Helmet help: Guardian Caps offer extra protection for high school football players
Taking in a high school football game this season you may have noticed among all the shiny football helmets a few here or there that are much different.
Those helmets have a duller color with a fabric look to them. You’ll also notice a few in NFL and NCAA games this year.
What you’re seeing is a Guardian Cap, which has been cleared for use by the PIAA for use in high school football games this season.
Used solely in practice before, the Guardian Cap is a padded, soft shell cover that affixes to the outside of a regular football helmet and is said to help it absorb contact better, minimizing the impact of collisions and thus reducing the odds of suffering a concussion.
A few local players have opted to use them this season, including Waynesburg Central quarterback/linebacker Jake Stephenson and Mapletown tight end/linebacker Johnny Vanata.
They’re not mandatory and not everyone is fond of them.
“We bought 10 of them this year after we had a kid get a semi-concussion,” Mapletown coach George Messich said. “I decided to buy some and see who would wear them in a game and how they liked them. We gave them to about four of the players. They didn’t like them, I think just because they thought they were a little bulky.
“”I haven’t had a parent request one for their kid. If they did I’d gladly give that player one to wear. But my linebacker Johnny Vanata missed a game this year with a concussion so after that he took one and he wears it and he hasn’t had any problems.”
Vanata, a senior, talked with his parents about it but made the choice himself.
“The coaches had them and they talked about it and said it’s here if you need it,” Vanata said. “I thought it was best if I wore one after the double impact I hear about.”
Vanata was referring to second impact syndrome, a rare but serious condition where a player suffers a second head injury before completely recovering from the first one which causes rapid swelling of the brain and can lead to disability or even death.
Stephenson’s switch to wearing a Guardian Cap was a group decision.
“I’ve had a couple concussions throughout high school so my coaches and parents and our athletic training staff all agreed that I should probably wear one the rest of the year,” Stephenson said. “I think it definitely does help.”
Waynesburg coach Aaron Giorgi was in agreement with the choice.
“You hear about second-impact syndrome. Jake has had a couple concussions. He’s such a hard-nosed runner and takes a lot of big hits and is always finishing going forward,” Giorgi said. “And on defense, too, he’s always in on a lot of tackles.
“My thought process on it was that if he would’ve had another concussion not wearing it we would’ve always wondered could that have been prevented if he had it on? So why not always just wear it. I know his family agreed that he should wear it as well.”
Stephenson, one of the WPIAL’s top dual-threat quarterbacks, is one of two Raiders that wear the Guardian Cap.
“I have another player (senior Ethan Kiger) who wears it also,” Giorgi said. “He had a concussion earlier in the year and he has not stopped wearing it since he was cleared to play again.”
Vanata said he feels safer wearing the Guardian Cap.
“I feel it definitely helps,” he said following the Maples game against Beth-Center at Carmichaels on Oct. 14. “I had some helmet hits today but didn’t feel any head trauma at all. I do think it’s a positive thing.”
While they aren’t aesthetically pleasing to most, neither Vanata nor Stephenson feel the addition of the Guardian Cap hinders their performance at all.
“It’s not really that heavy to me,” Vanata said. “It doesn’t feel any different. I don’t even notice it during the game or in practice.”
“I don’t really notice a difference with it on,” Stephenson said.
Messich is in favor of players wearing Guardian Caps.
“I can only think they have to help,” said Messich, who knows about collisions, being a starting offensive tackle on Pitt’s 1976 national championship team. “Any time you add a little extra padding it has to help.
“I would love to see them make them mandatory. But you can’t make them mandatory as a coach, you really can’t force kids to wear them.”