This is a sponsored post for SheSpeaks/Riddell.
Although my husband and I have been long-time college football fans (and our youngest son has played flag football), my oldest son has never shown an interest in playing or even watching football.
That is, until the first day of school last year. I was waiting for him in the car after school so that I could take both him and his younger brother for our traditional first day of school ice cream, when my older son asked me if he could play football on his middle school team.
I was dumbfounded! Of course, I wanted to let him since he's never really shown an interest in any sports at all, and I wanted to encourage him. But, at the bottom of my mama bear heart, I was a little bit concerned about all that I've heard lately about safety while playing football.
While his coaches did a good job of keeping him and his teammates safe, I was excited to hear about the Riddell Smarter Football Grant program. Basically, any football team (regardless of age) can apply for a grant by sharing their story, and Riddell will choose a lucky team to receive upgraded gear for their football team. Anyone can apply for their favorite team - fans, administrators, coaches, parents and players by applying at Riddell.com/SmarterFootball through August 31.
What is Smarter Football?
Football has evolved to be more than just who's the fastest and strongest on the field. Smarter Football also includes the following tactics both on and off the field:
- Safe tackling
- Proper nutrition
- Excellent sportsmanship
- Maintaining good grades
Over the years, Riddell has worked on engineering Smarter Football by:
- Collecting over 10 years of head impact data and research with biomarkers through a partnership with TGen and the University of Arizona
- Developing and introducing the first flexible football helmet with the Riddell SpeedFlex in 2014
- Launching Riddell’s InSite Impact Response System, which helps thousands of football programs improve their playing techniques and acts as an extra set of eyes for coaches and training staff
- Launching Precision-Fit, a process that utilizes 3D scanning techniques to build a completely custom-fitting helmet for the individual player.
My son went on to enjoy the entire football season {and thankfully did not get hurt}, and he's even declared that he's going to play again this year!
What does smarter football mean to you? Are you going to apply for a team grant for your loved ones playing football?
Michelle Clayton
What a great opportunity. Fortunately, my son goes to a high school where a current NFL player graduated from. This player donated the new smart helmets to the school as well as new uniforms and other gear. What a great gesture as it is a school in what's considered a "bad" part of town that doesn't have a lot of funding for sports. It's a magnet school that gets lots of funding for STEM projects so it was nice to see the boys get taken care of. Thank you for sharing and I hope one of our readers team gets picked! Thanks for all you do!
Corrie C
That's an awesome opportunity for your son's team! I'm glad the player is still actively involved.