Could Guardian Caps make their way to high school football games?

All over the National Football League, you’ll see players wearing padded layers over their helmets called Guardian Caps during practice. This is a way to protect players from concussions. This upcoming season, NFL players now have the option to wear Guardian Caps during regular season games.

“Being such a violent sport you know it helps with the collisions,” North Fort Myers head coach David Pasquale said. “Helps manage those things and for us it’s just that extra safety precaution.”

Players on the North Fort Myers High School football team wear the Guardian Caps for practice.

“Whether you’re a quarterback trip and fall or stumble backwards it doesn’t matter what position you play, I make it a uniform thing,” Pasquale said.

Now that we’ll see Guardian Caps on Sundays, what about Friday nights?

Fort Myers High School football head coach Sam Sirianni Jr. thinks we can see it hopefully sooner rather than later, “If the data and logic tells you that it’s another layer so it’s got to have some safety. It’s putting another layer farther from your skull. So I would think the information and testing will prove that it’s a help. Therefore, there’s no reason that wouldn’t become a staple to your grassroots level.”

As more advancements are made to keep players safer, Sirianni said he still stresses the importance of technique with his team.

“There is no helmet that you put on that’ll keep you totally safe if you don’t use the right technique,” Sirianni said. “So I would hope just because the equipment appears or seems to be continually revolutionized it doesn’t change the impact that it’s about how we tackle how we block how we handle the fundamentals for pure safety.”