Mission College Prep equipped its football program with VICIS ZERO 1 helmets Tuesday afternoon. The helmets are the top-ranked helmet in all of the football based off the Virginia Tech Helmet Ratings and the NFL/NFLPA Laboratory Helmet Performance Testing for 2018.
The VICIS ZERO 1 was also named Time Magazine Top 25 Innovations of 2017. The $950 multi-layered helmet is highly sophisticated and designed by mechanical engineers and neurosurgeons aimed to reduce impact forces on the field.
A representative from the company came to the school Wednesday to custom fit each player. Junior linebacker Dalton Strouss had been testing it for the past four games and said he felt a huge difference.
"I feel like I’m a lot more relaxed during the game and when I go in for a hit I’m not that, it sounds weird, but it’s always in the back of your mind you know, head injuries, and I feel like this new helmet has taken a lot of that away from me," he said.
"Safety is our number one concern to everything we do," said David Schuster, Mission Prep head coach. "We want our players to feel safe on the field and our parents to be confident in our commitment to their child’s safety."
Mission Prep is the first school on the Central Coast to offer VICIS helmets for its entire football program.
