Reconditioning

Addressing equipment concerns today, ensures player safety tomorrow
by: Rod Smith
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Days, weeks, and especially months of incessant contact, unrelenting abuse and inevitable overuse can take its toll on football players. The same can be said for those players’ equipment.

The off-season can be a time for both players and coaches alike to rejuvenate and recharge from an arduous season – successful, disastrous, or simply somewhere in between. But who looks after the players’ equipment?

At the professional and collegiate levels, monitoring, inspecting and routine maintenance of equipment often fall to an individual assigned, trained and practiced at this duty – the equipment manager. But at small colleges and in the high schools, from pee wee leagues and into junior high programs, caring for the equipment that protects the players – particularly the helmets and shoulder pads – becomes just one more responsibility of the coaches who already have plenty to do.

So where does a coach, who simply wishes to ensure the safety of his players, start?

According to Dean Wolfe, a regional sales manager for Schutt Sports with more than three decades of experience in sporting goods sales and reconditioning, coaches should begin each off-season with a thorough inspection of each helmet and pair of shoulder pads.

“If the helmet has been worn, that helmet needs to be inspected if it’s going to go on a player’s head the following year,” Wolfe said. “To make sure it’s in working order.”

Wolfe also insists on an off-season cleaning, one in which the inside and outside of the helmet get thoroughly sanitized.

As a final recommendation, Wolfe suggests coaches know the age of their inventory. Simply knowing how old equipment is helps to determine what value reconditioning serves.

“The older the helmet, you have to realize, the more expensive it might be to recondition,” Wolfe said. “So it comes to a point in time (when you ask yourself): Is it worth reconditioning? Or, is it worth not reconditioning and instead buying a new helmet for what it might cost to recondition the old helmet?”

As is often the case with equipment, cost usually plays a role. But how do you decide when it is time to recondition? Or, what should you look for when inspecting helmets or shoulder pads?

HELMETS
New football helmets may come with a manufacturers’ suggested life expectancy. But much like humans, life expectancy – and in this case safety – involves several factors.

Unless helmets haven’t been worn, start with a simple, yet thorough inspection. Begin by examining each helmet component – shell, faceguard, bladder, and padding – for delineating signs of wear.

While the helmet’s shell will undoubtedly have “war marks” – paint gouges and stains – these come from normal use. Look for cracks or any other inconsistencies in the shell’s surface. Pay close attention where chin strap hardware or faceguards attach. If this hardware shows signs of wear such as rust, replace it. If stickers, gouges or stains pose too much of a cosmetic problem, then reconditioning is in order.

When inspecting the faceguard, check to see that it is not bent or sprung out from the helmet. Look also for broken clips, loose screws, or areas where the metal of the mask may be exposed – all signs of necessary reconditioning. As for the bladder, squeeze it to see that it holds air. A flat bladder – particularly on a helmet that has been worn – or one that loses air rapidly should be replaced. Finally, when inspecting the padding – the guts of the helmet – look for undue wear, tears, cuts or other alterations players may have made or simply not reported.

Once helmets pass inspection, they should then be cleaned and sanitized. After all, nobody wants to wear another player’s smelly helmet the next time around. There are disinfectants for cleaning and smells, waxes for returning the shine, and even glue removers that can remove all that tacky residue left behind by award stickers. The question is how thorough can you be? Do you have the time to make all your helmets smell good and shine?

Sending them to a factory reconditioner will get helmets inspected and cleaned, as well as any parts, such as the bladder, faceguard, or padding replaced. As a basic guide, Schutt’s Wolfe estimates a three to four week turn-around on any reconditioning order, but he says to allow extra time if helmets are to be repainted. Note: Some commercial cleaning agents and liquid locking chemicals have been known to effect the integrity of the shell.

SHOULDER PADS
Like with helmets, a regular routine of preemptive maintenance can add life to a pair of shoulder pads.

