Hummingbird Sports, in preparation for girls’ lacrosse season, has designed a range of soft-sided headgear to meet ASTM Women’s Lacrosse Headgear Standard WK36457.
The products passed three required mechanical tests earlier this month, and were engineered to better protect players’ heads during practices and games.
Girls’ Lacrosse is listed as the second leading cause of concussions in all high school and college sports, behind football, according to Hummingbird Sports. Injuries mainly resulted from accidental stick or ball contact to the head.
In 2015, the Florida High School Athletic Association became the first state to set policy requiring that all participants in High School Girls’ Lacrosse wear soft headgear. At the time, a portion of the girls’ lacrosse community expressed concerns that use of the headgear would lead to the “gladiator effect,” and the sense of security bestowed by the equipment would lead to more aggressive play. But now the importance of head protection for the female athlete has come more into the spotlight, partially through increased awareness in the youth football concussions discussion.
Before Hummingbird, headgear did not exist meeting the new ASTM Standard, which will be fully adopted by U.S. Lacrosse come January 1, 2017.
Hummingbird Sports is an emerging brand focused on delivering gear for female athletes.
“The typical model of sports companies is to take an existing men’s product and to ‘shrink it and pink it;’ not giving the female athlete the attention she deserves. This will not do for the serious competitor, and may not be the safest choice,” said Founder Rob Stolker.
Photo courtesy Hummingbird Sports
