Supply Chain Crisis: Some high school football teams don't have enough helmets
MIAMI – The supply chain crisis is now extending to the high school gridiron. Some teams don't have enough helmets as the football season gets underway.
Drew Cortese is a wide receiver for Irvington High School in New York and is practicing with a helmet that doesn't quite fit.
"I was given a large helmet, but the issue was that it was too big, and it would wobble around, like when I tackle, it would move a lot" Cortese says.
He'd rather have a medium but there are no more left. And when the team started non-contact practice earlier this season some players didn't even have a helmet.
"Everyone else was doing things with pads and helmets when you couldn't because there wasn't enough for all of us," says senior Ingmar Ast who recently was able to get a helmet.
Irvington High School head coach Jeff Michael says, "This has been a pretty significant problem for our program. We have roughly 40 players on our team, and we don't have enough helmets for every player. So, we've had to dip down into our 7th and 8th grade team supply."
It's the same situation at Walpole High School outside of Boston.
"Our reps that we're buying the helmets from, they're probably getting a text or an email a day from all these coaches. I just sent one an hour ago, saying any updates? And there's nothing yet," says Walpole High School coach Chris Sullivan
Only two companies make these helmets and they're not cheap, running anywhere from $300 to $1,000 apiece."
"The companies have been honest and up front with telling us they're not getting the clips and the interior padding on the helmets because of the supply chain and even when they are getting helmets ready, the supply chain is taking forever to get those helmets out to the schools," Irvington coach Jeff Michael says.
A new order of helmets should be delivered to the Irvington Bulldogs sometime this season, they hope.
Earlier this month Riddell, one of the largest helmet makers, said most backlogged orders of helmets would ship by the end of August, with the rest arriving in September.