According to Mitch Mason, the supervisor of reconditioning at Schutt Sports, helmets get reconditioned more often than shoulder pads – up to three times as often. But regular inspection, care and maintenance can keep minor repairs from turning into major repairs – thus extending the life of the shoulder pad.

As for shoulder pad life expectancy, Mason points to variables such as how they are stored, used, and even the type of player who wears them. Pads that give or receive a lot of blows tend to wear out faster. Coaches looking to lengthen the life of their shoulder pads can replace stretched out straps, broken laces, or bent T-hooks. Check pad caps or flaps for cracks, and inspect pads for minor sewing repairs.

Removing moisture, mud and sweat smells also keep shoulder pads new. While washing them with water can remove mud or dirt, you will need hot water and a good sanitizing soap to remove sweat stains and smells. Once clean, allowing pads to dry completely is a must. Otherwise you’ll be back to square one – this time with a musty smell.

According to Mason, standard factory reconditioning of shoulder pads includes a meticulous cleaning to remove all sweat stains and body odors, as well as the replacement of heavy wear items like straps, T-hooks, and laces. More costly repairs include replacing cracked padding flaps or caps, and more often than not a cracked arch means the pad must be scrapped. Mason says another common repair is a worn-out U-binding. This piece of the pad holds the other components of the shoulder pad together and because of its proximity to the neck often comes in contact with the players’ helmets. The repetitive wear that ensues eventually wears it out. In order to repair it, the shoulder pad must be disassembled. For their repairs, reconditioners must use a heavy duty sewing machine and thread to ensure a good seal with the rest of the pads.

RECONDITIONING TO REDUCE LIABILITY
Whether reconditioning helmets or shoulder pads, often times a school’s greatest concern is limiting its liability. And while regular reconditioning ensures that equipment returns to the school’s equipment room in working order, it doesn’t provide an all encompassing blanket of liability protection.

“Some coaches think that just because they get their helmets reconditioned every year that protects them (from exposure to litigation),” Wolfe said. “Once helmets leave our facility, that’s when it becomes the school’s responsibility to make sure they stay in proper recertified order.”

To further avoid liability exposure, schools must also prove they have fitted the equipment properly and taught players the proper fundamental techniques. Safe, certified equipment becomes just one element – albeit a significant one – of any school’s risk management equation. One that can easily be tackled during the off-season.

Guidelines for those about to recondition - How often do I recondition?

The goal of reconditioning helmets and shoulder pads is to lengthen the life of both and to ensure the safety of players. Obviously, reconditioning is good for equipment, but how often is enough? Can you recondition too much?

The obvious answer to the last question is no. But pinpointing how often is enough becomes a bit harder. In fact, it’s often a matter of preference. The following are four typical reconditioning cycles.

Annually - Reconditioning helmets and shoulder pads every year ensures that your equipment has been thoroughly inspected, cleaned and sanitized, repaired, and recertified before it returns to the playing field. Annual reconditioning may require a maintenance budget, but could easily save a program money on new equipment in the long run.

Periodically - Let’s say every two or three seasons. With careful self inspections during the off-seasons in which you skip professional reconditioning, you’ll be able to ensure safe equipment and save money for the off-seasons when you do. The key to periodic reconditioning is not waiting too long. If you do, you’ll have to buy more new equipment to replace the worn out stuff.

Do it yourself - Unable to afford annual factory reconditioning? Don’t sweat it. This little-by-little method of reconditioning may be the best choice for the tight-budgeted program. In fact, a little time distilling the fundamentals and importance of equipment care and maintenance to your players can soften the blow to the pocketbook. Reconditioning kits, available from some helmet manufacturers, can help too.

Never - According to Schutt’s Wolfe, some programs choose not to recondition – not because they lack concern for their athletes’ safety, but because they would rather spend money on new equipment. However, once it has been used, new equipment still needs to be inspected, cleaned, sanitized and maintained.

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