With football season underway, one high school here in Northern Nevada is trying out a new way to prevent serious head injuries. Galena High School in south Reno is now the first school in the state to offer all players a helmet with special sensor technology.
Galena football coach Greg Sakelaris says the high-tech helmets act like “another set of eyes” out in the field. If there is notable impact, the sensors send a signal to a hand-held monitor.
"A lot of those hits were going undetected," Sakelaris says. "We're able to now have more conversations with kids when their helmet sensors go off."
Sakelaris says the technology doesn’t just detect a big impact, but also gives coaches data on the multiple hits each player experiences throughout the season.
"Maybe there's not a single impact that meets a threshold," Sakelaris says. "But over time, over a seven-day period, if there's multiple lower impacts, it's going to send us a signal."
This type of information will be used by coaches as part of an effort to minimize serious concussions and brain injuries among players.
