The Park Hill South Panthers are one of five high schools that received Riddell’s InSite technology, through a partnership between Riddell, Preps KC, and the McCarthy Auto Group. This partnership is in its fifth season and has helped bring InSite technology to 28 high schools in the Kansas City area.
The Panthers received five InSite conversion kits to use with their Riddell helmets and Head Coach Michael Sharp raves about how useful the technology has been to his team.
“Having the handheld monitor on the sideline during practice and games has given coaches a much better understanding of our players’ impacts during periods of contact. Even during what seems like normal collisions, the alert monitor may sound, indicating an impact over the threshold. We can then pull the player over to the sideline and evaluate them for injury, while before this technology, it could have gone unnoticed,” said Sharp.
The InSite System is not just an impact response system. It now includes InSite Training Tool, a smart helmet platform that monitors and analyzes every impact that players receive to identify training opportunities to proactively influence player behavior. Sharp outlines how the Panthers have utilized this tool.
“The online interface allows us to view the location of impacts on our players, as well as the time that the impact occurred. This, in conjunction with our practice schedule, allows us to identify the most contact-heavy periods and what types of collisions are occurring. If the player unit indicates a defensive player is making contact with the top of their helmet, we can teach them better-tackling practices, by keeping their eyes up to avoid contact with their head.”
The Panthers will have two weeks to prepare for their next game on November 2nd at North Kansas City as they look to advance to the District Championship.
