The SG360, intended for use by field hockey and girls’ lacrosse players, is one of the models the Princeton School District is considering as part of its newly-implemented mandatory athletic headgear policy.
Princeton Regional School District requires field hockey, soccer and lacrosse players to wear headgear during games.
Sixth-grade athletes in the Princeton Regional School District are going to look very different on the field come September.
Princeton recently became the first district in the state to require field hockey, boys’ and girls’ soccer, and boys’ and girls’ lacrosse players to wear protective headgear during games in an attempt to lower the risk of concussions and similar injuries.
Athletic director John Miranda said he and the school board took into account data from last sports season that detailed the effects of head injuries.
“The district decided to be proactive,” he said. “We want to protect students as much as we can.”
All athletes will be wearing headgear models appropriate to their respective sports. Miranda said the school board has not yet decided on specific brands because it had to wait on clearance from the state, which it recently received.
The board has looked into a number of models, though, including the SG360, intended for field hockey and girls’ lacrosse. The school district will cover the cost.
This is not the school district’s first foray into concussion protection. All athletes who sustain head injuries must undergo ImPACT testing, which assesses cognitive functions and determines when an athlete can return to the field. Last year, Princeton became the first school district to require ImPACT testing for all grades 6-12 after only testing high school students.
The new headgear measure, though, seems to have been met with more criticism than acclaim. Many professionals question the effectiveness of the headgear in terms of actually helping to prevent concussions.
“The announcement of mandatory headgear in Princeton is a bold move and a bit of a surprise for many of us in the field of sports concussion,” said Dr. Rosemarie Scolaro Moser, director of the Sports Concussion Center of New Jersey.
“Such headgear may reduce lacerations and skull fractures,” he said. “But currently, there is no research evidence to show that headgear in sports such as soccer, field hockey and lacrosse actually reduce the incidence of concussion, especially since concussions can occur just from a whiplash or rotational effect, without even hitting your head.”
In fact, in the product’s description on Amazon.com, the manufacturer states, “WARNING: The SG360 is not a helmet and will not protect players from catastrophic skull, brain, MBTI injuries, or concussions. No product can prevent all head, face or neck injuries a player might receive while participating in Lacrosse or field hockey.”
Miranda acknowledged this, and cited football as a sport that still sees numerous concussions and other head injuries at all levels despite helmets and full padding.
“Once we implement the program this year, we’ll start making that comparison each year,” he said. “We’re hoping there will be a significant improvement, though it doesn’t completely eliminate concussions.”
Others have expressed concerns that the athletes may feel a false sense of security when wearing the headgear, causing more aggressive, reckless play. Cris Maloney, a nearly 40-year field hockey veteran who coaches and umpires in the area, said this is inevitable.
“Of course wearing a helmet makes an athlete less cautious about protecting their heads,” he said.
They may even intimidate opposing players and their parents.
“Pretend you have a kid at middle [school] XYZ and here comes the bus from John Witherspoon,” Maloney said. “The kids come marching off the bus wearing helmets. No right-minded parent would let their child play against a team wearing helmets.”
Maloney also points out another major problem with the headgear: some models, like the SG360, may be illegal in field hockey. Both middle school and high school field hockey programs abide by the same set of rules.
“The high school rules (Rule 1.6.7) states that ‘Required equipment shall not be modified form its original manufactured state and shall be worn as intended by the manufacturer,’” he said. “Goggles are required equipment. Goggles are not designed to be worn with helmets. Therefore, the helmets cannot be worn.”
The National Federation of State High School Associations, which authors the field hockey rules, even noted this in the newest edition of its rule book: “With the standardization of the performance of protective eyewear, it is incumbent upon the coaches and players to properly use the equipment as it was intended. Combining various protective devices is potentially harmful and immediately voids any manufacturer’s warranty. By rule, required equipment shall not be modified and shall be worn as intended by the manufacturer.”
Miranda said the board is working with the NJSIAA to ensure that this doesn’t become a problem once the fall sports season gets started.
The NJSIAA provided rules and additional guidance to help the board through the headgear selection process. Its most major requirement mandates that goggles cannot be attached to the headgear for field hockey and girls’ lacrosse.
Field hockey, Maloney said, is a non-contact sport, and head injuries are rare, meaning the headgear has almost no purpose. He anticipates the same level of effectiveness in soccer and lacrosse, too.
“They do not do what the Princeton school district claims that they do,” Maloney said. “Helmets do not reduce concussions.”
“It is absolutely safe to say that they can inhibit an athlete’s skillful play because wearing them reduces the sensory information that the child would otherwise use to avoid injuries,” he added. “The helmets will reduce lacerations to the skin that the helmets cover. One could argue that is safer but, therefore, why not cover up all the other exposed skin?”
The school district hopes to phase in the headgear to the other grades each year, ending with the Princeton High School seniors.
“The sixth graders are just as important,” Miranda said. “It’s all the same. The younger we get it started, the safer it’s going to be.”
Moser, though, has a solution that she feels should be implemented before headgear is even a thought.
“What we really need to focus on, and provide funding for, is education and changing the culture of sports,” she said. “Kids need to really understand what a concussion is and that it is serious. Parents need to focus on safety and skill development, not winning at all costs. We need funding for training of coaches so that they may learn the most up-to-date techniques that promote smart play and reduce risk.”
,
