The Morgan County Board of Education brought Auburn University associate athletic director and equipment-fitting expert Dana Marquez to train Morgan County football coaches.

Marquez, founder of helmetfitting.com, taught all Morgan County football head coaches and one assistant coach per school how to properly fit football equipment from the ground up. Helmets were the main concern, with topics including the design, proper fitting and inflation of modern helmets, according to Morgan County Board of Education deputy superintendent Lee Willis.

Morgan County Board of Education Superintendent Bill Hopkins Jr. said the training was a great opportunity for the coaching staffs.

“Being a former football player and head football coach here in the county, I felt this would be very beneficial for our staffs,” Hopkins said. “I know that if I were presently still a football coach, it is something I would want myself and my staff to participate in. With all the talk that’s been around lately with concussions and concussion protocol, we felt this was advantageous for our coaches and our staff to get involved with this.”

Willis said he was impressed by the progress made in football helmet technology over the past six years. “There continues to be new research,” Willis said. “The NFL has come out with a lot of research on football helmets due to the impact concussions have had on their players after they retire, and that has come down to the high school level as well because it’s about player safety.

“It was very impressive to find out that some of these helmets were up to $1-2K per helmet,” Willis added. “Not that we can afford those kind of helmets every year, but it’s about getting the proper helmet not just for the athlete but for the position as well. There’s a lot more to it than there used to be.”

Though not all Morgan County high schools will be implementing advanced helmet technology at this time, Danville High School is implementing smart helmets that record data through an application called Dragonfly. “The Alabama High School Athletic Association has come out with an online application called Dragonfly that keeps up with student athlete injuries and the history of them,” Willis said. “That helps the coach, and it lets the athletic trainers see the history of players and help make better diagnoses,” Willis added. “Even if they have to take it to a physician, now the physician can also see historical data that we have not had before. That’s a huge step.”

Hopkins said the board will also look into advancing safety training in other sports as well. “In particular, we’re looking at basketball and soccer,” Hopkins said. “When a lot of contact is involved, you also see some concussions.

“As soccer continues to increase in the county, we’re seeing a larger amount of concussions in soccer –due to falling on the ground and also the ball hitting the head – that are not being reported,” Hopkins added.

Willis voiced concern about safety in baseball and softball. “Baseball and softball (players) are getting a lot more (concussions) because more and more of our student athletes can throw a faster ball than before,” Willis said.

Willis and Hopkins both said the county’s coaches were receptive to the training. “It’s not just about protecting the child, though that is the No. 1 goal,” Willis said. “Coaches realize if (their players) get a concussion, they may lose their best player, whereas they want to protect them and the whole team aspect as well.

“Anything we can do for student safety,” Hopkins added, “is always first and foremost in our mind.”