Safety has become a great issue as the game of football evolves. Concussions have grown as a problem as the years go by and coaches and administrators are trying to make the game safer as it expands.

More concussions are sustained in football than in any other sport. According to Prevacus, there is an estimated 300,000 concussions diagnosed in high school sports a year with 47 percent of those concussions coming from football.

Last summer a private donor, later identified as the Sherwood Foundation, funded around 900 concussion-censored football helmets for all seven of the Omaha Public High Schools. All of the helmets are Riddell Speedflex Helmets, designed to monitor head impact severity with an estimated cost of $364,000.

I really believe that not just Millard West, but all three Millard high schools need these helmets. Since there is a lot of equality in the district, it wouldn’t be fair for just one high school to get them.

With a tighter budget in Millard and many departments seeing cuts, some could be concerned with cost. However, if the levy override is passed then this would be an excellent way to spend that money.

Millard Public Schools excel in football and they deserve the best equipment out there. Millard schools combined have eight state championships and that number is only to rise.

Many players, after taking a hard blow to the head, are hesitant to come over to the sidelines. With the censors in the helmets, coaches and trainers would know if it is necessary for the player to come out of the game.

While the helmets serve a great purpose, they also look high tech and very sharp. The Speedflex helmets are the most recent model that Riddell has created. Although Millard West has a few of the helmets, none of them are equipped with the impact sensors.

In Millard West’s first football game against our rival down the street, Millard South, there were four Wildcats that came to the sideline during the game after taking a blow to the head. After the game there were multiple players who said their head hurt, but played through it. Those players trying to be “tough” and playing through the pain could have made it worse on themselves.

If Millard West had these helmets those players would have came out and been evaluated instead of staying in the game with a risk of a worse, more severe injury.

Overall, this would cost roughly $30,000. My guess is that if Millard West got these helmets, North and South would follow suit. Although the cost is high, it is still worth it. The stats are there that obviously prove that football causes a lot of head trauma that can have lifelong effects. We need to keep our players safe.

There is a 20% chance a high school football player sustains a concussion in the season, and while parents are still going to worry about their children playing such a high contact sport, a lot of weight would be lifted off their shoulders if this impact-censored helmet investment went through.

There needs to be a change and these helmets are the answer.