Kent Hampton said he’s only sustained one concussion in his football career.
The All-Region offensive tackle at Indian Land High School was an eighth-grader when he sustained a mild concussion during a middle school football game in 2020.
When Hampton joined Indian Land as a freshman the following year, the school already had about 30 Guardian Caps available for its players to use during practice and scrimmages. However, football coach Adam Hastings said that the protective helmet covers had been in the program before he took the job in 2020 and roughly half of them were broken in some way, so the team rarely wore them.
The Lancaster County School District announced on July 11 that it had funded new Guardian Caps for the full rosters of its middle school and high school football teams, and Hampton is grateful for it.
“Compared to the old Guardian Caps ... it’s a big difference,” the 6-foot-3 senior said. “The hits you’re taking compared to the old ones or without a Guardian Cap, the hits you’re taking, it’s totally different, and it’s not as impactful on your head as usual.”
Hastings said that the team has had the new caps for about three weeks now, and he and his players appreciate the district’s investment in player safety.
The district provided Indian Land with 10 Riddell Axiom helmets, which provide real-time data about any head impact a player sustains on the field.
“For us, we’re making sure we’re teaching the right technique,” Hastings said. “We’re doing everything we can within our budget to make sure every one of our kids have the top-of-the-line, best helmets possible. ... (The new Guardian Caps are) like the district saying, ‘Hey, we see what you’re doing, and we want to double down on it.’”
Indian Land isn’t the only program that previously had Guardian Caps.
Andrew Jackson’s booster club bought 15 caps for the team in 2021. Athletic director Jimbo Barton said that the increased awareness around concussions made the school decide to take that step.
Lancaster County buying helmet caps for its middle school teams as well further signified that there’s a universal desire to protect youth football players at all levels.
“There’s a lot of fear for people starting (tackle football) at a younger age about concussions,” Barton said. “But (the district) wanted to take the initiative to be able to provide safety for all of our kids. Even right now, in Lancaster County ... we don’t have any (youth) tackle football teams (through the parks and recreation department).”
Lancaster County bought 605 Guardian Caps for a total of $30,669.36, a price point just over of $50.69 per cap.
County communications director Elizabeth Bryant said that there are a few stipulations for teams and players in regard to the Guardian Caps.
Players will be required to wear the caps during practice, and the district is looking into having that same requirement apply to scrimmages. However, wearing one during the game will be at the discretion of the student-athlete and/or their guardian.
“If a student does experience a concussion, then we’re going to suggest or ask them to consider the fact of having the student wear it during the game, during that recovery time,” Bryant said. “We know injuries happen, but on the other side of it, we want to make them as safe as possible and, if they do have that injury, limit that amount of recovery time for their safety and their future.”
Guardian Caps have had support in the Rock Hill area for a while.
Rock Hill and Northwestern high schools have been using them for the past few seasons, and South Pointe is in the process of buying them. Former Northwestern athletic director Jimmy Duncan saw the school first put them to use during practices in 2019.
Now as Rock Hill Schools’ district athletic director, Duncan hopes to get every middle and high school team on board — roughly 750 student-athletes. Using that figure and the same price per unit rate Lancaster County received, the total cost of all new Guardian Caps for the district would be $38,019.87.
“We started looking into the Guardian Caps and really just anything safety-wise to increase our safety protocol and reduce injury,” Duncan said. “With Guardian Caps, we were on the front end with high school doing that a few years ago at Northwestern. ... Now we are looking to expand that to all middle school and high school programs. We do have some, but we’re trying to make sure we get some for everyone.”
Tim Kinney, director of health, safety and wellness for the South Carolina High School League, said there are currently no plans to implement any sort of helmet cap requirement statewide.
Rock Hill still has youth tackle football, and there have been efforts at that level to limit the number of head impacts.
Former Northwestern and four-time high school football state champion head coach Jimmy Wallace works with the youth football leagues of the City of Rock Hill’s Parks, Recreation and Tourism department.
Wallace hosted a tackling clinic for his youth coaches on July 13. It’s something he’s done every year as coaches rotate in and out. The clinic runs the coaches through a variety of tackling techniques and exercises, prioritizing no helmet contact while also maintaining great form.
His hopes are that his coaches are able to then instill that knowledge into their players when practices begin in a few weeks.
“We need to do everything we can to have a safer game, and repetitive helmet contact is out of the game,” Wallace said. “We’re a shoulder-tackling system. Right shoulder, left shoulder. High tackle, low tackle. On shields, bags, tackling rings, the Jax tackler that we will implement this year. Our job is to make the game better, make the game safer and teach the coaches without contact.”
More than 20 coaches showed up to Wallace’s Saturday clinic across the city’s 8U, 10U and 12U teams. One of them was 47-year-old Tyrone Colvin, who received more than a fair workout serving as a physical example to show how Wallace wants tackling to be taught at the youth level.
Colvin, who coaches the Finley Road Falcons 8U team, said that it’s important to teach proper tackling technique early. Eliminating bad habits earlier will better protect players as their opponents get stronger and the hits become more violent.
“It just helps the game overall,” Colvin said. “It creates safety for the kids and hopefully will help the numbers go up once parents see how safe the game is. Kids aren’t getting hurt or getting concussions because they know how to tackle, so it’s very helpful for kids (and coaches) to attend these types of events, just to learn the game and learn how to tackle and get their head around and not hit their head on things.”
Wallace and Rock Hill’s youth football program are hosting a clinic at Rock Hill High School’s auditorium at 6 p.m. on July 24. University of South Carolina assistant coach Shawn Elliott will be the guest speaker.
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