A company is made and sometimes broken by the decisions they make. While some companies put on alumni football games with inferior used equipment and hand me down uniforms, we always try to use the safest equipment we can afford. This last year, we bough 100 new helmets. We also bought 100 used helmets from a dealer in San Antonio we were referred too.

The helmets were in good condition. I would’ve put my head in any of them. However, I recently sent in 67 helmets to be painted red and reconditioned. Imagine my dismay when I found out that 32 of used helmets had turned 10 years old 7 days ago. Under the new reconditioning guidelines, reconditioners are not able to re-certify a helmet that is 10 years old or older, regardless of it’s condition. So, I missed using the helmets by one week.

After careful consideration, I decided that even though we are not governed by high school standards, safety has to come first. Therefore, at much cost to us, we have eliminated all helmets that turned 10 years old last week. In addition, we bought some Schutt Air XP’s and Schutt DNA Pro + helmets this week. All of our helmets now either carry a 2011 certification sticker or are brand new this year. When I played alumni football for another company, the gear was shotty at best. Their lack of concern for player safety is one of the reasons that I started my own company. I pledged that my gear would always be good and player safety would come first.

Removing a grand total of 87 helmets from our inventory meant taking a big hit in the fiscal department, but I believe YOU ARE WORTH IT! I’m sure your friends and family would agree.