the game. However, with most players only having protective gear on their shins, any heavy physical contact on any other part of your body is susceptible to a big injury. Never is that more true than with your head (a rather important part of your body, if you didn’t already know).
The Full90 headguard is a perfect piece of equipment to ensure the safety of any player. Its design makes sure that any possible contacts with the most injury-prone areas of the head (forehead, temple) are completely sheltered by dual-density Forcebloc foam. The Forcebloc foam is said to reduce impact by up to 50%, and believe me, I barely felt anything while wearing this helmet. It also doesn’t make you look as foolish as other soccer/rugby helmets do (i.e. Petr Cech), in fact, the shape makes it look more like a large headband or bandana than a helmet at all. This will be the biggest qualm a player may have, since you will rarely find a player that genuinely is concerned for their safety as much as their coach or parent is.
The fit of the helmet is fantastic. About five different areas of adjustable straps known as a Tru-Fit System allows you to fit the helmet to a five year old child or a fully-grown adult with relative ease and comfort. There is also a ponytail port to allow someone with longer hair an easy option of how to wear their hair on game-day. The fit and sizing allows me to use this on my smallest player, and still adjust it so that I can use it too. I’d like to mention that I have a MASSIVE cranium, and most fitted caps are too small for me. I received the S/M size of the helmet, and I would be massively surprised if anyone really needed the L size of this helmet.
This helmet is a great addition to any players gear. The best policy for concussions is to prevent them BEFORE they happen, and this helmet gives you the best possible chance for that. For $44.99, this helmet needs to be in every coach’s bag and on the top of every parent’s wish list. I have several players whose parents now REQUIRE their kids to wear this helmet when they play, and the kids don’t mind a bit. Just make sure that you introduce the helmet in a positive way to your players…the last thing they want to be seen as is “un-cool,” and the last thing you want is them to be “un-safe.”
Written by: Andrew McCole, contributing writer, soccerprose.com
