Memorial Makes Hi-Tech Football Possible
Lake Charles Memorial Health System is dedicated to not only treating athletic injuries, but preventing them and head injuries are at that top of that list. Putting action behind the mission means that football across Calcasieu Parish now has a new tool in monitoring and preventing head injuries.
Through its Foundation for Fairplay Fund (F3), The Foundation at Lake Charles Memorial made it possible for every varsity football athlete in Calcasieu Parish to take advantage of Riddell’s InSite Training Tool, the leading impact monitoring system in football. The F3 board easily approved a donation of $100,000 to Riddell that paid to outfit each helmet with the InSite system.
“It was an easy decision for our foundation board to approve the donation of this scale,” says Memorial Vice President of Philanthropy Leif Pedersen. “We first came to them with a more scaled down donation and they upped the ante with a donation that will benefit every football athlete.”
Riddell InSite alerts the sideline with information on significant single and multiple impacts sustained in a practice or a game. The web-based data center also collects and analyzes an impact profile for each player to proactively influence player behavior by identifying training opportunities that may decrease head impact exposure.
Every varsity football player who takes the field for a Calcasieu Parish High School will wear a Riddell helmet equipped with InSite. This includes the nine public and three private high schools in the parish. Calcasieu Parish becomes the first parish in the state to utilize the InSite tool across all schools.
“The Foundation for FairPlay has once again stepped up to help address sports related injury and safety issues in Calcasieu Parish. Each year the Foundation has provided grants to schools to make our sports programs better and safer. This contribution, which is among the largest ever, helps to address the national issue of helmet safety and concussion management for our high school football athletes. The systems being funded and installed in player helmets will allow our trainers to monitor potential issues for our players in both real time and in a study setting.”
Taking it to the next level, the Memorial Foundation donated $15,000 to the McNeese State University Football team to outfit all of their players with the InSite system too. McNeese is the first university in the state to utilize the system.
"This is really exciting for us to be able to have these sensors and monitor the impact of the hits our players make and receive. We're the only college in Louisiana to have this,” says Lance Guidry, McNeese Head Football Coach. “I can't thank the Memorial Foundation enough for making this available to our players. The concussion study has increased so much over the last few years so to have this technology to be able to monitor the safety of our players is tremendous."
F3 was established in order to provide a more level playing field in the areas of preventable injury needs. The fund assists schools in acquiring equipment such as quality football helmets, training room equipment needed for the rehabilitation of sports-related injuries and creating safe physical fitness surroundings. Memorial Sports Medicine is the sports medicine provider for all Calcasieu Parish High Schools and McNeese State University. Memorial athletic trainers are assigned to each high school and specialists are available to the high school and college athletes as needed.
To learn more about the Memorial Foundation or F3 call 337.494.3226.
