The Effect of Soccer Headgear on the Force of a Collison between Two Heads
School Name
Spring Valley High School
Grade Level
11th Grade
Presentation Topic
Engineering
Presentation Type
Non-Mentored
Oral Presentation Award
3rd Place
Abstract
Soccer is the most played sport in the world, with over 256 million people playing “The Beautiful Game.” Soccer is also the only sport where the players intentionally use their head to clear, pass, and score the ball. An estimated 300, 000 sport-related brain injuries occur every year in the United States, and 8.9% of high school injuries and 5.8% of college injuries are concussions (Gessel et. al, 2007). In response to multiple studies showing the dangers of heading, soccer headgear was created. Its purpose is to reduce forces on the brain caused by contact to the head, whether it be via ball, player, or ground. These headgears wrap around the head and are made of foam and other force-absorbing materials. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if expanded polypropylene would be a viable material to protect the brain from head to head contact. It was hypothesized that the modified soccer headgear would significantly reduce the amount of force on the head. A dummy was used to simulate the human head, and a force sensitive resistor measure the force the receiving head incurred. A One-Way ANOVA (a=0.05(F 3,30)= 2.49, p<0.05) showed that the prototype did not significantly reduce force on the head from the already available headgear.
Recommended Citation
White, Tyler, "The Effect of Soccer Headgear on the Force of a Collison between Two Heads" (2019). South Carolina Junior Academy of Science. 230.
https://scholarexchange.furman.edu/scjas/2019/all/230
Location
Founders Hall 222 B
Start Date
3-30-2019 12:00 PM
Presentation Format
Oral and Written
Group Project
No
The Effect of Soccer Headgear on the Force of a Collison between Two Heads
Founders Hall 222 B
Soccer is the most played sport in the world, with over 256 million people playing “The Beautiful Game.” Soccer is also the only sport where the players intentionally use their head to clear, pass, and score the ball. An estimated 300, 000 sport-related brain injuries occur every year in the United States, and 8.9% of high school injuries and 5.8% of college injuries are concussions (Gessel et. al, 2007). In response to multiple studies showing the dangers of heading, soccer headgear was created. Its purpose is to reduce forces on the brain caused by contact to the head, whether it be via ball, player, or ground. These headgears wrap around the head and are made of foam and other force-absorbing materials. The purpose of this experiment was to determine if expanded polypropylene would be a viable material to protect the brain from head to head contact. It was hypothesized that the modified soccer headgear would significantly reduce the amount of force on the head. A dummy was used to simulate the human head, and a force sensitive resistor measure the force the receiving head incurred. A One-Way ANOVA (a=0.05(F 3,30)= 2.49, p<0.05) showed that the prototype did not significantly reduce force on the head from the already available headgear.
