CLEVELAND—Collinwood High School receiver and safety whisperer Glenn Wright arrived at last week’s game in a very new helmet, with the sticker price still attached: $399.99, plus tax.
Wright, a 17-year-old junior, said he called a sporting goods store to find a helmet that would fit him.
“They only had one left,” he said.
His struggle to find a helmet reflects coaches and athletic directors across the country saying there is a shortage of helmets for high school, middle school and junior high school football teams, as well as some shortages of shoulder pads and uniforms. Shortages have affected preseason workouts and persisted into the regular season.
Doug Samuels, head coach at Comstock Park High School in Michigan, addressed the issue in his June column for FootballScoop, an online source of coaching news. He said in an interview that the shortage forced the coach to face unfamiliar questions: Two players shared helmets and one was injured because the chin strap was not properly adjusted. who gets a concussion?
Manufacturers attribute the shortages mainly to the coronavirus-related problems that many industries continue to face: twisted supply chains, slower transport speeds and a shortage of workers. Coaches and suppliers say demand has risen as more students return to football after two seasons of turmoil caused by the pandemic.
“It’s like a perfect storm,” said Ron Dowd, director of physical education at Walpole High School in Massachusetts.
Riddell, an Illinois-based sporting goods company, has approximately 70% market share in high school helmets and more than 60% market share in youth helmets. In late July, Riddell announced it would be fulfilling existing orders that were above pre-pandemic levels, but said it would not be accepting new orders for the 2022 season, with a few exceptions.
Riddell president and chief executive Dan Arment said in an interview that the company has closed its backlog this week and plans to start taking orders for the 2023 season soon. “We know there are challenges out there. I feel
Riddell said helmet orders for NFL and college customers were “more or less” disrupted, but the impact was “not very noticeable.” Mainly because the NFL (with 1,696 active rosters he has) and the NCAA (about 70,700 total in Divisions I, II, and III) outnumber high school (just over a million).
Perhaps no high school team has lost quite like the Collinwood Railroaders, who play in the Cleveland Metropolitan School District and wear several branded hats. Collingwood’s helmet, which was sent for repairs in the offseason, did not arrive until two days before the team’s season opener, scheduled for Aug. 19, coach Greg Wheeler said.
Unable to practice on full pads or scrimmage during the preseason and facing a mandatory acclimation period for a full-contact workout, Wheeler canceled the season opener and the following week’s games for the safety of his players. “I thought it was best not to play,” Wheeler said.
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The National Federation of High School Associations said no other games were known to have been canceled. However, coaches and his directors of athletics had to improvise to keep players appropriately dressed.
Many schools rent spare helmets from local teams or swap helmets with rivals who need specific sizes. Some coaches have cleared the meager shelves of sporting goods stores. Others visited hardware stores to make minor modifications to the team’s headgear.
On Aug. 23, Isiah Young, coach at the College Prep Charter School for Young Men in Rochester, New York, said: twitter: “Nationwide helmet shortages and increasing numbers require 3XL helmets this fall! If anyone has any leftovers (regardless of color), they’re welcome!”
Young said in an interview that the University of Rochester has loaned his team one oversized helmet and is looking for two others. The University Prep varsity was fully equipped, but two junior varsity players shared helmets at practice, and his seven or his eight players at middle school level had no headgear. It was therefore restricted to non-contact practice.
“Never before have so many kids been in football,” Young said. “The helmet issue put us in a very tight spot.”
High school helmets have a lifespan of 10 years. The helmet is reconditioned by the manufacturer every year or two. In the pre-pandemic season, the coaches said helmets could be sent to be refreshed in the spring and made available for fall camp. New helmets required during the season may arrive the next day. Not recently.
As Game 3 approached last Friday, Pennsylvania powerhouse Coatesville Area High School outside Philadelphia was still waiting for four new helmets it ordered in March, said coach Matt Ortega. I was. He read aloud to reporters a text he received from Liddell’s rep on his August 2nd. Parts arrive weekly so we can fill as many orders as possible. In early June, the order backlog was 202,000 helmets for him. “
When Ortega searched online for four or five medium-sized helmets in early August, the asking price was $480, compared to the $275 that schools typically pay.
“I didn’t pay the price,” Ortega said. Some helmets are now selling for him online for over $900, a prohibitive cost for a high school exercise budget. Riddell said it has not increased prices.
At Walpole High School, a shipment of 25 new helmets arrived last Tuesday, three days before the start of the season, said athletic director Dowd. If 15 to 20 of his players hadn’t owned their own helmets, “there would have been serious problems,” he says, Dowd.
Robert Moreno, an athletic director and high school coach at the London Independent School District in Corpus Christi, Texas, made the two-hour drive to San Antonio in August to purchase three pairs of shoulder pads for middle school students. Seven varsity players who still have the helmets they bought for themselves in middle school sold them to families of players who are now in middle school for $100 each, according to the report.
According to Moreno, the helmet was “devoured” and interest was so high that he called his name in a lottery.
At Collingwood High School in Cleveland, a preseason hiatus and two game cancellations are cooling down, said 17-year-old Jacob Brown, the team’s senior quarterback. The Railroaders finally started their season on September 2, when they lost him 60-0. “It takes away the joy,” Brown said. “The shortage of helmets was unthinkable.”
Collingwood coach Wheeler is happy that some of his players have purchased their own helmets. I can’t. His recipient Wright said he bought his own helmet because his school-issued one hurt his forehead.
Less than 90 seconds into last Friday’s game, he snatched a pass out of a defender’s hands and ran for a 68-yard touchdown.
“My Pops said you buy a new helmet and play a good game,” Wright said.
He nearly caught his second touchdown pass, but Collingwood’s lack of preseason preparation became apparent. The Railroaders played deliberately but lost 14-8.
“Having more time to prepare would have made a big difference,” Wheeler said.