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Stamps sporting new lighter helmets for 2009
Courtesy TSN.ca:
What Stampeders receiver Ken-Yon Rambo likes the most about his new helmet is how his head looks in it.
The combination of the Speed helmet and his opaque visor makes him feel a bit like Darth Vader.
“I do look good in it,” Rambo said Sunday on the first day of training camp for the defending Grey Cup champions.
“If you look good, you play good.”
While other Canadian Football League clubs will also try out the Speed helmet at their respective training camps, the Stampeders are hitting the new headgear technology hard.
Equipment manager George Hopkins put the new model at almost every locker stall on the first day of camp, even though the Speed helmet is marketed towards the receivers and defensive linebackers or “all the pretty people,” as Hopkins calls them.
“It passes the mirror test,” Hopkins explained. “When the guys look at it in the mirror, it doesn’t look quite as goofy as the other one did.
“It’s always important to look good. Some guys just happen to look better than others.”
The Speed helmet is made by equipment manufacturer Riddell, which is a CFL sponsor, and a helmet costs about $300 each to buy and ship to Calgary, Hopkins said.
The difference between it and the previous model in Riddell’s line is the Speed is more streamlined around the jaw, less bulbous around the skull and has a more traditional look from the front and sides, he explained.
The Speed is about three-quarters of a pound lighter “which doesn’t sound like a lot, but by the time the fourth quarter comes around and you’ve sweated out six to eight pounds already and you get that thing on your head, it does make a difference,” Hopkins added.
While the players focus on style, Hopkins is concerned about safety and function. The helmet is contoured to deflect impact instead of force going into the plastic and thus, the head, he said.
Instead of padding that flattens on impact, it inflates to create space between the head and the helmet.
“The more space you have for impact between, the better your chances of surviving in the impact,” Hopkins said.
The removable inner liner is one of his favourite features because it can be washed separately. That’s important because of the copious amount of hair products some players use.
“It’s pretty amazing what you see in the hair,” Hopkins said.
If players don’t like the new helmet after three days, they can trade it in for an older model.
Veteran offensive lineman Jeff Pilon, however, wasn’t interested in switching from the same model he’s worn for 10 years and didn’t bother picking up the new one.
“I like what works and I like what I’m used to,” Pilon said. “I know this whole thing about concussions and all the other stuff going on. I’ve been good this far and 10 years in the same helmet, so why not go with what works?
“Same shoes, whatever I can keep the same, it stays the same.”
Rambo thought he needed about 60 plays in the new helmet before he could give it a full endorsement, but felt comfortable in it after Sunday’s opening session.
“I always feel fast, with or without a helmet, but it’s a little bit more slicker, so it makes the wind go past a little bit better,” he said. “It’s like you have a fitted hat on, a fitted cap.”
Hopkins is entering his 37th season as Calgary’s equipment manager, so he’s witnessed a lot of change in football equipment technology.
“When I started out, we were still using suspension helmets, which in its time was pretty good,” he said. “Considering it was designed from World War Two paratrooper helmets, there wasn’t a lot of change from 1945 to 1973.
“It’s night and day. There’s no comparison to what we’re using now.”
