CBS Atlanta 46Football mom invents device to save student athletes from serious injury

High school football season is now in full swing, and that means so are dangerous concussions and head injuries.

The CDC just released a study that says brain injuries are on the rise - and that might be because parents and coaches are paying closer attention to the problem.

And now a local a football mom inventor is working make the game safer.

"Our kids are - they're competitive, so they're going to hit - they're going to hit very hard, that's what we teach them to do," said head football coach Jeff Pickren at Kings Ridge Christian High School in Milton. "As a coach, you feel personally responsible for these boys."

"It is a hard game and the kids want to hit hard, and you're not going to get the kids to lighten up so you have to make the equipment lighten up," said Erin Hanson. She and her husband devised a cushioned head dress which fits atop a football helmet, and is designed to lower the chances for brain injuries on the playing field.

"We thought, if we could get these kids younger and get them used to wearing them, and we could start with practice, we could make an impact," said Hanson.

This innovative new device called a Guardian Cap aims to lessen the high impact crash of hefty linemen.

"It's going to allow the kids to play the way they've been trained to play but protect their heads in the process," said Lee Hanson, Erin's husband and business partner. "They hit together, I mean, they won't stick, they just glance off each other," said of the Guardian Caps.

Coach Pickren thinks every school should be using the soft-shell pad technology.

"If it makes kids safer, I think everyone should have them," said Pickren.

The small company already has Guardian Caps in several North Georgia high school football programs. You can check out their web site here.

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