National football helmet shortage being felt in Minnesota
APPLE VALLEY, Minn. -- Supply chain issues have now extended to the high school gridiron as schools across the country and in the Twin Cities are having trouble finding enough football helmets as the season gets underway.
Schools across Minnesota like East View High School in Apple Valley have had to get creative as they wait for their own supplies to arrive.
The school's athletic director Matt Percival said they order a couple dozen new helmets a year based on the sizes they need and how many helmets need to be replaced for safety.
Percival said orders are normally made in February and shipments arrive in time for the new school year, but there have been major delays for the last two years because of the supply chain issue.
As a temporary fix, Eastview and schools across the state are trading helmets for the sizes they need.
Eastview takes on Woodbury at 7 p.m. Friday. Percival said all of the players will have helmets, but they won't all match as some players will have on helmets from Eden Prairie, Eagan and St. Paul academy.
Percival said the pandemic has really taught coaches and players to be flexible, creative and to remember the true meaning of sportsmanship.
"Football coaches are amazing," said Percival. "I mean they really are in that they're intense and they're competitive people obviously. At any given time they're going to play a game and yet they also keep the bigger picture in mind I guess of trying to get kids playing the sport and if that means we'll give our helmets to eden prairie so that we can get some from Eagan then so be it."
Unlike a lot of other sporting equipment that can be shared, football helmets need to be sized to fit snug enough to a player's head to make sure they're protected when they get hit.
Percival said while the school has plenty of sizes, they didn't want to take any chances when it comes to safety.
"Obviously everybody's got to make their own choices on what they would do," he said. "It needs to fit snug and I guess there's always a little wiggle room on every kid, but you don't want it to ever cross that line of being too loose or even too tight because of the potential that that can cause for long term damage it's just not worth it."
Eastview is still about a couple dozen helmets short for the season, but there really isn't a timetable on when they might arrive as Percival said deliveries have been sporadic.
WCCO reached out to the two major helmet manufacturers Riddell and Schutt but have not heard back from either.
